Kyle Busch wins NASCAR Most Popular Driver award posthumously

Kyle Busch has been named the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Most Popular Driver, making him only the second driver to win the award posthumously, after Dale Earnhardt. Chase Elliott, who had won the award every year from 2018 to 2025, withdrew his name from consideration and urged fans to vote for Busch instead.

At the NASCAR Awards banquet in Miami, Busch's wife Samantha accepted the award on his behalf. Busch died on May 21 of this year at the age of 41. In her speech she described him as passionate, outspoken and fiercely competitive, and thanked Elliott and the other drivers who encouraged fans to vote for him.

Samantha said Busch had long wanted to win the award and had once checked the voting numbers to see how close he had come. She added that he had never changed who he was to make people like him.