The National Motorsports Press Association will announce the winner of this year’s Sprint NMPA Most Popular Driver Award during Friday evening’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony at the Wynn Las Vegas. The award has been a part of the annual Myers Brothers Awards Luncheon held the day before the Sprint Cup ceremony in recent years. However, Sprint’s sponsorship of the program, which began this year, provided the NMPA the opportunity to make the presentation as part of Friday’s ceremony. It will mark just the second time in recent years that the award has been moved to Friday’s program. In 2001, Teresa Earnhardt, widow of seven-time premier series champion Dale Earnhardt, accepted the award on behalf of her husband during the annual awards show. Earnhardt’s son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., has won the MPD award for the past 11 seasons. Only NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott has more MPD awards with 16. The Sprint NMPA Most Popular Driver Award is the only major NASCAR award determined solely by fan vote.(NASCAR.com)(12-3-2014)
