History, heavy and heartbreaking, has been written in the NASCAR Cup Series. According to Motorsport.com, the late Kyle Busch has been posthumously awarded the 2026 Most Popular Driver title, stepping into a statistical club that had only ever included one other name: the legendary Dale Earnhardt, who received the honor following his death in a crash at the end of the 2001 Daytona 500. Both men shared the Richard Childress Racing stable during their storied careers, making the parallel as haunting as it is profound.
Samantha, the wife of the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, attended the banquet to accept the trophy on his behalf. Following the tragic passing of the racing legend, a massive wave of support immediately mobilized to crown him for the 2026 season. That momentum became unstoppable when Chase Elliott, who had locked down the award every single year since 2018, pulled his name from the ballot and told his supporters to back Busch instead. Carson Hocevar also urged his fans to vote for Busch, despite not removing his own name from consideration amid his own explosive fandom growth in recent months.
It marks an extraordinary turn for a machine of a driver who spent much of his career playing the villain, famously drawing boos from grandstands across the country before winning over the masses in his later years. Look at the record books and the weight of this achievement becomes even clearer: Busch is the first driver not named Earnhardt or Elliott to take the award home since Darrell Waltrip back in 1990. For context on just how heavily those two families dominated the popularity contest, Bill Elliott sits at the top with 16 awards, Dale Earnhardt Jr. captured 15, Richard Petty took nine, Chase Elliott holds eight, and Bobby Allison earned seven.
Busch left behind an absolute mountain of silverware, boasting a record 234 victories across all three national divisions. That final triumph came in a Truck race just days before his passing at the age of 41, when pneumonia tragically progressed into sepsis. Tributes and honors have flooded every race weekend since, proving just how deeply the paddock and the fans feel the absence of the fierce competitor.
Elsewhere across the national divisions, the popularity honors continued. In the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, newly crowned two-time series champion Justin Allgaier secured the Most Popular Driver award for the fourth straight year, marking the seventh time he has taken the honor in his career. Meanwhile, in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, championship runner-up Layne Riggs picked up his very first Most Popular Driver award.
