Dale Jr.: Most popular driver for seventh year

Story courtesy of JR Motorsports

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (right) talks with members of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard at Pocono Raceway, Pa., before driving the No. 88 National Guard car in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Pocono 500 last year. Earnhardt, who drives the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet, was voted the most popular NASCAR driver for the seventh year in a row on Dec. 3, 2009. (Photo courtesy of the Pennsylvania National Guard)
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MOORESVILLE, N.C., (12/3/09) - Dale Earnhardt Jr. was awarded his seventh consecutive NASCAR NMPA Chex Most Popular Driver award today at the NASCAR NMPA Myers Brothers Awards event at The Venetian Las Vegas Hotel Casino in Las Vegas.

The result was determined by online voting during the course of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. The award comes one week after Brad Keselowski was named Most Popular Driver in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, giving the JR Motorsports owner/driver tandem its second consecutive sweep of most popular awards.

Earnhardt Jr. joins Bill Elliott and Richard Petty as the only drivers to win the award at least seven times. His seven in a row falls short only to Elliott, who won 10 straight from 1991-2000. Earnhardt Jr. now sits behind Elliott (16) and Richard Petty (9) for most total awards.

"I'm extremely honored to win this award again, and I'm happy for Brad to be able to win it again in the Nationwide Series," said Earnhardt Jr., who drives the No. 88 Amp Energy/National Guard Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "As always, I want to thank the fans. They've stuck with us, and I'm always humbled by that. We didn't have the year we were expecting on the Cup side, but Brad and Tony Eury Sr. and everyone at JR Motorsports did a great job this year on the Nationwide side, scored a bunch of wins, and I'm proud of all of them."

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