For the ardent fans out there, almost every NASCAR event is a spectacle worth witnessing, whether it be the grand season opener at Daytona International Speedway or the exhilarating short-track mayhem at Martinsville. Of course, the fans have favorites, but for the organization and its teams, it’s a completely different ball game, looking at it from the business side.

Recently, one of NASCAR’s most winning teams, Joe Gibbs Racing‘s higher-up, revealed the economic side of things. Dave Alpern, the JGR President, dissected the organization’s complicated payout system, revealing the biggest draw of the season.

The Joe Gibbs Racing head uncovers the “disproportionate” NASCAR payout system

Much like every other sporting promotion, NASCAR was also rocked by the great recession in 2008. With sponsors leaving its side and its teams struggling to keep their heads above the rising tide, the Stock Car racing juggernaut was hanging on for dear life. Fast forward to 2023, and the organization has done a pretty good job recovering from the financial cut. It has bounced back well, considering how its stocks were declining.

This, along with the pandemic, put the sanctioning body on thin ice. While the organization was in a brief struggling phase, its ardent fanbase did not let it die down. The 2022 season race at Daytona became one of the highest-grossing events in recent history, with the crowds making their way back to the tracks. Speaking about the significance of the “Great American Race” on the fanbase and the teams, JGR President Dave Alpern mentioned the disproportionate payout scheme in NASCAR.

He said, “So do NASCAR teams make more money from certain races as you would probably guess the highest-paying purse of the season is our first race, the Daytona 500. It’s so disproportionately high that where you or your team finishes in the Daytona 500 can really make or break your season financially.” 

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Dave Alpern further added, mentioning how the All-Star race also plays an important role in the schedule. He added, “So that’s a very important race, You also have the points races like the All-Star Race, which pays a million-dollar bonus for winning. You also have the end-of-the-year purse, which is dictated by your finishing position, but you also have the weekly purse, which again varies based on the race.” 

Dave Alpern uncovers the inquisitive driver development program of Joe Gibbs Racing

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Every autosport, be it Formula One or the two-wheel extravaganza Moto GP, has an exclusive driver development program to pick up talents and groom them for the future. Formula One’s Lewis Hamilton is a perfect example of how effective such programs are in shaping up world-class talent from a young age.

NASCAR on that front isn’t much different. Here, the teams, along with their partnering manufacturer, have a unique feeder system that filters down talents, polishing the rough edges to get them onto the big stage in the Cup Series. JGR President Dave Alpern detailed the driver development program at the Toyota camp.

He said, “We’re scouting drivers all around the country along with our partners at Toyota and TRD who have their own in-house driver development program just off the road, Toyota has a whole driver performance center where they have a number of young drivers doing athletic training, they have a dietitian, it’s almost like a D1 athletic program for a scholarship athlete.” 

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Naming the ARCA sensation, William Sawalich, Dave Alpern mentioned the great opportunity these youngsters have to climb onto the halls of NASCAR glory. “We’re looking at young drivers that start with us in our ARCA program, like William Sawalich; the idea is they would work their way from there either to the Truck program, which we support, but we don’t run out of Joe Gibbs Racing, and then eventually into our Xfinity program. The idea is that depending on timing, at some point, they would end up in one of our Cup seats,” said the president.