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MIAMI — Kyle Busch was posthumously named the NASCAR Cup Series’ Most Popular Driver on Tuesday night at the NASCAR Awards at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, and his widow, Samantha Busch, accepted the award on stage. Seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and National Motorsports Press Association president Holly Cain announced the winner, according to NASCAR.com.
Busch was 41 when he died on May 21. In 2015 and 2019, he won the Cup Series championship. Across NASCAR’s three national series, he finished his career with a record 234 wins. Tuesday’s honor was his first Cup Series Most Popular Driver award in a 25-year career.
Samantha Busch spoke after taking the stage to accept it. “Kyle never changed who he was to make people like him,” she said. “He was Rowdy through and through.”
Earlier in the night, NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell acknowledged Samantha Busch from the stage while she sat in the audience. Comcast then named Kyle Busch and Greg Biffle co-recipients of its Community Champion Award, the first time it has gone to two people. The Busches created the Bundle of Joy Fund, which raises money to fight infertility, and Biffle, who died in a plane crash Dec. 16, 2025, used his personal helicopter for Hurricane Helene relief.
Chase Elliott’s Eight-Year Streak Ended After He Stepped Aside
Chase Elliott had won the previous eight Cup Series awards, every year since 2018, until he asked the NMPA in October to remove him from consideration in honor of Busch. His father, Bill Elliott, won the award a record 16 times, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. won it 15 straight times before retiring after the 2017 season.
No driver outside the Earnhardt and Elliott families had won the vote since Darrell Waltrip in 1990. Dale Earnhardt was also voted the award posthumously, after his death in 2001.
Kyle Larson Honored For Third Cup Series Title
Kyle Larson was recognized for his third Cup Series championship, all of them with Hendrick Motorsports, after clinching it Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway by finishing fourth in Stage 1.
Justin Allgaier received the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series trophy for his second championship, which came after a career-best six-win season. In the Craftsman Truck Series, Kaden Honeycutt was honored for a five-win season that ended with a victory in the Homestead finale. Allgaier also won the Most Popular Driver award in the O’Reilly Series, and Layne Riggs won it in the Truck Series.
NASCAR will show the full awards ceremony at 7 p.m. CT Friday on the NASCAR Channel.
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