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Carson Hocevar is asking his fans not to vote for him for NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver award and to vote for the late Kyle Busch instead.
Voting for the fan-voted award opened Friday, and Carson Hocevar posted on Facebook the same day: “Most Popular Driver Voting opened today. I’d appreciate my fans to NOT vote for me. Vote Kyle Busch.”
Hocevar: ‘I’d be very disappointed if they voted for me’
Hocevar repeated the request at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck reported.
“I’d be very disappointed if they voted for me,” Hocevar said. “We can try and win it another year.”
https://x.com/jeff_gluck/status/2114022524761595912
Hocevar said he was told Busch would not have wanted to win the award by default, so he kept his own name on the ballot and is urging his fans to vote for Busch.
An open race for the award
Chase Elliott won the award the past seven seasons but withdrew his name from consideration this year. Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion with a record 234 wins across NASCAR’s three national series, never won it. He died May 21 at age 41 after pneumonia progressed into sepsis.
Hocevar, 23, has been one of the breakout drivers of 2026. He won the spring race at Talladega in April for his first Cup Series win and is 11th in the Chase standings heading into Sunday’s YellaWood 500. He starts 26th.
How to vote
Fans can vote at NASCAR.com/mostpopulardriver or in the NASCAR Mobile App until noon ET on Monday, November 9. Each fan can submit five ballots a day. The winner will be announced November 10 at the NASCAR Awards in Miami.
The award dates to 1949 and has been run by the National Motorsports Press Association since 1983. It is the only major NASCAR award decided solely by fan vote. Bill Elliott holds the record with 16 wins, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. won 15 straight from 2003 to 2017.
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