The two millionth vote was cast this week as race fans logged onto www.mostpopulardriver.com to support their favorite driver in the race for the coveted NASCAR NMPA Chex® Most Popular Driver award. This milestone is the halfway point to topping last year’s total of 4 million votes. The current list of top-ten drivers in no particular order includes Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr.[bet he is the leader], Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Elliott Sadler, Tony Stewart and Michael Waltrip. Competition is still in high gear since some of these drivers are separated by only 500 votes. Race fans are encouraged to make their vote count and get their driver in the running by logging on to the Chex Most Popular Driver Website once a day, each day, through Monday, November 20, 2006 at 11:59am/ct. The award has been given annually since 1956 and the top winner of the competition is Bill Elliott with 16 total wins and “The King” Richard Petty follows in second with nine. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has three consecutive wins in the voting competition, with his most recent win coming in 2005. General Mills began sponsoring the award in 2002 and since then more votes have been received than ever before in the history of the award. With this latest landmark, 15.5 million total votes have been received.(Elevation / General Mills PR)(9-16-2006)
