Perennial winner Chase Elliott has opted to remove his name from consideration for NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Award out of respect for the late Kyle Busch.
The National Motorsports Press Association announced the start of voting Friday and Elliott's choice not to be considered.
Busch died in May after severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis, resulting in rapid and overwhelming complications. His death stunned the NASCAR community and beyond.
Elliott has won the award every year since 2018, after Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the choice 15 consecutive times before retiring. Elliott indicated in May that he was hopeful that Busch could be this year's winner.
"I just think it's one of those things that Kyle is a guy who really deserves an award like that. He's a guy that's had a lot of fans throughout the course of his career," Elliott said. "I know the boos, and it was fun, but a lot of supporters, a lot of really passionate fans. Just feel like he deserves to win the award, truthfully. I obviously don't know what's going to happen this year, but I just want to throw my support to make sure that I didn't get in the way of that."
Elliott's father, Bill, was voted the most popular driver a record 16 times. Bill Elliott made a similar gesture to his son's in 2001, when he withdrew from consideration for the Most Popular Driver Award to help Dale Earnhardt receive the honor posthumously following his death at the Daytona 500 that February.
Voting runs from Friday through Nov. 9, the day after the Cup Series season finale, with the winner revealed Nov. 10.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
