Why do NASCAR cars have so many sponsors? All you need to know

Running a car in NASCAR is not cheap. It is not possible for teams to fund their cars and run them throughout the entire season, all on their own. This is where the concept of sponsorship comes in. The NASCAR teams strike deals with multiple sponsors, and this is how they cover the expenses of running the cars.

As the companies sign a deal with teams, they might hand over product samples to the team or to fans. However, the primary aim remains marketing and exposure. Over the years, NASCAR spread its wings not just to every nook and corner of the United States of America but also throughout the world.

The premier stock car racing has grown ever more popular within the motorsport fraternity, and as a result, the sport reached far more audiences across the globe. This, as a result, increased the demand for sponsorships, and these days, one can spot multiple sponsors for a single NASCAR car.

For renowned teams such as Joe Gibbs Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske, 23XI Racing, or Richard Childress Racing, their cars have multiple sponsors, ranging from five to, at times, ten. Smaller teams such as the Legacy Motor Club, Spire Motorsports, or Kaulig Racing have their numbers comparatively low, but enough to run the expenses.

The companies usually pay a hefty sum to the teams to showcase their brand in the car throughout the season. In return, the teams use the money to pay the drivers their salary, pay the expenses of running the cars, and allot them for research and development purposes.

According to reports, big brands tend to spend anywhere up to $12 million to $18 million a year on sponsorships, which equates to almost $500,000 per race.

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How much money is required to run a NASCAR car?

Denny Hamlin, co-owner of 23XI Racing, once revealed how much money he needed to spend annually to field a car. In one of his posts on micro-blogging site X, formerly Twitter, the JGR driver said that he needed a staggering $18 million a year to field a car, that too without a driver, and other expenses.

Tyler Reddick (#45 23XI Racing Jordan Brand Toyota) - Source: Getty

Here's what he said,

"First, 18M ($18 million) is just for the car on the track to put on this show each and every week (NO driver) Seems as though you think it’s excessive. Well we (teams) opened our books to NASCAR to show what exactly that money was spent on and that it was not excessive."

"You mentioned that anything we make beyond 18m is “profit”. That would be incorrect. As someone who started a team from scratch and kept it as lean as I could, there are MANY other depts at a race team that are necessary to operate. Business, marketing, sponsorship, social media, it goes on and on," he added.

"That all cost a significant amount of money that is above and beyond the numbers listed above. That money is spent as not only as a necessity for our team but to GROW the sport thru on and off the track activation," Hamlin concluded.

Denny Hamlin's team is set to field three Cup Series cars from the 2025 season, which means he would have to shell out a minimum of 54 million dollars a year to run all three cars. As it is never possible for a businessman to keep recurring such huge losses, this is where sponsorships play a big part, and that is why NASCAR cars are found with so many sponsors.