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Who Is the Most Popular Driver on All Social Media Platforms? It's Not Chase Elliott

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Kyle Dalton | Last updated May 30, 2025 7:11 PM ET

NASCAR fans regularly share their voices at the end of each season when they cast their votes for the sport’s most popular driver in all three series. Chase Elliott has had a stranglehold on the award in the Cup Series, having been voted the most popular for seven consecutive years.

But the actual number of votes are unknown because NASCAR doesn’t release that information to the general public. Despite that secrecy, there is yet another readily available way to measure who has the largest following in the sport and that’s through social media.

And for the second time in the last six months, the numbers reveal that the Hendrick Motorsports driver isn’t the top dog. That title belongs to Richard Childress Racing driver Kyle Busch.

Including data for X, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, the two-time Cup Series champion leads the way with 2.126 million followers. Busch has 990,500 on X, 447,000 on IG, 614,000 on FB and 75,100 on YT.

Coming in second is Elliott with a total of 1.947 million followers, which breaks down into 929,100 on X, 498,000 on IG, 499,000 on FB and 21,200 on YT.

In December, I produced my first list of the most popular NASCAR Cup Series drivers on social media. Now, six months later and halfway through the 2025 regular season, it's time for an update. pic.twitter.com/uylFn6v3TI
— Kyle Dalton (@kdsportswriter) May 30, 2025

The biggest surprise inside the top 10 is undoubtedly John Hunter Nemechek, who is ranked third overall with 1.758 million followers. The Legacy Motor Club driver has 56,200 on X, 250,000 on IG and 42,000 on FB. He owes that lofty position to his YouTube subscribers, which total an impressive 1.41 million.

It appears the No. 42 driver earned most of those subscribers on a couple of massive shorts that he posted about pit stops a year ago, including one video that received a whopping 38 million views.

Here's a complete list of the 36 NASCAR Cup Series drivers and their total number of followers on social media (X, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube). pic.twitter.com/oCumoPfAs7
— Kyle Dalton (@kdsportswriter) May 30, 2025

Kyle Larson is ranked fourth with 1.378 million followers, including 524,800 on X, 391,000 on IG, 433,000 on FB and 30,000 on YT. Denny Hamlin rounds out the top five with 1.348 million followers, with 806,800 on X, 290,000 on IG, 213,000 on FB and 38,200 on YT.

Rounding out the top 10 are Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, and Austin Dillon.

Here’s the complete list of the 36 Cup Series drivers and their followers.

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

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