NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Award

NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Award is awarded to the most popular NASCAR driver in the Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series every year since 1956. It started as a poll of the drivers and then all NASCAR Cup Series competitors; today, it is voted for by fans across the United States.

The award is presented by the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA). Sponsored by Hamburger Helper in 2010, it was also sponsored by Wheaties in 2011. The ceremony presenting the award is called the NASCAR Awards Banquet, and it is held in Nashville, Tennessee in November of each year.

The winner of the most awards is Bill Elliott with 16 in the NASCAR Cup Series. Elliott Sadler has the most with four awards in the Xfinity Series, and Johnny Benson Jr. has the most awards at three in the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has the second-most awards (15) and holds the longest streak, winning the award in 2003 and every year until his retirement in 2017.^[1]^[2]

Recipients[]

Cup Series[]

Bill Elliott has the most Most Popular Driver Awards in the Cup Series with 16.

Year	Driver	Team	Notes
1949	Curtis Turner	Hubert Westmoreland, Curtis Turner, Frank Christian	Voted on by a panel
1950	Not awarded
1951	Not awarded
1952	Lee Petty	Petty Enterprises	National award, covering every NASCAR series Lee Petty won the series championship in 1954
1953		Petty Enterprises
1954		Petty Enterprises,
1955	Tim Flock	Carl Kiekhaefer, Hubert Westmoreland
1956	Curtis Turner	Charlie Schwam
1957	Fireball Roberts	Pete DePaolo, Fireball Roberts, , Buck Baker
1958	Glen Wood	Wood Brothers Racing
1959	Jack Smith	Jack Smith
1960	Rex White	Beau Morgan, Rex White, , L. D. Austin	Won the series championship
1961	Joe Weatherly	Doc White, Bud Moore Engineering, Elmo Henderson
1962	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises
1963	Fred Lorenzen	Holman-Moody, Wood Brothers Racing,
1964	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	Won the series championship
1965	Fred Lorenzen	Holman-Moody
1966	Darel Dieringer	Toy Bolton, Bud Moore Engineering, Petty Enterprises, , , Junior Johnson & Associates
1967	Cale Yarborough	Wood Brothers Racing, Neil Castles, Bud Moore Engineering
1968	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises
1969	Bobby Isaac	Nord Krauskopf
1970	Bobby Allison	, Bobby Allison
1971		Bobby Allison, Holman-Moody
1972
1973		Bobby Allison
1974	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	Won the series championship
1975			Won the series championship
1976
1977
1978
1979	David Pearson	Wood Brothers Racing, Rod Osterlund	Part time driver
1980	Bobby Allison	Bud Moore Engineering
1981		Ranier-Lundy
1982		DiGard Motorsports
1983		DiGard Motorsports	Won the series championship
1984	Bill Elliott	Melling Racing
1985
1986
1987
1988			Won the series championship
1989	Darrell Waltrip	Hendrick Motorsports
1990	Darrell Waltrip	Hendrick Motorsports
1991	Bill Elliott	Melling Racing
1992		Junior Johnson & Associates
1993
1994
1995		Bill Elliott Racing
1996			Missed several races due to injury.
1997
1998			Missed one race due to the death of his father.
1999
2000
2001	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	Awarded posthumously.
2002	Bill Elliott	Evernham Motorsports	Withdrew his own name from future ballots following this year
2003	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008		Hendrick Motorsports
2009
2010
2011
2012			Missed two races due to injury.
2013
2014
2015
2016			Missed final 18 races due to injury.
2017
2018	Chase Elliott
2019
2020			Won the series championship

Xfinity Series[]

Elliott Sadler has the most Most Popular Driver Awards in the Xfinity Series with four.

