NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Award is awarded to the most popular NASCAR driver in the Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and Craftsman Truck Series every year since 1956. It started as a poll of the drivers and then all NASCAR Cup Series competitors; today, it is voted for by fans across the United States.
The award is presented by the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA). Sponsored by Hamburger Helper in 2010, it was also sponsored by Wheaties in 2011. The ceremony presenting the award is called the NASCAR Awards Banquet, and it is held in Nashville, Tennessee in November of each year.
The winner of the most awards is Bill Elliott with 16 in the NASCAR Cup Series. Justin Allgaier has the most with five awards in the Xfinity Series, and Johnny Benson Jr. & Hailie Deegan have the most awards at three in the Craftsman Truck Series.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has the second-most awards (15) and holds the longest streak, winning the award in 2003 and every year until his retirement in 2017. [1] [2]
Driver | Cup | Xfinity | Truck | Mexico | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bill Elliott | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
Richard Petty | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
Chase Elliott* | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
Bobby Allison | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
Justin Allgaier* | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
Elliott Sadler | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Lee Petty | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Brad Keselowski* | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Jimmy Hensley | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Ron Hornaday Jr. | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
Johnny Benson Jr. | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
Kenny Wallace | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Hailie Deegan | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
Fred Lorenzen | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Sam Ard | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Joe Nemechek | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Curtis Turner | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Martin Truex Jr. | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Greg Biffle | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Noah Gragson* | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
* – still active as of 2025 [update] |
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in the world and is one of the largest spectator sports leagues in America. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and his son, Jim France, has been the CEO since August 2018. The company is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida. Each year, NASCAR sanctions over 1,500 races at over 100 tracks in 48 US states, as well as in Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Europe.
Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. is an American professional stock car racing driver, team owner, and broadcaster. A third-generation driver, he is the son of the late 7-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt and relative to many former and current drivers in the NASCAR ranks. Since retiring from full-time competition after the 2017 season, he has competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro for his team, JR Motorsports.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck-based stock cars. The series is one of three national divisions of NASCAR, ranking as the third tier behind the second-tier NASCAR Xfinity Series and the top level NASCAR Cup Series.
Russell William "Rusty" Wallace Jr. is an American former NASCAR racing driver. He won the 1984 NASCAR Cup series Rookie of the Year and the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Championship. For the accolades over the course of his successful career, Wallace has been inducted in the NASCAR Hall of Fame (2013), the International Motorsports Hall of Fame (2013), the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (2014) and the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame (2010).
Kerry Dale Earnhardt is an American former NASCAR driver and the eldest son of seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt. He is the half-brother of former NASCAR Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt Miller. He was employed by Dale Earnhardt, Inc. as a consultant specializing in driver development until 2011. His younger son, Jeffrey Earnhardt, began racing for DEI in 2007 and currently competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Kerry Earnhardt is known for his physical similarity to his father.
Kevin Michael Harvick is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and commentator for NASCAR on Fox.
Stephen Brian Park is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He won races in NASCAR's two top Northeast touring series and all three national divisions. Park was born in East Northport, New York as the youngest of four sons.
Ronald Lee Hornaday Jr. is an American former professional stock car racing driver and businessman. He currently owns Team Hornaday Development, a driver development program as well as Hornaday Race Cars a Dirt Modified chassis builder. He is also the father of former NASCAR driver Ronnie Hornaday and son of the late Ron Hornaday Sr., a two-time NASCAR Winston West Series Champion. Hornaday himself is a four-time champion in the NASCAR Truck Series, his most recent coming in 2009 and is a NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour Champion. He was noticed by Dale Earnhardt while participating in the NASCAR Winter Heat on TNN.
Buschwhacker is a term for NASCAR drivers who are regulars in the top-level NASCAR Cup Series but who also compete on a regular basis in the second-tier Xfinity Series. The original coinage of the term "Buschwhacker" refers to Anheuser-Busch's longtime title sponsorship of the second-tier series through their Busch beer brand.
Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team is based in Welcome, North Carolina, and is owned and operated by Richard Childress. In the Cup Series, the team currently fields three Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 teams: the No. 3 full-time for Austin Dillon, the No. 8 full-time for Kyle Busch. In the Xfinity Series, the team currently fields three Chevrolet Camaro teams: the No. 2 full-time for Jesse Love, the No. 21 full-time for Austin Hill. RCR has had at least one car successfully qualify for every Cup race since 1972, the longest such active streak, and is known for the longstanding use of the number 3 on its primary race car.
Regan Lee Smith is an American former professional stock car racing driver and a current pit reporter for Fox NASCAR. He most recently drove part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro SS for JR Motorsports.
Aric Michael Almirola is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the Nos. 19 and 20 Toyota Supras for Joe Gibbs Racing and the No. 16 Toyota Tundra for Hattori Racing Enterprises in the NASCAR Truck Series. Almirola previously competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series as well as what are now the ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East and ARCA Menards Series West.
JR Motorsports is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, CARS Tour, and occasionally in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series. The team is based in Mooresville, North Carolina, co-owned by former NASCAR Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., his sister Kelley Earnhardt Miller, Kelley's husband and former racer L.W. Miller, and the owner of his former Cup Series team, Rick Hendrick. The team fields four full-time entries in the Xfinity Series: the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro SS full-time for Carson Kvapil, the No. 7 Camaro full-time for Justin Allgaier, the No. 8 Camaro full-time for Sammy Smith, and the No. 88 Camaro full-time for Connor Zilisch.
Shane S. Huffman is an American professional former stock car racing driver and current crew chief and team manager for Pinnacle Racing Group, which fields the No. 28 Chevrolet SS full-time in the ARCA Menards Series East and part-time in the ARCA Menards Series.
Jeffrey Lynn Earnhardt is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 26 Toyota GR Supra for Sam Hunt Racing, and part-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 67 Toyota Tundra for MBM Motorsports. He is the son of Kerry Earnhardt, grandson of Dale Earnhardt, and nephew of Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Justin Marks is an American racing driver, entrepreneur, and owner of Trackhouse Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 10 Chevrolet Camaro for Kaulig Racing.
Austin Reed Dillon is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing. He is the grandson of RCR team owner Richard Childress, the older brother of Ty Dillon who competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and the son of Mike Dillon, a former racing driver who currently works as RCR's general manager.
Bobby Dale Earnhardt is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 66 Toyota Camry for MBM Motorsports.
Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) is a museum in Mooresville, North Carolina. Formerly a race team founded by Dale Earnhardt and his wife, Teresa Earnhardt, it competed in the NASCAR Cup Series, the highest level of competition for professional stock car racing in the United States, from 1998 to 2009. Earnhardt was a seven-time Winston Cup champion who died in a crash on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Despite his ownership of the DEI racing team, Earnhardt never drove for his team in the Winston Cup; instead, he raced for his long-time mentor and backer Richard Childress at RCR. In the late-2000s, DEI suffered critical financial difficulties after drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip, and sponsors Anheuser-Busch, National Automotive Parts Association and United States Army left the team; DEI consequently merged with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2009, moving their equipment into the latter's shop, while the former's closed down. Chip Ganassi Racing's NASCAR operations was subsequently purchased by Trackhouse Racing Team in 2021.