Chase Elliott is the 2019 Most Popular Driver in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series after tallying the most votes in an online poll. As a result, he was presented with the National Motorsports Press Association Most Popular Driver award for the second-consecutive year. This year's honor was presented during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Awards banquet at Music City Center in downtown Nashville, Tenn., on Thursday.
“I’m honored to have two. Last year, I was honored to have one,” Elliott said. You try to learn things here and there. And as I have told several people, it is really more than a trophy or an award, it is about the people at the racetrack. Some of them are hear tonight and I really enjoy seeing them wear your hat or t-shirt.”
Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch, Matt DiBenedetto and Ryan Blaney [in alphabetical order] were the other top-five vote getters in the fan vote.
Elliott's two wins of the award follow a 15-year span in which Dale Earnhardt Jr. set a record for most consecutive Most Popular Driver awards prior to his retirement from full-time competition as a Cup Series driver at the end of the 2017 season. NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, Chase Elliott's father, holds the record for most Most Popular Driver awards in the Cup Series with 16. An Earnhardt or an Elliott has won the award yearly since 1991.
Elliott won three races during the 2019 season and advanced to the round of eight in the playoffs. He wound up 10th in the driver standings at the end of the season.
Fan voting also determined Most Popular Drivers in NASCAR's other two national series. Justin Allgaier was voted NASCAR Xfinity Series Most Popular Driver, and Ross Chastain took the same honor in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series.
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