Jimmie Johnson was the most talked-about driver on NASCAR TV broadcasts this season – and it wasn't even close.

According to research conducted by Joyce Julius & Associates and provided to SB Nation, Johnson's name was mentioned 7,744 times during NASCAR races – over 2,500 times more than the next driver, Denny Hamlin (5,219 mentions).

The series champion, Brad Keselowski, received the third-most mentions with 5,059.

Of course, those three drivers tied for the most wins this season – and Johnson led the most laps – so they deserve to be recognized. But it's amazing to consider how much more Johnson's name was mentioned than anyone else.

NASCAR's most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., was only the seventh most-mentioned driver (3,422 mentions). That means Johnson's name was said on the air more than twice as often as Earnhardt Jr.'s – despite the latter driver having one of his best seasons ever.

It's also interesting to see which drivers got the most TV interviews. Johnson was interviewed 90 times, which was 21 times more than Keselowski (69). The next-closest driver was Jeff Gordon with 58 interviews.

Kyle Busch was fourth on the mentions list despite missing the Chase, but he was interviewed just 21 times for a total of 14 minutes all season (by comparison, Johnson's interview time was an hour more than Busch's).

Here's the full list of driver mention/interview data provided by Joyce Julius. What other numbers stand out to you?

Driver # of Interviews Interview Time Mentions