In one month, the NMPA/Wheaties Fuel Most Popular Driver Award will be presented at a ceremony in Las Vegas.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s Martinsville Crowd Reaction Indicator Of Another Most Popular Driver Win?
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has won the last eight MPD awards and is going for his ninth straight (the record is 10 in a row). So does his recent success in the Gluckometer Ratings bode well for another MPD award?
Junior Nation was the loudest once again on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, where the cheers for Earnhardt Jr. got more noise than the boos for Kyle Busch.
Earnhardt Jr. and Busch have gotten the most noise in the vast majority of weeks this season (we measure the crowd reaction before most races with a handheld decibel meter).
Here are the Martinsville ratings:
| Driver | dB | Type of Noise | Comment | |||
| 1 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 91.6 | Cheers | No surprise there | ||
| 2 | Kyle Busch | 89.1 | Boos | Boos persist despite quiet Chase | ||
| 3 | Jimmie Johnson | 88.9 | Mostly boos | JJ's reign nearing end | ||
| 4 | Jeff Gordon | 88.7 | Mix | Fans cheered he passed for lead | ||
| 5 | Carl Edwards | 88.3 | Mostly cheers | Points leader, pole-sitter | ||
| 6 | Mark Martin | 86.8 | Cheers | Lots of love for the vet | ||
| 7 | Kevin Harvick | 86.6 | Cheers | "Home" track | ||
| 8 | Tony Stewart | 85.6 | Cheers | Lower than usual for some reason | ||
| T9 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 85.5 | Boos | Will JPM ever win fans over? | ||
| T9 | Denny Hamlin | 85.5 | Cheers | Virginia native |
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