Jeff Gordon fans have a clear choice for new favorite driver

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Chase Elliott is getting the Jeff Gordon bump.

When you walk around the infield and garages at Daytona International Speedway, it's hard not to notice people in brand new Elliott No. 24 gear. The rookie driver, who will start first in Sunday's Daytona 500, isn't the most popular driver by fan apparel sales – that title still belongs to teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. – but it's evident that fans have done some shopping.

Are a majority of those Elliott-clad fans previous fans of Jeff Gordon, who drove the No. 24 car for 24 years? According to our unscientific and small sample-size survey at the track and on Twitter, yes. Elliott replaced the iconic four-time champion in the No. 24 and apparently got a lot of Gordon's previous fans.

According to sales data from NASCAR.com, Elliott ranks No. 2 in 2016 merchandise sales to Earnhardt over the past week and his sales are up 120 percent from 2015.

Of course, it helps significantly that Elliott is new to the Cup Series and fans need to buy his gear if they want some. But he's still selling more product than Danica Patrick, a popular driver with a new sponsor in 2016.

We figured we'd have an easy time finding Gordon fans at Daytona. After all, you still see plenty of fans wearing Dale Earnhardt No. 3 gear every week, and with the first Daytona 500 since 1993 without Gordon's presence, there were bound to be some fans still clinging to the recent memories of Gordon's career, right?

Well, there were. But not as many as you would expect. When we made a pass through the garage and infield Thursday night in search of fans wearing pre-2016 No. 24 gear, it took us 10 minutes to spot the first person. And that fan, Portia Avant, said she was picking Kyle Busch as her new favorite driver after the way he overcame his Daytona accident to win the 2015 title.

We found Toby Hedglin in a new Elliott hat and jacket. He said he chose Elliott because he inherited Gordon's number. After being such a Gordon fan for so long, you can't just get rid of all the No. 24 stuff you've gotten all over the years.

"It takes a UHaul to move my Gordon stuff every time I move," Hedglin said.

But while most Gordon fans seem to be transitioning to Elliott, not everyone is. Cole Poswiatowski is from a family who cheers for drivers who are all with Hendrick Motorsports. But while sporting a Gordon hat and jacket in the infield before the first Can-Am Duel was about to begin, he wasn't committing to a driver just yet.

Poswiatowski wanted to see who would impress him on track before he made the very important choice. Though he knew who he wouldn't be choosing.

"Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano," he said with a laugh.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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