NASCAR Driver Earnings -- By the Numbers

[Magoo]

Who are the highest-paid players in Sprint Cup? The richest teams? Here are the hard numbers according to Forbes magazine, and they make for interesting reading.




NASCAR'S Biggest Winners | Mac's Motor City Garage.com

[Z28]

The driver earnings not a surprise and is directly connected to the team values. Junior, Johnson and Jeff earn the merchandise, licensing and and endorsement money they do which is why Hendrick can get the sponsorship to pay them and makes the team worth so much.

A race team is worth what it is but they spend so much of it on personnel, equipment and travel it would be interesting to see if the margins for the big and small teams were that different.

The other thing is unlike other sports NASCAR teams don't own their own stadiums or make their own local TV deals. The Chicago Bulls own half of the Untied Center which helps their franchise be worth $1 billion dollars. I think if Hendrick and Gibbs were as well off as they are now back in the mid 90's, before ISC and SMI expanded, they would have looked at building tracks to get in on that revenue stream. I did read one time that Roger Penske said, likely thinking about the TV revenue that a Cup race delivers, one of his regrets was selling his tracks when he did.

[fbs7]

These endorsements are funny.

It's like I wake up one day, jump out of bed, shout "I endorse Pop Soda!!" and I magically get $100 for that.

Then next day I should "I endorse Bingo Burgers!!" and I magically get another $100.

Rather funny world.

[rrrr]

Just to irritate some people...

Some will be surprised that Danica Patrick ranked “only” no. 9 on the Forbes list at $13.5 million, while others might be dismayed at her big payday, since she has yet to win a Sprint Cup race. However, her $6.5 million in licensing and endorsement income was greater than all other drivers except the top two, Earnhardt, Jr. and Johnson. In NASCAR today, marketability equals revenue. And in that department, Danica easily pulls her weight.

[Magoo]

The driver earnings not a surprise and is directly connected to the team values. Junior, Johnson and Jeff earn the merchandise, licensing and and endorsement money they do which is why Hendrick can get the sponsorship to pay them and makes the team worth so much.

Exactly. The takeaway for me from these figures is that Hendrick is winning the driver selection game, which has a multiplication effect.