CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Chase Elliott has been named NASCAR Most Popular Driver for the seventh year in a row at the season-ending awards ceremony Friday night.
The only major NASCAR award determined solely by fan voting, Elliott received 266,363 votes to beat Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, according to results released by the National Motorsports Press Association.
The Elliotts are no strangers to this price.
Chase’s father, Bill Elliott, nicknamed “Awesome Bill from Dawsonville,” was named NASCAR’s most popular driver a record 16 times before removing his name from the ballot.
“I don’t think it ever gets old.” Chase Elliott told the Associated Press. “I am grateful to all the people across the country who fight for me and my team and who sincerely want to see us succeed. To me that’s the part that never gets old, whether you’re in Darlington, South Carolina, Talladega or somewhere in California, it’s just crazy to me that we were lucky enough to be in the situation of having the type of support that we have. I don’t take this for granted.
Blaney joked that he didn’t see anyone else winning the award until Elliott decided to retire.
“Obviously he has a great fan base that he built on his own and fans who also loved watching Bill,” Blaney said. “I don’t know what it would take to beat him.”
Blaney joked that he would be really excited to see who takes over once Elliott retires.
“It will be a mystery,” Blaney said. “One day I’ll have to stick my head out the door and say, ‘Who won the most popular driver?’ I’ll probably be retired by then too. So I don’t know (what it would take to beat him). It would be difficult to get him out of this place. He has a lot of people who really love him.”
Tyler Reddick is also not sure Elliott will ever lose.
“When you’re on the track, you think things have a chance to change,” Reddick said. “I think if anyone should take a chance, it’s Ryan or Kyle. But it still seems like it’s Chase’s prize to lose.
NASCAR fans are certainly loyal to their drivers.
Dale Earnhardt Sr. was named Most Popular Driver in 2001, the year he was killed in the season-opening Daytona 500. Dale Earnhardt Jr. went on to win the Most Popular Driver title for the next 15 years, meaning an Elliott or Earnhardt won the Most Popular Driver title in NASCAR. driver for 34 consecutive years.
Elliott said the award is a reminder of what his family accomplished long before he arrived on the NASCAR scene.
“You always want to try to carry your last name the appropriate way or at least the way they expect,” Elliott said. “I’ve always tried to do it and I hope I’ve done it successfully in my time, but it’s definitely an extension of the hard work of my father, his brothers and my grandfather. It was a huge team effort and a huge family effort to have the career that they’ve had, which led me to be here and to have the opportunity to further this.
The awards ceremony was held at NASCAR’s Charlotte Center for the first time, a dramatic change from previous host cities like Las Vegas, New York and Nashville, Tennessee.
___
AP Auto Racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
