“I Have to Pay”: Joey Logano Calls Out NASCAR’s Bitter Reality

NASCAR has used the Xfinity Series and the Craftsman Truck Series as steps in a ladder that leads to the Cup Series over the last two decades. Two-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano is one of the many drivers who have benefitted from this model. However, the Team Penske star isn’t very attracted by how things have recently changed regarding the sports’ financial system.

Giving a truthful assessment of NASCAR’s business model that requires Cup Series drivers to pay to participate in the lower rungs, he expressed his frustration on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Logano said, “I’d like to race more than what I do [In Xfinity and Trucks]. I’m telling you, our sport. It is crazy. I’ll be real with you here. I get paid to drive a [Cup Series] car. That’s great. I have to pay to drive an Xfinity car or a Truck. I have to show up with money on the doorstep to drive one.”

Continuing to detail his take, Logano put forward a pressing question. When a two-time Cup Series champion like him was expected to pay his way into participating in a race on the lower rungs, how would a kid with no experience find a sponsor who would provide that kind of money?

Pondering over his question, he concluded, “I hate that part of our sport, and I don’t have the fix.”

“I have to show up with money on the doorstep to drive one.”

2-time Cup champion @joeylogano weighs in on the current business model of the #NASCAR Xfinity & Truck Series ⬇️

️ “I just think that is the craziest thing to think about. Unfortunately that’s where our sport is.” pic.twitter.com/dxfj9XzKep

— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) March 6, 2024

While he understood that it costs many thousand dollars for teams to race in NASCAR and acknowledged that he would pretty much expect the same kind of money if it were him as a team owner, Joey Logano just wished that things were different.

The cost of a NASCAR race and the limit on Cup Series drivers

Before the turn of the decade, NASCAR ruled that it would be limiting the number of Xfinity and Truck races that veterans in the Cup Series could participate in. At the time of its implementation, icon Kevin Harvick brought up an important issue.

He contended that by limiting Cup Series drivers who had ample sponsorship from driving for teams in the lower rung races, NASCAR was subsequently limiting the opportunities that young drivers without a big purse could get with the same teams.

However, NASCAR hasn’t yet gone back on its decisive move as of yet. With rides in the Xfinity Series costing around $160,000 a race, the key question remains if drivers, new or old, will be able to bring in the numbers for teams to sustain.