CHARLOTTE — Chase Elliott continued to build his legacy as an undeniable NASCAR Cup Series fan favorite, winning the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Most Popular Driver Award for the seventh straight season.
Honored Friday night during the NASCAR Awards celebration at the Charlotte Convention Center, Elliott amassed 266,363 votes in competition for the only major NASCAR award determined solely by race fans.
A driver representing Hendrick Motorsports has won the award for 17 straight years, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. earning the distinction from 2008-2017 and Elliott taking home the trophy ever since.
In fact, in the past 40 years, only one driver not named Elliott or Earnhardt has earned the NMPA Most Popular Driver Award. That was Darrell Waltrip in 1989 and 1990.
Bill Elliott, Chase’s father, claimed the award a record 16 times; Earnhardt Jr. 15 times, all consecutive; Dale Earnhardt Sr. in 2001, posthumously; and Chase Elliott, now seven times.
For Chase, the obligation inherent in winning the award extends to his family and its legacy.
“They laid the foundation for me to be here and to have some of the opportunities I’ve had throughout my career,” he said. “I look at it from that perspective more than anything.
“I’m certainly grateful for the fans across the board. They’ve been great to me throughout my career. I’ve had the fortunate experience of seeing all that and living that first-hand. It means a lot to me. I’ll never take that for granted. I certainly want to try to make those people proud as we move into next year and beyond.”
Kyle Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion and Elliott’s teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, was runner-up in the voting, as he expected.
Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, the 2023 series champion, was third in the Cup Series voting.
Newly crowned champion Justin Allgaier won the Most Popular Driver Award in the Xfinity Series for the fifth time, giving JR Motorsports its 13th straight such recognition among six drivers — Allgaier, Danica Patrick, Regan Smith, Chase Elliott, Elliott Sadler and Noah Gragson.
Rajah Caruth won his first Most Popular Driver Award in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Driving for Spire Motorsports, Caruth became the third Black driver to win a NASCAR national series race when he triumphed at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March.
Earlier on Friday, NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano began the afternoon celebrating his third title with a special solid gold car given to each year’s champion from Goodyear and then later finally being feted by the sport at the tuxedo-and-gown banquet.
The 34-year old’s three titles in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford are now most among all active drivers and he is one of only 10 competitors in the history of the sport to have ever earned a trio of championship trophies.
Logano thanked his team, his team owner Roger Penske and the father of three gave a special nod to his wife Brittany, whom he praised for taking care of their young family and home — allowing him to maintain championship focus.
He thanked his family members, who were also in the audience, “remembering when I was a kid and got a go-kart for Christmas and now I’m sitting here a three-time Cup champion, it’s just truly incredible.”
The NASCAR Xfinity Series and its first-time champion, JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier, along with Craftsman Truck Series first-time champion Ty Majeski and his ThorSport Raing team were celebrated.
Former NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and Xfinity Series champion Greg Biffle was recognized as the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Myers Brothers Award winner. Biffle, an avid pilot, flew rescue missions and dropped supplies to the residents in Western North Carolina following the devastating damage from Hurricane Helene in October.
“I thought, if I didn’t go, who’s going to go,” said Biffle, who said he received 12,000 messages for help and flew supplies into the area for 14 consecutive days after the storm hit.
“I didn’t do anything any different than anyone in this room would have,” a humble Biffle added.
In other awards presented on the night, David Wilson, the long-time president of Toyota Racing Development (TRD) was presented the Bill France Award of Excellence for his contributions to the sport. Wilson is retiring after leading the Toyota racing effort in NASCAR for 30 years — a tenure that included Toyota’s first NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2015 and two more in 2017 and 2019.
Legacy Motor Club driver Erik Jones was named the Comcast Community Champion Award winner for his work in promoting cancer screenings, raising money for breast cancer patients and longtime literacy advocacy, reading books to school children as he travels around the country racing.
The NASCAR Foundation formally announced Judy Simmons, of Axton, Va., as the 2024 winner of the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award. Simmons received a $100,000 donation from The NASCAR Foundation to her God’s Pit Crew non-profit organization, which provides disaster relief help to families.
–By Reid Spencer and Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.
