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Chase Elliott Is Not Most Popular Cup Series Driver Based on Social Media Numbers

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Kyle Dalton | Last updated Dec 3, 2024 5:22 PM ET

Chase Elliott won the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Most Popular Driver Award on Nov. 22. Impressively, it was the seventh consecutive season fans have voted the Hendrick Motorsports pilot as the most popular in the sport. But that's the fan vote.

When it comes to actual fan following on social media and the three main platforms of X, Instagram and Facebook, it's a different story. Elliott finishes second and almost 100,000 followers behind Richard Childress Racing driver Kyle Busch. As of Dec. 2, the two-time Cup Series champion has amassed a total of 2,018,300 followers while the 2020 champ has 1,924,600 followers.

Breaking it down by the individual platforms, the RCR driver outpaces the 29-year-old on X (987,900 vs. 930,500) and Facebook (595,300 vs. 502,100). Elliott has a larger following on Instagram (492,000 vs. 435,100).

Following Elliott is his HMS teammate Kyle Larson at 1,322,800 followers (X: 520,100; IG: 375,700; FB: 427,000), Denny Hamlin with 1,271,900 followers (X: 803,700; IG: 255,000; FB: 213,200) and Brad Keselowski rounds out the top five with 1,158,400 followers (X: 762,000; IG: 142,500; FB: 253,900).

Who is the most popular NASCAR Cup Series driver on social media? (Hint: It's not @chaseelliott). pic.twitter.com/DuK7erRTny
— Kyle Dalton (@kdsportswriter) December 3, 2024

Interestingly, Joey Logano and Bubba Wallace are the only two other Cup drivers who top more than a million combined followers. The Team Penske two-time champion has 1,135,400 (X: 534,000; IG: 312,000; FB: 289,400) while the No. 23 pilot has accumulated a total of 1,114,900 (X: 430,200; IG: 504,100; FB: 180,600).

Conversely, as you would expect, on the opposite end of the spectrum with the fewest total followers are the younger drivers, including Carson Hocevar (106,500), Josh Berry (105,200), Ty Gibbs (93,600) and Todd Gilliland (83,300).

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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