Dale Jr Leads Voting: #8-Dale Earnhardt, Jr. leads, and more than 130,000 votes have been cast for the Grands NMPA NASCAR Winston Cup Most Popular Driver Award. Voting began in early March at www.nascarpopulardriver.com, and NASCAR fans have responded in amazing numbers. Approximately 400,000 voted all of last year. Voting continues through November 10, 2002. Voting breakdowns were unavailable but, especially since it is early in the process, differences were relatively close down the list. Behind Earnhardt, Jr., in order, were Tony Stewart, Bill Elliott, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Ricky Rudd, Kyle Petty, Rusty Wallace, Kevin Harvick and Dale Jarrett. Many of the driver and team web sites have established links directly from their sites to the voting site, while many fan-developed and racing news sites have established direct links for the convenience of their readers (see graphic and link on the Jayski page, on the left side of this page). The award is administered by the National Motorsports Press Association, and is sponsored by Grands!, a product of Pillsbury. Fans are allowed one vote per day but may vote as many days as they wish.(Williams Company PR)(4-5-2002)
