Chase Elliott has removed his name from the ballot for the National Motorsports Press Association’s Most Popular Driver Award, the NMPA announced Friday. Elliott has won every year in succession since 2018, meaning his recusal will end an eight-year streak.
The decision for Elliott to bow out of the Most Popular Driver Award coincides with the sudden and tragic passing of Kyle Busch in May. Busch has never won Most Popular Driver, but would be eligible due to having competed during the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.
After Busch’s death in May, Elliott publicly endorsed the idea of stepping aside to allow Busch to be voted Most Popular Driver. “I’m not guaranteed the win, so let’s make that super clear, number one,” Elliott said during the race weekend at Nashville Superspeedway. “That’s not me saying, ‘Oh, it’s mine, and I need to remove myself for that reason.’ I just think it’s one of those things that…I think that Kyle is a guy that you know really deserves something of an award like that.
“I think that he’s a guy that has had a lot of fans throughout the course of his career,” Elliott continued. “I know the boos, and it was fun and all those things, but [he had a] lot of supporters, a lot of really passionate fans.”
With Chase Elliott out of the running, the Most Popular Driver Award is guaranteed a first-time winner. No other current Cup Series driver has taken home the honor in the past. 2026 will also be the first time since Darrell Waltrip in 1990 that a driver outside of the Elliott and Earnhardt families will receive the award.
Voting for the National Motorsports Press Association’s Most Popular Driver Award is open now.
