Chase Elliott Named NASCAR's Most Popular Driver for the Seventh Time
At the NASCAR Awards Ceremony on Friday evening, a lot of awards were handed out. The grand daddy of them all was the NASCAR Cup Series National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Most Popular Driver Award, which went to Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott. This is the seventh consecutive season that the 28-year-old has been voted by the NASCAR fanbase as the Most Popular Driver.
Make that seven for Driver No. 9! @chaseelliott wins the 2024 NMPA Most Popular Driver Award! #NASCARAwards pic.twitter.com/GDFjnNhTJi
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) November 23, 2024
Elliott returned to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs in 2024 after a rough 2023 campaign, which saw him fail to advance to the NASCAR Cup Playoffs for the first time in his career. Nine races into the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series campaign, the driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 squashed any thoughts that he would miss the Playoffs two seasons in a row as he picked up a victory in the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Throughout the entirety of the season, Elliott was among the most consistent in the NASCAR Cup Series garage as he amassed 11 top-five finishes, and 19 top-10s through the 36-race season. Elliott only recorded two DNFs on the year, one was a crash in the September Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway. The other was a poorly timed DNF due to suspension issues after a wild crash with Tyler Reddick in the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 8 Playoffs opening race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The 33rd-place finish at Vegas put Elliott in a must-win situation heading into the next-to-last race of the NASCAR Cup Series season, if he wanted to battle for the championship at Phoenix, at Martinsville. Elliott, who led 129 laps in that event, came home just short of the win with a runner-up finish. Elliott would go on to finish seventh in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series championship standings.
While Elliott took home the Most Popular Driver Award for the NASCAR Cup Series in 2024, Justin Allgaier was named the NASCAR Xfinity Series Most Popular Driver for the fifth time in his 14-year career. Allgaier, who was the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion, will head into the 2025 season on a two-year streak of winning the award.
22-year-old Rajah Caruth, who recorded his first career win this season driving for Spire Motorsports in the No. 71 Chevrolet Silverado, was named the Most Popular Driver in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. This is the first time Caruth has picked up the award in his young NASCAR career.
Here is a full rundown of all of the awards that were handed out on Thursday and Friday evening in the ceremonies in uptown Charlotte, North Carolina:
Goodyear Gold Car Award
Joey Logano - NASCAR Cup Series Champion
Sunoco Diamond Performance Award
Joey Logano
Most Popular Driver
NASCAR Cup Series: Chase Elliott
NASCAR Xfinity Series: Justin Allgaier
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: Rajah Caruth
Bill France Award of Excellence
David Wilson - Toyota Racing Development
Myers Brothers Award
Greg Biffle - Hurricane Helene Relief Efforts
Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award
Judy Simmons - God's Pit Crew
Comcast Community Champion
Erik Jones - Erik Jones Foundation
Busch Light Pole Award
Michael McDowell - six pole positions in 2024
Sunoco Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Cup Series: Carson Hocevar
NASCAR Xfinity Series: Jesse Love
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: Layne Riggs
Manufacturer's Championship
NASCAR Cup Series: Chevrolet
NASCAR Xfinity Series: Chevrolet
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: Chevrolet
Growth Energy Green Flag Restart Award
Kyle Larson
Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.