NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver Award is one of the biggest debates in the sport. For some, it is purely based on merit, while others believe it has nothing to do with the sport. Chase Elliott has absolutely dominated the popularity contest for the last eight years, but some fans believe this equation could change this year.

Carson Hocevar won his first Cup race at Talladega and pulled off the most unique celebration. Then there is Cleetus McFarland, who has just taken over the NASCAR media with his massive fan following. Now, the interesting thing about these two is that they gel well together, and in case they team up, it could be enough to dethrone Chase Elliott. Well, Dale Jr doesn’t think so.

Things got heated on X when a fan questioned Dale Jr’s opinion, to which the veteran team owner replied, “I won it 15 times and have a pretty solid understanding of how it works.” He had a point, and this is why he felt that the even Cleetus-Hocevar partnership wouldn’t be enough to bring about a change in NASCAR’s popularity contest. And there are some hidden criteria and behind-the-scenes processes that are not known to the fans that decide NASCAR’s popular driver.

A reputed journalist from Racer, Kelly Crandal, shed light on how controlled the entire process is. “NASCAR does not want the numbers publicly released. How do I know? Because I’ve worked with NASCAR on the most popular driver award as NMPA president and written the winner press release. It’s an NMPA award. I saw the numbers during those years. No one else gets the numbers.” So, even the journalists don’t reveal the numbers on how close the contest was, even if this entire process is said to be determined by fan votes.

It’s no secret that McFarland has built one of the largest motorsports audiences on the Internet with over 4.7 million YouTube subscribers and billions of total views across his content empire. Richard Childress Racing has hence leaned into his massive online following with reports suggesting that race streams alone have approached 1 million viewers.

If even a fraction of those fans suddenly adopted Hocevar as their favourite cup driver, the young Spire Motorsports driver could absolutely see his popularity explode. Still, he is not an immediate threat per Junior, after all, Elliott’s fan base is not just large, it is generational. That said, Jr. still agrees that the fight will start soon.

“I believe there will be years where Chase has some real competition,” said Dale Jr. as a matter of fact on the DJD podcast. “And I honestly feel like that’s happening already. I would love to know just how close the battle is. There will be stars that will come and go, and Hocevar is in a position to take advantage of this thing.”

And with the 23-year-old’s appearance at the recently held Met Gala in New York, Junior is more than happy with how NASCAR was represented on a big stage.

Junior gives ultimate nod to Hocevar’s Met Gala show

Carson Hocevar backed up the Talladega win with the truck series victory at Texas before delivering another major statement during Cup qualifying last weekend.

That surge in popularity extended far beyond racing circles. He was invited to the Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, sharing the spotlight with global celebrities, including Kim Kardashian, Gigi Hadid, Bad Bunny, and Beyoncé. He also became the first NASCAR driver to attend the event since Jeff Gordon in 2010.

The appearance sparked mixed reactions within the NASCAR community, but Junior believed this was exactly the kind of exposure the sport needed.

“Listen, I think that was fantastic,” he said. “And the reason why, I would have never expected a driver to be invited to that. I don’t even know what it is…We need our drivers in these unusual spaces, connecting with people that aren’t connected to our sport.”

The timing of that exposure matters for NASCAR. Race broadcast once averaged nearly 10 million viewers in the early 2000s, but by 2025, the number reportedly dropped to around 2.45 million per race.

And while Hocevar admitted the Met Gala fell far outside his comfort zone, NASCAR clearly sees value in drivers reaching an audience beyond the racetrack and bringing new fans into the sport.