NASCAR: Five most overhyped Cup Series drivers

Asher Fair

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 26: Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Miller Lite Ford, Austin Dillon, driver of the #3 DOW Chevrolet, Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, and Danica Patrick, driver of the #10 Aspen Dental Ford, race during the 59th Annual DAYTONA 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 26, 2017 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

As is the case in all sports, athletes are overhyped in NASCAR as well. Here are the five most overhyped drivers in the Cup Series.

What, exactly, makes an athlete “overhyped”? More specifically, what makes a NASCAR driver “overhyped”?

From a NASCAR standpoint, overhyped drivers are those who get far more recognition than what their performance on the track warrants. Maybe they are popular even before they get good, perhaps because of their name.

Maybe they are popular and then never even get good. Perhaps their careers start out poorly and they finally do something solid, and then everyone starts to think they’re going to be the next Jeff Gordon or Dale Earnhardt…and then they turn out to be a one or two-season wonder, if even that.

Whatever the reason may be, some Cup Series drivers just end up getting far more hype than they deserve, both from the fans and from the media. That is the case for a bunch of drivers, a couple in particular. However, this article includes more than just a couple, which makes things a bit more interesting.

From #5 to #1, let’s have a look at who the five most overhyped drivers that currently drive in the NASCAR Cup Series are. Let’s get started with #5.

DARLINGTON, SC – SEPTEMBER 01: Austin Dillon, driver of the #3 American Ethanol Chevrolet (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images)

#5 – Austin Dillon, Richard Childress Racing, No. 3 Chevrolet

Austin Dillon, who is one of Richard Childress Racing team owner Richard Childress’ grandsons, began driving full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series in the 2014 season for, you guessed it, Richard Childress Racing at age 24.

Of course, people were quick to attribute that to the fact that Richard Childress is his grandfather, which makes sense seeing as how many drivers in racing get their starts in large part due to who their fathers and grandfathers are. However, by winning the 2013 Nationwide (now Xfinity) Series championship, Dillon proved that he deserved a shot.

But that shot came in the iconic #3 car, which Richard Childress Racing brought back for his grandson to use in 2014. It was the first time that the car number had been used since the legendary Dale Earnhardt was killed in a crash at the 2001 Daytona 500 in the #3 car he had driven for much of his Hall of Fame career. Was Austin Dillon of all drivers really deserving of that number?

After three full seasons of hype with Dillon in the #3 car, he had totaled 0 wins. It took him until his fourth full season of Cup Series competition to finally break through for his first career win, and that came as a result of a fuel mileage gamble. The win came at Charlotte in the Coca-Cola 600 in his 133rd career race.

But when he did so, he did so by putting the #3 back in Victory Lane for the first time since Dale Earnhardt won at Talladega in 2000, which caused much of the hype that had left him over the years to come back. In fact, this may have even caused more of a buzz than him getting a ride in the #3 car to begin with.

However, in the 10 races that followed that, he finished no higher than 13th place, and he has just two finishes higher than 13th place in the 18 races since that win, which just goes to show that he is, indeed, a bit overhyped.

LOUDON, NH – JULY 14: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the #17 Fastenal Ford (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images)

#4 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Roush Fenway Racing, No. 17 Ford

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., like many drivers who don’t drive for great teams, hasn’t had a whole lot of success thus far in his Cup Series career. It took him until his fifth full-time season in the Cup Series with Roush Fenway Racing to finally win a race, which he did earlier this season at Talladega in his 159th career attempt. He has since won at Daytona in his 166th career race for his second career win.

However, despite the fact that he really has not had a successful Cup Series career up to this point, Stenhouse Jr. still gets loads of attention and hype. A lot of this may be due to the fact that another Cup Series driver, Danica Patrick, who is one of the most popular drivers in NASCAR and in all of racing, has been and is currently his girlfriend.

So it makes sense that Stenhouse Jr. gets the hype that he gets given the fact that his girlfriend is who she is. Still, the fact that he gets that kind of hype with the very little amount of success he has had in his Cup Series so far makes him overhyped.

Sure, Stenhouse Jr. does have two wins now in his Cup Series career, and he does appear to be improving, especially due to the fact that both of those wins have come this season and he did qualify for the playoffs for the first time, and he did enter the playoffs with 10 playoff points because of those wins.

But prior to this season, Stenhouse Jr. had never made the playoffs in four full seasons of Cup Series competition, and his best result in the standings was just 19th place back in his rookie season in 2013.

While Stenhouse Jr. is in this year’s playoffs, and now the Round of 12, for the first time in his Cup Series career, this is the case only because of his two wins this season, the first two of his career, which both came on restrictor plate tracks, where pretty much any driver with a decent car as a shot to win.

