{
  "id": 16195828,
  "title": "Chase Elliott Removes Name From Most Popular Driver Ballot In Honor of Kyle Busch",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/23/chase-elliott-removes-name-from-most-popular-driver-ballot-in-honor",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-10-23T14:40:07.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Yahoo Sports",
    "slug": "yahoo-sports",
    "url": "https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/chase-elliott-removes-name-most-144007373.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "On Friday, Chase Elliott chose to remove his name from the NASCAR Cup Series Most Popular Driver ballot in honor of Kyle Busch, who passed away in May. This comes after Busch, who has never won the prestigious award, has featured on the ballot. Busch's absence from the Most Popular Driver accolade has led to this unprecedented gesture by Elliott. Elliott's father, Bill Elliott, also opted out of the ballot in 2001, allowing Dale Earnhardt, a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, to win the award for the only time in his Hall of Fame career. Bill Elliott holds the record for the most NMPA Most Popular Driver Awards, having won the award a record 16 times. This act by Chase Elliott makes this the first time since Darrell Waltrip won the award in 1990 that a driver other than Earnhardt or Elliott will claim the Most Popular Driver title. Busch, a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and the winningest driver in the history of NASCAR's National Series with 234 victories, was hospitalized with sepsis and passed away at the age of 41. His final NASCAR National Series win was at Dover Motor Speedway, a week before his sudden death. Fans interested in voting for the 2026 Most Popular Driver can do so on NASCAR.com/mostpopulardriver or through the NASCAR Mobile App, with a limit of five votes per day per email address.",
  "summary": "On Friday, Chase Elliott showcased why he has become NASCAR’s most popular driver over the last eight seasons. The driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has officially chosen to opt out of a chance to be crowned the most popular driver in the NASCAR Cup Series this season. The reason? To give Kyle […] The post Chase Elliott Removes Name From Most Popular Driver Ballot In Honor of…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}