NASCAR: Top 5 most annoying driver fanbases

By Asher Fair | Aug 12, 2017

FORT WORTH, TX - APRIL 07: Danica Patrick, driver of the #10 TaxAct Ford, and Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 7, 2017 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /

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LOUDON, NH – JULY 15: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, stands in the garage area during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Overton’s 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 15, 2017 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images)

LOUDON, NH – JULY 15: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, stands in the garage area during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Overton’s 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 15, 2017 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images) /

#3 – Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports, No. 88 Chevrolet

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been voted the most popular driver in the NASCAR Cup Series for 14 years in a row now, and that 14 will likely become a 15 following this season, his final season as a full-time driver in the series. That is the case despite the fact that he is now in his 18th season as a full-time driver and has still never won a championship, and that will likely not change this season.

The 2017 season has been arguably the worst of his career so far, as he sits in 23rd place in the championship standings ahead of just one other driver driving for a top-tier team, that being Danica Patrick in 28th. He has finished just one of the first 22 races so far this season in the top 5, that being a 5th place finish at Texas.

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Yet despite the fact that he has never won a championship and has not won a race in over two years, he is by far the sport’s most popular driver, and his fanbase does not seem to understand that this has nothing to do with his actual on-track performance and everything to do with his last name thanks to the fact that his father Dale Earnhardt was a great as he was, winning seven championships before he was tragically killed in an accident at the end of the 2001 Daytona 500.

Earnhardt Jr.’s fans swear his popularity has everything to do with him and nothing to do with his father. Yet in 10 seasons driving for Hendrick Motorsports, the team that has been dominant in this era, winning 12 of the last 22 championships, Earnhardt Jr. has won just nine races.

Somehow, despite his lack of success relative to many other drivers, he is still far more popular than any other active driver in the sport, including former Cup Series champions Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and even seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, one of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates. And for some reason, many of his fans think it’s because of him alone.