Who is NASCAR’s most popular driver?

Dale Earnhardt Jr. held that coveted title for 15 consecutive years. And now, Chase Elliott has carried the title for 5 years in a row. However, not everyone in the community agrees with the collective opinions of the fans.

While he is Bill Elliott’s son and the 2022 Cup Series champion, J.C. Fickenscher from J.C.’s Garage has another name in his mind that, to him, is something around the most popular driver in NASCAR.

Between No. 1 and No. 9, what made J.C. Fickenscher replace the Golden Boy of Hendrick Motorsports with Ross Chastain?

In the opinion of J.C. Fickenscher, Chase Elliott is not the most popular driver in NASCAR. It is true that he is the one responsible for the famous Chase Elliott chicken tenders. It is also true that perhaps fans cheer the loudest for the #9 Chevy driver during Cup Series races.

But for Fickenscher, mere online voting cannot decide the popularity of a driver. He said, “In my honest opinion, Ross Chastain is the most popular driver in NASCAR right now.”

The host of PRN’s J.C.’s Garage podcast thinks that the brand that the “Melon Man” has built around him smashing melons and Gibson guitars should place him on the NMPD pedestal.

“I think in Dawsonville they just vote Chase Elliott every single day. They make like 50 accounts per person and then they just hammer that button,” he emphasized.

Watch this story: Fans Go Insane Over Resurfaced “Hold My Clock” Fiasco as Richard Childress Gets Real on $150,000 Setback From Kyle Busch

Fickenscher’s co-host David Styles agreed to it and said that a better barometer to decide the popularity of the drivers would be perhaps what the fans spoke about them directly on the track, drawing an example of how Denny Hamlin faced fans’ rebuke after his controversial win in Pocono and how everyone booed him.

Positive or negative, publicity is publicity, isn’t it?

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Ross Chastain’s move from last year that kicked-started his fame game

Trackhouse Racing Team‘s frontman, Ross Chastain, has been an exceptional driver since his entry into the NASCAR Cup Series. Chastain put on a never-before-seen show in the playoff run at Martinsville Speedway last year. He used the outside wall and ran on it, replicating a move straight from a video game. This earned him worldwide fame.

Chastain upped the gas of his #1 Chevrolet and intentionally used the wall as leverage so that the sudden boost in energy would throttle his car past his opponents. This dangerous move helped him secure his position in the fourth round of NASCAR’s playoff battle.

Read more: “Now Everytime I Sneeze It’s a Story”- Ross Chastain Refuses to Apologize for the Shift in Media Perception Since His Major Cup Series Success Last Season

Even Chase Elliott’s HMS teammate, Kyle Larson, said, “I’ll start by this; it was bada**! There’s no denying that. When I first saw that, that was crazy, that took b**ls.”