NASCAR has found an ingenious way to get drivers to promote the sport outside of their mandatory requirements this year. The Driver Ambassador Program will take place over two periods every year beginning in 2025. By its terms, every driver will get paid for the promotional activities they carry out away from the regular old post-race interviews and conferences.
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It has been reported that drivers will earn one point for every 15 minutes of media interviews or track appearances. Depending on who the driver is and what his popularity is, he will earn multipliers on these points. At the end of the day, these points translate into hard-earned dollars in the bank. Interestingly, the first period of the program just ended in recent weeks.
The defending Cup Series champion, Joey Logano, came out as the leader and is said to have made $1 million for his work. Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson finished second and Logano’s teammate, Ryan Blaney, finished third. The two-time Cup Series champion, Kyle Busch, had some funny remarks to make about these drivers in Atlanta this weekend.
“I can’t say that I’ve necessarily faulted the program at all. I can’t find a fault besides it’s really hard to beat those guys at the top. I thought I was busy. My wife was especially concerned that how busy I was and she was like ‘Where are you?’ and I was like, ‘I’m not even close.’ So, she was like, “Damn, those guys must have no life,” Busch said.
Appearing for interviews, detailing race moves, and engaging with the fans is arguably the least thrilling part of the job that Cup Series drivers have. But the promotion has made it a tad more attractive for them by rewarding them monetarily. But then, one also has to question how well this would work in favor of increasing popularity for NASCAR.
Logano is, after his controversial title win in 2024, not the most popular figure in the sport right now. Seeing him more frequently in front of the fans instead of the more popular and well-liked ones like Chase Elliott is a questionable strategy. On the flip side, NASCAR could not possibly force a particular driver to get involved more.
This presents a tricky situation for the suits at the Daytona Headquarters. The criteria NASCAR uses to evaluate a driver’s impact will need to be precise to justify the high payouts. For now, how these calculations are done remains a mystery. Hopefully, NASCAR will clarify how DAP metrics are calculated in future updates.
But regardless of the numbers, active players like Logano, Larson, and Blaney do appear to be spending all their time in front of mics leaving little time for their personal lives as Samantha Busch pointed to her husband.
