Chase Elliott has won the 2023 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Most Popular Driver Award presented by Hooters.
The award was announced during Thursday night’s NASCAR Awards at the Music City Center.
This marks Elliott’s sixth straight Most Popular Driver Award. The 28-year-old driver is coming off an adversity-filled season that saw him miss seven NASCAR Cup Series races and come up short in reaching the driver playoffs. Elliott did help guide the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts team to the Round of 8 in the owner playoffs. Overall, for the season, he finished with seven top-five finishes and 15 top-10s in 29 starts.
The NMPA Most Popular Driver Award is one of the longest-running awards in the sport as it was first given out in 1953. A Hendrick Motorsports driver has now won the award 18 times in its history. Darrell Waltrip took the honor in both 1989 and 1990. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the award all 10 years he was with the Rick Hendrick-owned organization from 2008 to 2017 as part of a record 15-year in-a-row run of taking home this hardware.
The Elliott family has 22 Most Popular Driver Awards between Chase (six) and his NASCAR Hall of Fame father Bill (16). Bill has won the award the most times in the sport’s history followed by Earnhardt Jr.’s 15.
— Hendrick Motorsports —
Although it was a disappointing NASCAR Cup Series season for Chase Elliott, his fan support remains strong with the recognition of the National Motorsports Press Association’s Most Popular Driver.
The award, presented by Hooters, was announced Thursday night during the annual NASCAR awards banquet in Nashville, Tennessee. It is the sixth consecutive year Elliott has been voted the winner, and he has won the award in six of his eight seasons as a NASCAR Cup Series driver.
The only major NASCAR award determined solely by the vote of race fans, Elliott earned 104,534 votes. The newly-crowned NASCAR Cup Series champion, Ryan Blaney, was second to Elliott in the voting. Kyle Larson, Elliott’s teammate, was third.
“This award has always, in my eyes, a reflection and extension of my family’s place in the sport and I recognize my spot in line and recognize what they’ve done,” Elliott said. “The reason that it’s special is because of the fans and how supportive they have been to my entire family, myself included, our team, over the years. I’m grateful for that. I don’t take it lightly, ever. I know you said you weren’t stunned, but I still take it very seriously, and I’m grateful for what they do for us. They’ve been phenomenal. So, I appreciate that.”
A driver must have declared for NASCAR Cup Series points to be eligible for the award.
Elliott’s father, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, holds the record for the most award wins at 16. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the award 15 times.
The Most Popular Driver award has been presented to either an Elliott or an Earnhardt for 33 consecutive years.
Elliott went winless in 2023 and failed to earn a berth in the playoffs, finishing 17th in the championship standings. It is the worst finish of Elliott’s Cup Series career. A snowboarding incident in the spring sidelined Elliott for six weeks while he recovered from surgery for a fractured left tibia. A one-race suspension from NASCAR for hooking Denny Hamlin in the Coca-Cola 600 made it a total of seven races Elliott missed during the year.
The NMPA Most Popular Driver Award is one of the longest-running awards presented annually by the National Motorsports Press Association.
— National Motorsports Press Association —