Kyle Larson Potentially Stealing Chase Elliott’s NASCAR Crown Triggers Divide Between HMS Fans

Chase Elliott is officially NASCAR’s most popular driver by quite a mile. Ever since he registered his first win in the Cup Series in 2018, the driver of the No. 9 team has been dominating the award. While his performances have not been the best compared to those of his rivals, the fans seem to adore him. However, Elliott’s crown as the most popular NASCAR driver might be under threat because of his teammate Kyle Larson, who has been growing into a popular figure in recent years.

Battle of popularity between Elliott and Larson

As far as a popularity contest goes, Hendrick Motorsports drivers take the cake. Multiple factors are considered when labeling a driver as the most popular, and merchandise sales are one of them. 2023 Chase Elliott was ruling the charts once again with the highest number of merchandise sales trackside. Larson wasn’t far behind and was placed second on the list, as shared by the Sports Business Journal. This was an interesting outcome, as Elliott had one of his worst NASCAR seasons, missing out on points races and also failing to make it to the playoffs for the first time.

However, with the turn of the new year, some fans believe Kyle Larson is outshining his teammate and could become NASCAR’s most popular driver. Sparking the debate online, a page named Couch Racer took to X to share its opinion about Larson’s rise and even made a bold claim. “This is NASCAR’s most popular driver. Pull the merchandise receipts. Anyone wanna bet he leads the industry in merch sales?”

Well, this was enough to light up a fire between the two fan groups who were involved in a war of words trying to make a case for their favorite driver.

Is Kyle Larson NASCAR’s new poster boy?

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Chase Elliott fans were not buying the fact that Larson had taken over in terms of popularity and were quick to counter this argument. “I don’t know. Chase Elliott is like God”. Another hardcore Elliott fan added, “He is popular, that’s for sure… He’s my second fav; behind Chase Elliott ofc 😁”.

We have seen family influence play quite a big role in shaping a driver’s career. According to a fan, this was the case with Chase Elliott’s rise in popularity: “Is chase most popular because of who his dad is? Or is it something he offers? Just trying to understand.”

It is hard to understand how these awards are handed out. It sure isn’t based on on-track performance. If that had been the case, Dale Earnhardt wouldn’t be losing to Bill Elliott. A fan rightly echoed, “Bill Elliott won the award in the 1990s and you’re going to tell me he was more popular than Dale Sr? That’s why I know the award is a joke”.

An unbiased user shared his experience of visiting the races this season and delivered the verdict that Larson is leading ahead of Elliott in terms of merchandise worn by race fans. “Having been to various races over the past few years I can say that it seems very close (5 vs 9) and this year it has seemed to especially favor KL in terms of fan gear being worn”.

That being said, Larson doesn’t need the fans’ approval to acknowledge his dominating run in 2024. He currently leads the charts in points tally and looks like a genuine title contender out of all four HMS entries.