Chase Elliott launches campaign to get Kyle Busch named most popular driver
· Yahoo Sports
As the self-described villain of NASCAR, Kyle Busch never expected to win a popularity contest.
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In fact, he delighted in his unpopularity.
But after Busch’s untimely death on Thursday, May 21, at age 41, NASCAR’s most popular driver is ready to step aside and give “Rowdy” the title in honor of his impact on the sport.
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Chase Elliott, who has won the past eight NASCAR Cup Series Most Popular Driver awards, said he will campaign to get Busch the honor this year.
“I would be in extreme favor of Kyle winning the vote,” Elliott said on Sunday, per Charlotte Observer columnist Scott Fowler. “He’s a guy who certainly poured a lot of his life into the sport. Although he might have been getting boos a lot of weeks, he also had a lot of fans, a lot of really passionate fans.”
Like father, like son
Chase Elliott is taking a page from another extremely popular NASCAR driver, his father, Bill. In 2001, Bill Elliott backed Dale Earnhardt Sr. for the Most Popular Driver award after Earnhardt died in a crash at the Daytona 500.
“Dale Earnhardt never won this award, and I think it would be a tremendous honor for the Earnhardt family to receive it this year. I certainly don’t want to stand in the way of his family receiving this award,” said Bill Elliott, now 70.
Surprisingly, Earnhardt had never won the award, although “The Intimidator” had legions of fans. That might be because Bill Elliott, known as “Awesome Bill from Dawsonville,” was collecting all the awards. He had won it 10 straight times and 15 times overall before 2001. Then, after Earnhardt Sr. took the 2001 honor, Bill Elliott won once more before turning it over to Dale Earnhardt Jr., who collected 15 consecutive awards.
Chase Elliott, the 2020 Cup Series champion, started his run of Most Popular Driver awards in 2018.
Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion, died of severe pneumonia that progressed into sepsis, his family said. He won 234 races across the top three series in NASCAR, more than any other driver.
NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 will be run at 6 p.m. ET Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Amazon Prime Video.