Luke Combs‘s cover of Tracy Chapman‘s “Fast Car” has become one of country music’s biggest hits of the year. The song is vying for Song of the Year and Single of the Year at the upcoming CMA Awards.

While the two artists haven’t crossed paths or spoken to each other, Luke hopes it happens one day.

“You know, she’s such an incredible musician [and] songwriter. I’m lucky that the song has done what it’d done, and I’m thankful for her writing that song all those years ago,” Luke tells ABC Audio. “It’s one of my first favorite [songs] ever, probably.”

“Fast Car” is Luke’s latest #1 song, but as he recounts, there were no plans to send it to radio as a single.

“I really just recorded it for me to enjoy and people started playing it on the radio,” shares Luke. “We never [went] like, ‘We’re going to push it as a single.’ That was never [the plan]. It just had this life of its own because it’s such a great song and it’s so ingrained in our collective conscience as a country. I mean, it’s like it’s an all-time song. So all credit to her for that, for sure.”

The 57th CMA Awards, hosted by Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning, air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena Wednesday, November 8, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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