Want to Make Big Bucks? Drive a Cup Car

There's never been any doubt that Nextel Cup regulars make some good money for the work they do, but I'd never really seen the kinds of details included in an actual contract. Thanks to a lawsuit filed by Sterling Marlin and Joe Nemechek against their former team, we have some of those details (h/t Jayski):

Marlin began in 2006 with a base salary of $1.1 million, and that increased to $1.2 million for 2007. Nemechek started with MB2 in 2004 and received $900,000 for 2004, $1 million for 2005, $1.1 million for 2006 and $1.2 million for 2007. Both drivers got to keep 45% of their race winnings (Nemechek, who was 27th in points in 2006, had $4,099,914 million total in race winnings last year, while Marlin, 34th in points, had $3,248,034 million) and 33% of souvenir sales. Their bonus schedules were $50,000 per win, $25,000 for a top-five, $10,000 for a top-10 and $5,000 per pole. Winning a Cup title was worth a $500,000 bonus, while second through fifth in the final standings were worth $250,000; sixth through 10th were $150,000; 11th through 15th were $100,000 and 16th through 20th were $50,000. Each received a $500 per race travel allowance, a seat on the team plane and a hotel room for each race. They also got a personal car.

Keep in mind, these guys drove for one of the lower level teams that didn't have the kind of funding that Hendrick, Gibbs, Childress and DEI have. I'm sure Dale Jr.'s souvenir sales alone are staggering and far more than anything Nemechek or Marlin ever did, but they still made pretty good money.

And it's not just the drivers who are doing well. Two crew chiefs have also sued, and they both had a guaranteed salary of $500,000 plus potential bonuses. Again, they were on a lower level team. Guys like Chad Knaus and Greg Zipadelli are probably making much, much more.

No wonder those $25,000 fines assessed by NASCAR don' t have much effect.