NASCAR: Chase Elliott voted most popular driver for fifth straight year
In case anyone needed a reminder: NASCAR fans still love Chase Elliott.
The driver of the No. 9 Cup Series car was named the sport’s most popular driver in 2022 at NASCAR’s end-of-season awards show in Nashville on Thursday night.
That’s five consecutive years Elliott has earned the honor.
Elliott’s popularity, which makes him a recognizable character even outside the racing realm, is well-deserved. The 27-year-old won a series-best five races and earned the regular-season championship in 2022, which carried him to a third-straight Championship 4 appearance. At one point this season, during the summer, Elliott went five consecutive races finishing as the winner or as the runner-up this season.
Bill Elliott, Chase’s father, holds the record for most popular driver award wins with 16. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the award for 15 consecutive seasons from 2003 to 2017.
The Most Popular Driver Award, which is administered by the National Motorsports Press Association, is the only major NASCAR award determined solely by fan vote. Voting opened on Nov. 8 and closed Nov. 30. Fans could vote for a single driver once a day on the NASCAR website.
Elliott, the 2020 Cup champion, rose above a field of drivers who at one point or another captured the hearts of many: Joey Logano won the championship with a dominant final race. Christopher Bell made a Cinderella run of sorts to the Championship 4 thanks to back-to-back walk-off wins in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the playoffs. Ross Chastain’s story of relative oblivion to fame peaked when his Martinsville “Hail Melon” move — which brought video-game dreams to life — made him quite the recognizable character, too.
The show can be streamed on tape-delay at 8 p.m. Saturday on Peacock.
Also at Thursday’s awards show:
▪ The other series crowned “most popular drivers” as well: Noah Gragson won at the Xfinity Series level, and Hailie Deegan won at the Truck Series level.
▪ Logano was officially crowned as NASCAR Cup Series champion, which he captured the first weekend in November by winning in Phoenix. Champions of the other series — Ty Gibbs in the Xfinity Series, Zane Smith of the NASCAR Truck Series — were crowned, too.
▪ Austin Cindric was recognized as the 2022 Cup Series Rookie of the Year. The 24-year-old driver won the Daytona 500 and finished with five top 5s and nine top 10s en route to a second-round appearance in the playoffs this season. Austin Hill won the Xfinity Series title, and Corey Heim won the Truck Series title.
This story was originally published December 1, 2022 at 7:15 PM.
