# Who is the most popular NASCAR driver 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.

*By YPB Team · Published September 11, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/who-is-the-most-popular-nascar-driver-of-all-time*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Dale Earnhardt** — score 1000/1000
   Won the fans' Most Popular Driver award once, in 2001, after his death.
2. **Dale Earnhardt Jr.** — score 857/1000
   Won Most Popular Driver fifteen times, every year from 2003 to 2017.
3. **Chase Elliott** — score 516/1000
   Took over the fan award in 2018 and kept winning it.
4. **Richard Petty** — score 516/1000
   The King, who signed autographs until the line was gone.
5. **Cale Yarborough** — score 515/1000
   A South Carolina farm boy whose 1979 fight put NASCAR on national television.
6. **Denny Hamlin** — score 400/1000
   Leaned into being booed and turned it into a second career.
7. **Kyle Busch** — score 400/1000
   The sport's most reliable villain, and its all-time national-series wins leader.
8. **Jimmie Johnson** — score 329/1000
   Seven titles and comparatively muted crowds, which became its own storyline.
9. **Danica Patrick** — score 248/1000
   Led laps in the Daytona 500 and drew fans who watched nothing else.
10. **Bobby Allison** — score 248/1000
   Head of the Alabama Gang, and one of the sport's most-followed families.
11. **Jeff Gordon** — score 248/1000
   Never won the fan award, and was booed as often as cheered at his peak.
12. **Bill Elliott** — score 248/1000
   Won the fan award sixteen times, the all-time record.
13. **Tony Stewart** — score 248/1000
   Three titles and a temper that fans treated as a feature.
14. **Davey Allison** — score 248/1000
   The heir apparent whose death in 1993 the sport never quite got over.
15. **Darrell Waltrip** — score 154/1000
   Booed as a driver, beloved as a broadcaster for two decades afterwards.

Tags: usa, drivers, nascar, motorsport, fans