Danica Patrick Joins NASCAR Community in Backing Kyle Larson for the Prestigious 2022 ESPY Award

Published 07/19/2022, 12:55 PM EDT

An ESPY Award is an honor that is presented to the highest performing athletes across the world. This year, NASCAR Defending Champion Kyle Larson has also been nominated for one.

The award he is nominated for is the Best Driver award, and to show her support for the Hendrick Motorsports driver, even former NASCAR and IndyCar driver Danica Patrick retweeted NASCAR’s post regarding the same.

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Our defending champion needs your vote! ✅
Help @KyleLarsonRacin win the 2022 ESPY for Best Driver!
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 13, 2022

The 29-year-old stormed to win the championship last year with a staggering 10 wins, 20 top-five spots, and 26 top-10s. He also led 2,581 laps in his Hendrick Motorsports number 5 car. Larson picked up 3 back to back wins in 2021, including a win at the “Crown Jewel” event, Coca-Cola 600.

This year, however, Kyle has managed to rake in only one win, arguably owing to problems with the Next-Gen cars. Regardless, he ended up with the nomination for his outstanding performance throughout 2021. If Kyle Larson wins the vote for the best driver award, he could become the 19th NASCAR driver to win this prestigious award.

NASCAR put out a tweet urging fans to vote for Kyle Larson. With the votes now closed, we can only hope that Kyle would have received the support required to bag this win. Kyle is in contention with the likes of Max Verstappen, Steve Torrence, and Álex Palou. The results will be announced on the 20th of July 2022.

Fan reactions to the Kyle Larson nomination for Best Driver

Fans on Twitter showcased their immense support by tweeting in praise of the driver’s skills across various forms of motorsport.

Most fans admired the driving prowess of Larson and how he manages to dominate races with his skill and race craft.

Kyle Larson dominated both NASCAR and dirt racing last year, he deserves this award over anyone else
— ow (@ow64212525) July 13, 2022

It’s racing and Larson won a lot of those. If we’re not even including those wins he won like 10 races last year and led more 2,000 laps. One of the greatest seasons in NASCAR history or even racing
— Mark (@Mark11242003) July 14, 2022

I've always admired Kyle's skills on the track. I admire him now evem more off the track. Everyone makes mistakes in life but how we respond, take accountability, and move forward is what's important. No one has done that better than Kyle.
— U after Ron Jeremy (@PICK4KID) July 14, 2022

Some fans want Kyle Larson to win regardless if one is a NASCAR fan or not.

Rather you're a NASCAR/Larson fan or not he clearly deserves the award
— RacinNateDog (@RacinNate) July 14, 2022

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Larson should win it but, trust it’ll go to Max Verstappen
— Mark (@Mark11242003) July 14, 2022

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Meanwhile, we really hope Larson picks up the award beating Steve Torrence, Alex Palou, and Max Verstappen. Let us know who you voted for and why in the comments!

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Written by:

Srijan Mandal is a NASCAR author at EssentiallySports. He is currently pursuing his Master’s in Journalism and has been writing for his own blog, 'Noobs Onboard', for a while now, covering NASCAR, F1, W Series, MotoGP, WRC and the WEC. Following motorsports for more than a decade now, he has become a devout supporter of McLaren Racing, Sir Lewis Hamilton, and Ayrton Senna.

Edited by:

Ranvijay Singh