‘Tis the season, you know.
Some people we can’t wait has vote for someone. Some can’t wait to vote against someone. Some belong to both camps.
I am here to convince you to join the “vote against” camp.
And guess what. In this election, you really can vote early and vote often. Legally even.
NASCAR opened the voting booth this week for its annual Most Popular Driver award, and voting will run through November 21. The prize is awarded each year by the National Motorsports Press Association.
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Now please, please stop voting for Chase Elliott. He won it six years in a row and, let’s be honest, he really didn’t do anything to get your vote this time.
Chase has had a mediocre year, although that may change with the potential wave of a checkered flag this week at Martinsville.
Off the track, do you remember an interesting interview he gave to people at the network? Look, I don’t necessarily blame him for playing it cool and not rocking the boat very often. He’s pretty much been this way ever since he told Kevin Harvick to “have a happy offseason and a Merry Christmas.”
I know, I know. He flies his own helicopter, can probably still get free wings at Hooters, and is still a handsome young man. But let’s reward someone who went out of their way to earn your vote.
But who?
Remember, Darrell Waltrip won this thing… TWICE
Throughout the history of the award, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Chase’s father Bill have held the award for a total of 31 years (16 for Bill, 15 for Junior).
Bill’s long tenure was interrupted for two years (1989-90) by Darrell Waltrip.
Darrell Waltrip!
If you remember what fans (and some other racers) thought of DW in the 70s and much of the 80s, you could never imagine him owning a trophy with the word popular severe.
So I say that to say that…
Why not Kyle Busch?
There, I said it.
Here’s your chance to reward Kyle Busch
How ironic it would be to honor Kyle with this after the worst season of his Cup Series career. He has one more chance to win a race and continue his streak of 20 consecutive seasons (by the way, his entire full-time career) with at least one victory. And it is very unlikely that he will succeed.
Kyle spent most of the first half of the season struggling with subpar equipment. After the Olympic break, his RCR team seemed to find something, and with better equipment, Kyle put in hard effort after hard effort to achieve this victory, and was generally undone by bad luck.
Lately, he has a feeling of resignation and has just played out the 2024 streak.
Think about how young Kyle would have handled this. And now let’s consider how well Kyle, 39, overcame this challenge.
That’s not to say he’s completely transformed into a beloved statesman, but damn, he’s so much closer to that than we ever thought imaginable.
Think about this when you enter the electronic voting booth.
And man, talk about ballot harvesting! You can vote up to five times, every day, until November 21. vote on NASCAR.com or on the NASCAR mobile app.
Vote early, vote often, vote Kyle!
— Email Ken Willis at [email protected]
This article originally appeared in the Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR’s Most Popular Drivers Poll: Vote for this guy, not Chase Elliott