Year	Driver	Team	Notes
1982	Jack Ingram	Ingram Racing	Won the series championship
1983	Sam Ard		Won the series championship
1984	Sam Ard		Won the series championship
1985	Jimmy Hensley
1986	Brett Bodine
1987	Jimmy Hensley	Sam Ard Racing
1988	Larry Pearson	Pearson Racing
1989	Rob Moroso	Moroso Racing	Won the series championship
1990	Bobby Labonte	Labonte Motorsports
1991	Kenny Wallace	Rusty Wallace Racing
1992	Joe Nemechek	NEMCO Motorsports	Won the series championship
1993	Joe Nemechek	NEMCO Motorsports
1994	Kenny Wallace	FILMAR Racing
1995	Chad Little	Mark Rypien Motorsports
1996	David Green	American Equipment Racing
1997	Mike McLaughlin	Frank Cicci Racing
1998	Buckshot Jones	Buckshot Racing
1999	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	Won the series championship
2000	Ron Hornaday Jr.	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
2001	Kevin Harvick	Richard Childress Racing	Won the series championship
2002	Greg Biffle	Roush Racing	Won the series championship
2003	Scott Riggs	ppc Racing
2004	Martin Truex Jr.	Chance 2 Motorsports	Won the series championship
2005	Martin Truex Jr.	Chance 2 Motorsports	Won the series championship
2006	Kenny Wallace	ppc Racing
2007	Carl Edwards	Roush Fenway Racing	Won the series championship
2008	Brad Keselowski	JR Motorsports
2009		JR Motorsports
2010		Penske Racing	Won the series championship
2011	Elliott Sadler	Richard Childress Racing
2012	Danica Patrick	JR Motorsports	The first female driver to win the MPD award
2013	Regan Smith
2014	Chase Elliott		Won the series championship
2015	Chase Elliott
2016	Elliott Sadler
2017
2018
2019	Justin Allgaier
2020	Justin Allgaier

Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series[]

Johnny Benson Jr. has the most Most Popular Driver Awards in the Truck Series with three.

Year	Driver	Team	Notes
1995	Butch Miller	Liberty Racing
1996	Jimmy Hensley
1997	Ron Hornaday Jr.	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
1998	Stacy Compton	Impact Motorsports
1999	Dennis Setzer	K Automotive Racing
2000	Greg Biffle	Roush Racing	Won the series championship
2001	Joe Ruttman	Bobby Hamilton Racing
2002	David Starr	Spears Motorsports
2003	Brendan Gaughan	Orleans Racing
2004	Steve Park	Orleans Racing
2005	Ron Hornaday Jr.	Kevin Harvick Incorporated
2006	Johnny Benson Jr.	Bill Davis Racing
2007
2008			Won the series championship
2009	Ricky Carmichael	Kevin Harvick Incorporated, Turner Motorsports
2010	Narain Karthikeyan	Wyler Racing	The first non-American driver to win the award
2011	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Won the series championship
2012	Nelson Piquet Jr.	Turner Motorsports	First South American winner
2013	Ty Dillon	Richard Childress Racing
2014	Ryan Blaney	Brad Keselowski Racing
2015	John Hunter Nemechek	SWM-NEMCO Motorsports
2016	Tyler Reddick	Brad Keselowski Racing
2017	Chase Briscoe	Brad Keselowski Racing
2018	Noah Gragson	Kyle Busch Motorsports
2019	Ross Chastain	Niece Motorsports
2020	Zane Smith	GMS Racing

Mexico Series[]

Year	Driver	Team	Notes
2009	Jorge Arteaga
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015

Multiple winners[]


Driver	Cup	Xfinity	Truck	Mexico	Total
Bill Elliott	16	0	0	0	16
Dale Earnhardt Jr.	15	1	0	0	16
Bobby Allison	8	0	0	0	8
Richard Petty	8	0	0	0	8
Chase Elliott*	3	2	0	0	5
Elliott Sadler	0	4	0	0	4
Lee Petty	3	0	0	0	3
Brad Keselowski*	0	3	0	0	3
Jimmy Hensley	0	2	1	0	3
Ron Hornaday Jr.	0	1	2	0	3
Johnny Benson Jr.	0	0	3	0	3
Jorge Arteaga	0	0	0	3	3
Kenny Wallace	0	3	0	0	3
Fred Lorenzen	2	0	0	0	2
Justin Allgaier*	0	2	0	0	2
Sam Ard	0	2	0	0	2
Joe Nemechek	0	2	0	0	2
Curtis Turner	2	0	0	0	2
Martin Truex Jr.*	0	2	0	0	2
Greg Biffle*	0	1	1	0	2
Pepe Montano	0	0	0	2	2
* – still active as of 2020.

References[]

^ Wilhelm, Chase (December 2, 2016). "Dale Jr. wins NASCAR's Most Popular Driver, reveals wedding date". Foxsports.com. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
^ "Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins NASCAR Most Popular Driver award for 15th time". USA Today. Associated Press. November 30, 2017. Retrieved December 2, 2017.

External links[]

[1] Wilhelm, Chase (December 2, 2016). "Dale Jr. wins NASCAR's Most Popular Driver, reveals wedding date". Foxsports.com. Retrieved December 2, 2016.

[2] "Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins NASCAR Most Popular Driver award for 15th time". USA Today. Associated Press. November 30, 2017. Retrieved December 2, 2017.

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