The 23 Most Popular NASCAR Drivers of All Time

Trophies count for nothing in this one. Cheers do, and the loudest of them rarely went to the best driver on track.

1. 1
   Dale Earnhardt

   Won the fans' Most Popular Driver award once, in 2001, after his death.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Dale Earnhardt Jr.

   Won Most Popular Driver fifteen times, every year from 2003 to 2017.
   857pts
3. 3
   Chase Elliott

   Took over the fan award in 2018 and kept winning it.
   516pts
4. 4
   Richard Petty

   The King, who signed autographs until the line was gone.
   516pts
5. 5
   Cale Yarborough

   A South Carolina farm boy whose 1979 fight put NASCAR on national television.
   515pts
6. 6
   Denny Hamlin

   Leaned into being booed and turned it into a second career.
   400pts
7. 7
   Kyle Busch

   The sport's most reliable villain, and its all-time national-series wins leader.
   400pts
8. 8
   Jimmie Johnson

   Seven titles and comparatively muted crowds, which became its own storyline.
   329pts
9. 9
   Danica Patrick

   Led laps in the Daytona 500 and drew fans who watched nothing else.
   248pts
10. 10
    Bobby Allison

    Head of the Alabama Gang, and one of the sport's most-followed families.
    248pts
11. 11
    Jeff Gordon

    Never won the fan award, and was booed as often as cheered at his peak.
    248pts
12. 12
    Bill Elliott

    Won the fan award sixteen times, the all-time record.
    248pts
13. 13
    Tony Stewart

    Three titles and a temper that fans treated as a feature.
    248pts
14. 14
    Davey Allison

    The heir apparent whose death in 1993 the sport never quite got over.
    248pts
15. 15
    Darrell Waltrip

    Booed as a driver, beloved as a broadcaster for two decades afterwards.
    154pts
16. 16
    Fireball Roberts

    NASCAR's first superstar, voted Most Popular Driver in 1957, whose death after a 1964 Charlotte crash stunned the sport.
17. 17
    Curtis Turner

    The hard-living, hard-partying racer voted Most Popular Driver in 1956 and remembered as the sport's original wild man.
18. 18
    Junior Johnson

    Former moonshine runner whose legend Tom Wolfe turned into The Last American Hero, later a six-time champion car owner.
19. 19
    Alan Kulwicki

    The engineer-turned-owner-driver who won the 1992 title with his backwards Polish Victory Lap and died in a plane crash months later.
20. 20
    Tim Richmond

    Flamboyant 1980s star whose style helped inspire Days of Thunder, and whose death from AIDS in 1989 the sport struggled to face.
21. 21
    Mark Martin

    Five-time Cup runner-up and one of the most respected drivers in the garage, a fan favourite across four decades.
22. 22
    Carl Edwards

    Celebrated his wins with a trademark backflip off the car door and walked away from the sport at the peak of his career.
23. 23
    Bubba Wallace

    The Cup Series' leading Black driver, whose 2020 stand on the Confederate flag made him one of the most talked-about figures in the sport.

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