Other than those two wins, he has just two other top 5 finishes and five other top 10 finishes so far this season, and he was only 18th in points before the playoffs began. While he isn’t the most overhyped driver in NASCAR, he is certainly toward the top of the list.

BRISTOL, TN – AUGUST 18: Chase Elliott, driver of the #24 NAPA Chevrolet (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

#3 – Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports, No. 24 Chevrolet

I feel guilty putting Chase Elliott this high up on this list after he came just over one mile away from winning his first Cup Series race at Dover and he racked up another 2nd place finish at Charlotte, giving him three 2nd place finishes in the first four playoff races. However, here he is.

When Jeff Gordon, who is 3rd on the all-time NASCAR wins list with 93 victories, tied for third on the all-time Daytona 500 wins list with three victories, and 4th on the all-time NASCAR championships list with four titles, retired, he left the seat of the #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet open for a new driver.

That new driver was a 20-year-old by the name of Chase Elliott. Chase is the son of Bill Elliott, who was one of the all-time greatest NASCAR drivers after he won 44 races, two Daytona 500 races and one championship in his illustrious career.

In two seasons as a full-time driver, Chase Elliott has not lived up to the hype. In 71 career races, of which 66 have come during his time as a full-time driver, Elliott has not won a single race. His career-high finish is 2nd place, a result he has recorded that six times throughout his career thus far. However, as referenced above, three of those six top 2 finishes have come over the course of the last four races.

When Elliott got his full-time ride with Hendrick Motorsports last season, there was a lot of hype surrounding him. In fact, at 20 years old, before he had even made his debut as a full-time driver, he was already one of the most popular drivers in the Cup Series.

And for good reasons, too. After all, he is the son of the legendary Bill Elliott and he was replacing the legendary Jeff Gordon in the iconic #24 Chevrolet. However, the best reason for a driver to be extremely popular is that driver having lots of success, which Chase Elliott has not had thus far in his Cup Series career even despite the fact that he is driving for the team that has won 12 of the last 22 championships, thus making him overhyped, at least so far; he is still only 21 years old and should have lots of time to become a star, and he has been in the playoffs in both of his full-time seasons thus far.

BROOKLYN, MI – AUGUST 13: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Axalta Chevrolet (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

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

Dale Earnhardt was one of the greatest NASCAR drivers in the history of the sport before he was killed in an accident at the end of the 2001 Daytona 500. He won 76 races and seven championships over the course of his career. Just two other drivers have won as many championships as he did.

So when Dale Earnhardt’s son Dale Earnhardt Jr. started driving in the Cup Series, there was plenty of hype surrounding him. However, while he is proud of what he has been able to accomplish over his 18-year full-time Cup Series career, he has not lived up to that hype despite the fact that his career has been solid.

In his 18 full-time seasons, Earnhardt Jr. has won 26 races. While 26 race victories is not a terrible stat by any means, it is a total that is nowhere near the total that his father produced over his career. His top finish in the championship is 3rd place, while his father won a total of seven titles, as referenced above.

In nine seasons prior to 2017 driving for Hendrick Motorsports, the team that has won 12 of the past 22 championships in the Cup Series, Earnhardt Jr. was only able to rack up nine wins. In five of those nine seasons, he didn’t win a single race. Currently in his 10th season driving for Hendrick Motorsports, Earnhardt Jr. has not won a race yet in 2017; in fact, he hasn’t won a race in over two years, and he sits in 22nd place in the standings.

None of those numbers warrant being NASCAR’s most popular driver for 14 straight seasons, yet Earnhardt Jr. is the 14-time defending winner of the Most Popular Driver Award, and he is well on his way to winning the award for the 15th straight season.

Earnhardt Jr.’s win total is nowhere near what his father’s was and he has never won a championship while his father won seven. All of those statistics factored in make Earnhardt Jr. one of the most overhyped drivers in the sport.

LOUDON, NH – JULY 14: Danica Patrick, driver of the #10 Aspen Dental Ford (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images)

#1 – Danica Patrick, Stewart-Haas Racing, No. 10 Ford

There is currently no NASCAR driver, and there probably has never been a NASCAR driver, who is as overhyped as Danica Patrick is as one of NASCAR’s most popular drivers. A non-NASCAR fan who hears about her would likely expect that she has actually been at least half-decent in her Cup Series career.

However, that is not the case. In fact, that is not even close to being the case. And it isn’t the case despite the fact that Patrick has driven for a top-tier team in Stewart-Haas Racing in all five of her full-time Cup Series seasons and in 174 of her 184 career races.

In all that time, Patrick has never won a race. In fact, she has never even finished in the top 5. Her best career finish is only a 6th place finish at Atlanta in 2014. Her only career pole position came over four years ago at the 2013 Daytona 500.