There was a time when drivers had to drive their personal cars all the way from Washington State to Daytona Beach, Florida in order to participate in the prestigious Daytona 500. However, NASCAR has come a long way since then. Today, NASCAR, which stands for National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, is a company worth over $100 million. It allows several teams to participate in the races they organise to ensure safety and fair competition.
Therefore, the drivers do not own the cars that they drive for their teams in NASCAR. But there are a few exceptions like Tony Stewart, who does own the cars that he drives. The others are paid on the basis of contracts to drive the cars of the team owners who sign them.
So who pays for these cars to participate in the races? That is exactly when the sponsors enter the scene. Just one look at a NASCAR race car, and one would have their eyes on the names of an array of companies plastered on the bumper, hood, and even the doors. Needless to say, none of the high-speed excitement would be possible without the funds that the teams receive from these brands.
On that note, there are three kinds of sponsors in the arena of NASCAR; the primary sponsors, the secondary or associate sponsors, and lastly, the corporate sponsors. Perhaps the most important of them all is the primary sponsor. The company that serves as the primary sponsor showers the highest amount of money which can range anywhere between $20 and $25 million or even more. In exchange, they get to feature on the car, on the front of the uniforms of the pit crew, and on the driver's firesuit. Besides that, they also can freely use the driver's car and even the driver himself for promotional purposes.
Do NASCAR drivers get new cars every race?
The simple answer to that is no, they don't. The teams use ‘the same car’ every race. However, there is something to understand how that works. When a team says that they are bringing out the same car in a race they essentially mean that the central section of the car or the main three chassis sections of the car remains unchanged. Anything else is mostly changed before the car is loaded into the hauler for the next race.
FAQ's On NASCAR Drivers
A. Drivers must use a single car from the beginning of the practice and qualifying sessions to the end of the race.
A. No, they do not. The teams lease them from Goodyear, the official tire manufacturer of NASCAR.
A. Each team is allotted 16 sets of four tires.
A. According to reports, an average NASCAR driver’s salary is about $112,038.
A. The drivers do not pay for driving the cars. The sponsors bear the costs of running a car in a race.
