{"id":1121,"section":"sports","section_label":"Sports","url":"https://www.brokenews.co/sports/1121","headline":"Chase Elliott withdraws from Most Popular Driver vote to honor Kyle Busch","dek":"Elliott, who had won the award eight straight years, is urging fans to back Busch instead after the two-time champion's death.","body":"Chase Elliott has taken his name off the ballot for NASCAR's Most Popular Driver award, ending what had been a lock for eight straight seasons from 2018 through 2025. The move is a tribute to Kyle Busch, the two-time Cup champion who died suddenly on May 21 at age 41 from complications from pneumonia.\n\nBusch, who won 63 Cup races, remains on this year's ballot alongside 34 other drivers. Elliott encouraged his supporters to redirect their votes, saying Busch \"has my vote\" and asking fans to \"show that love and show that energy to Kyle and his family.\"\n\nElliott pointed to family history as inspiration. His father, Bill Elliott, won the award for ten consecutive years and sixteen times overall, and stepped aside from it in 2001 after Dale Earnhardt died in that year's Daytona 500. Speaking Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway, Elliott called his father's gesture \"a really cool and admirable nod to, frankly, one of his biggest rivals,\" something he said he had always respected.\n\nSeveral other Cup Series drivers have also used social media to encourage fans to vote for Busch this year.","published_at":"2026-10-24T21:21:43.533400+00:00","source_count":4,"written_from":[{"outlet":"Fox Sports","publisher":"Fox Sports","title":"Chase Elliott Pulls Name Off NASCAR Most Popular Ballot As Nod To Kyle Busch","url":"https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nascar/chase-elliott-pulls-name-off-nascar-most-popular-ballot-nod-kyle-busch"},{"outlet":"The Athletic","publisher":"The Athletic","title":"Chase Elliott on withdrawing from NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver: Kyle Busch ‘has my vote’","url":"https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7720529/2026/10/24/chase-elliott-kyle-busch-nascar-most-popular-driver-award-withdraw/"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Chase Elliott Left the Most Popular Driver Ballot, and an Eight-Year Lock Is Gone","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/chase-elliott-left-most-popular-172322078.html"},{"outlet":"ESPN","publisher":"ESPN","title":"Chase Elliott opts out of popular driver award to steer vote to Kyle Busch","url":"https://www.espn.com/racing/story/_/id/50258473/chase-elliott-popular-driver-vote-honor-kyle-busch"}],"more_coverage":[{"outlet":"The Athletic","publisher":"The Athletic","title":"With Kyle Busch eligible, Chase Elliott not on NASCAR's Most Popular Driver ballot","url":"https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7717203/2026/10/23/chase-elliott-kyle-busch-nascar-most-popular-driver-award/"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Chase Elliott Removes Name From Most Popular Driver Ballot In Honor of Kyle Busch","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/chase-elliott-removes-name-most-144007373.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Kyle Busch never thought he’d win NASCAR’s fan award. Chase Elliott wants to change that","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/kyle-busch-never-thought-d-151825312.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Chase Elliott opts out of NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Award consideration for Kyle Busch","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/chase-elliott-opts-nascars-most-154250489.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Chase Elliott gets out of Kyle Busch's way at NASCAR Most Popular Driver ballot box","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/chase-elliott-gets-kyle-buschs-161542499.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Chase Elliott Makes Major NASCAR Decision to Honor Kyle Busch","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/chase-elliott-makes-major-nascar-163444841.html"}],"image":null,"embed":null,"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"Analysis data is licensed CC BY 4.0. Credit brokenews and link to the story page you took it from. Source headlines, story titles taken from a source headline, and quoted passages remain the property of their publishers and are quoted for comparison, not licensed onward.","terms":"https://www.brokenews.co/about#reuse"}