Talent is not the only rope that a young driver can use to climb to the pinnacle of stock car racing. Money is a powerful tool — especially today, when sponsorship is vital to keeping teams operational. Kyle Busch knows this better than most, having been a team owner in the Craftsman Truck Series for over a decade.
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The two-time Cup Series champion admitted this sad reality in a recent conversation with GOLF’s Subpar and pointed out an anomaly named William Byron, amidst a flurry of pay drivers who made it to NASCAR and stayed simply based on their family’s financial strength. Now a key driver for Hendrick Motorsports, Byron drove for Kyle Busch Motorsports back in 2016.
Busch pointed out how he was always on the lookout for skilled drivers who won races cleanly, considering the Truck Series was a feeder program for the higher tiers. It was at this time that he came across Byron and employed him. He said, “William Byron, for instance, had a sponsor. His dad helped him and funded him and stuff like that, but everything he got, he was talented. He worked at it.”
“He was very smart and diligent at it and did a great job of being able to understand the vehicles and how to make himself successful in those vehicles. And he won his way, all the way, to the top. Now, he’s in NASCAR being paid to race.” Byron is one of the most successful drivers in the sport and a crucial element in his team’s championship hopes.
How much does a driver have to pay to secure a NASCAR seat?
Sponsorship fuels team operations more than ever before. This has led to teams letting drivers race for them based on their ability to bring in funds alone. Busch, rather alarmingly, revealed in the interview how much it costs to buy a seat in each of the three national series.
“I would say the Cup Series is probably around six to eight million bucks. You can get a Cup seat,” he said. “Xfinity Series ride, if you’ve got between four and a half to six million. You can be in an Xfinity Series car. To run [in] Truck, you probably need three million bucks.”
Some current drivers raise questions about merit, with their presence owed more to money than performance. Unfortunately, the financial model of NASCAR allows them to be a part of the game regardless.
