“He’d Get a Kick Out of That!” Kyle Busch Desperately Wanted to Win NASCAR Most Popular Driver Award

NASCAR lost one of the greatest drivers the sports has ever seen a month ago, at the age of 41. Kyle Busch, the two times Cup Series champion, passed away after getting hospitalized. With 230+ wins in the stock car racing national series and championship’s in almost all series he raced In, the veteran won everything a driver could dream of.

But there was one trophy the ex-RCR driver really wanted to win, the Most Popular Driver award. He failed to win the fan votes, as he had racer in the same time as Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Chase Elliott, two drivers with unreal fan support despite being less accomplished. His persona as the NASCAR villain also didn’t help.

Bill Janitz, Kyle Busch’s public relations man for the last 15 years talked to Fox Sports’ Kaitlyn Vincie about how much the veteran wanted to get recognized by the fans. He revealed that the late legend talked about it with his circle more than people realizes and asserted that it would really special if he can finally win in 2026.  

I’d love to see the fans rally behind him and vote him Most Popular Driver because, I’m telling you, he’d get a kick out of that. He talked about it more than people would ever know.

Bill Janitz told Kaitlyn Vincie.

If not for the years he spent at JGR playing the role of the sports’ villain, this would have happened when he was still alive and racing. But it takes someone special to embrace the role and not to crack under the pressure, as well as hate. Till Denny Hamlin tool over the role around 2022, Busch was playing it perfection.

Every sport has its villain. Some people lean into that role, and others aren’t as comfortable with it. But if you had a bunch of people who weren’t passionate and didn’t care, nobody would want to watch the sport. He was one of the people who made NASCAR fun to watch, and I was incredibly lucky to have a front-row seat to watch greatness for 15 years.

Bill Janitz added as reported by On3.com.

Kyle Busch always wanted the fans to recognize him

Earlier talking about the MPA trophy, Janitz highlighted the comments made by Chase Elliott recently. The 2020 Cup championship winning racer called the fans to joins hands and vote for the future Hall of Famer as he wore the black hat for their entombment for years despite not loving it and gave son much for the sport.

One of the conversations that’s happened since he passed has been about Most Popular Driver. Chase Elliott was so gracious in talking about that and saying he’d love to see Kyle win it. It’s kind of crazy because, as much as Kyle wore that black hat, he didn’t really love it.

Bill Janitz said.

Furthermore, he highlighted how like every human being, Busch wanted the whole NASCAR community properly recognize his contributions and show him the love he deserves. He was getting some love since he joined RCR, but wasn’t enough to earn him the award.

Human nature is that you want to be loved. I think he believed that, with everything he had accomplished and how successful he’d been, people would eventually get behind him. It was starting to happen more as he got older, and I think that’s part of the natural cycle for a successful, long-term Hall of Fame driver.

Bill Janitz added.

The comments from Busch’s PR person were on point shows how the community should join forces to vote for him in 2026. It would be interesting to see how everything is going to playout at end when the fans cast their votes.

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