Chase Elliott was first voted NASCAR Cup’s Most Popular Driver in 2018, and he has held that title ever since. He now won the National Motorsports Press Association award for the eighth consecutive year. His father Bill won the award 16 times between 1984 and 2002.
This is also the 35th consecutive year a member of the Earnhardt or Elliott family has won the fan-chosen award. Prior to the younger Elliott, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the award in 15 consecutive seasons until his retirement from the Cup Series.
Chase won the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series championship, ended the 2025 season eighth in points with two race wins.
“I just got the news a little bit ago, and I just wanted to take a minute and reflect on that some,” said Elliott in a video message posted to social media. “Thank you for the votes. Thank you for taking the time out of your day and supporting us in that way and supporting me in that way, but man it’s so much more than the votes. I tell a lot of people this that I talk to about it, it’s really about the people and the support that I get to see firsthand and I know not everybody has that vantage point or that perspective, but it truly is incredible and every year, it blows me away to travel to parts of the country that you would never think people are that passionate about what we’re doing.”
A few days prior to the final results, NASCAR said that Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, and Elliott were the top five vote-earners.
Most Popular Driver for Xfinity and Trucks
Rajah Caruth, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Photo by: David Jensen / Getty Images
In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, longtime driver and 2024 series champion Justin Allgaier was voted as the NXS Most Popular Driver for the third consecutive year. He’s also won the award five times in the last six years, with Noah Gragson briefly interrupted his reign as MPD in 2022. Allgaier ended 2025 third in the final standings, winning three races this season and reaching 28 in his career.
In the NASCAR Truck Series, Rajah Caruth was voted as the NCTS Most Popular Driver for the second consecutive year. The 23-year-old is set to move up to the Xfinity Series next year, running a large chunk of the schedule with JR Motorsports. He has two wins in his Truck Series career, and ended 2025 sixth in the final standings with Spire Motorsports.
Additionally, veteran broadcaster Mike Joy has won the prestigious Myers Brothers Award from the NMPA.
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