NASCAR’s Most Popular Chase Elliott’s heartwarming encounter with 4 tiny No. 9 fans 

Chase Elliott, named NASCAR's Most Popular Driver for the seventh consecutive season in 2024, shared an encounter he had with some of his young fans earlier today. The #9 driver met a group of young children dressed up in his team kit during his time at the Darlington Country Club's golf course ahead of the race this weekend. Later today, Elliott will participate in the practice and qualifying session at the Darlington Speedway in preparation for the Goodyear 400, which is taking place on Sunday.

The group of kids that the Hendrick Motorsports driver ran into were all wearing t-shirts of the Elliott's NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet-sponsored race uniform. Posting it to his X (formerly Twitter) account earlier today, the 29-year-old captioned it:

"Found a couple of 9 fans on the course today 🏌️"

NAPA Auto Parts became Chase Elliott's primary partner in 2014, and they signed a multi-year extension with the driver and his #9 team in 2022, sponsoring the driver for 26 races of the season.

The 2020 Cup Series Champion currently sits at third place in the driver's standings. Elliott started the 2025 season by securing the win at the pre-season event of The Clash at the Bowman Gray Stadium, which didn't award him any points. However, of the seven points-paying races this year, the HMS driver has secured two Top-five finishes and four Top-10s, scoring a highest finish of fourth place at the events at the Circuit of The Americas and last weekend's race at the Martinsville Speedway.

Elliott will hop back into his #9 car for the practice session today at 12:35 p.m. ET and the qualifying session at 1:40 p.m. ET.

"I don’t want anyone to ever think that I take any of that for granted”: Chase Elliott discusses his commitment to the fans

Chase Elliott (9) during the NASCAR Awards Banquet at Charlotte Convention Center, November 22nd, 2024 - Source: Imagn

During the NASCAR awards banquet last November, Chase Elliott was crowned the Cup Series' National Motorsports Press Association Most Popular Driver Award for the 2024 season, which marked his seventh win of the honor. Speaking at the awards banquet, the HMS driver spoke about the fans who purchase his merchandise, who come to the race to encourage him, and their commitment to him, stating that he doesn't take that fan following lightly.

“As I look at my fans and the people that genuinely want to see us do well, I just see a lot of dedication and people that are willing to spend their hard-earned money on T-shirts and hats and to come to the races and support us. I see a lot of that at the race track, and I don’t want anyone to ever think that I take any of that for granted.” [via NASCAR]

At the same banquet, JR Motorsports' Justin Allgaier was crowned the Most Popular Driver for the Xfinity Series, while the Truck Series' Rajah Caruth received the award for the first time.