How do nascar team owners make money
DAYTONA BEACH — One of the oldest adages in racing is the easiest way to make a small fortune in the sport is to start with a big one. The days of loading a car on a trailer and pulling it with a pickup to the race track are over.
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So are the days of loading up a van with the crew, packing brown-bag lunches and re-using old car parts. It used to be easier to control costs, especially with so many races in the Southeast. But NASCAR has evolved into a prime-time sport, and it has the expenses to go with it.
The two-biggest expenses each week are the two most important ingredients to run up front: The primary sources for engines in NASCAR are Toyota Racing Development, Earnhardt Childress Racing, Hendrick Motorsports and Roush Yates Racing. Those companies will provide as many as 40 engines for the Feb. Teams that lease those engines also have an engine specialist assigned to the car. Daytona is the most expensive race of the season because teams are allowed to use two engines — one for the mile Gatorade Duel qualifying race, another one for the Daytona Others are willing to pay for more horsepower.
The smaller teams, some that park early in the race to save money and collect last-place money, must cut corners. To help make ends meet, a lot of the crew has two and three jobs. For example, the truck driver also is responsible for the tires.
Driver salaries, much like the teams they represent, vary. The smaller teams generally pay 50 percent of their winnings to the driver.
The elite teams use a formula of salary and commission. That takes care of the mechanics, pit crew, public relations team, truck driver and engineers. In fact, they pay a premium because hotels generally double and triple their rates during a race week. Each team needs about 10 rooms. Teams that use commercial airlines pay about the same.
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No matter how they get to the track, once they get there, they need rental cars. Cars this week will have smaller radiators with a different pressure pop-off valve, which is considered a specialty item. Not included in the weekly costs is the base price for the car itself.
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There also are costs associated with running a shop. Because purses are considerably smaller in the Nationwide and Camping World Truck series, those teams have to travel on a budget. The truck series is a little cheaper, but not by much.
It takes deep pockets to be competitive, especially in Sprint Cup. The sticker shock has scared some of the richest drivers from going into business.
Pit road to money pit: Costs to field a NASCAR team are staggering
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