A NASCAR Pay Cut
Kyle Busch is Getting a Pay Cut
By Buck Black Jr
But so are Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. All drivers will have a pay cut in 2010.
NASCAR is slashing the amount it will pay race teams by about 10% for the 2010 season. The move is part of a NASCAR cost-cutting initiative.
Race track operators will benefit the most from the discounted race purses.
Speedways are required to put at least 25% of their television money toward race purses. The money tracks will receive from television networks will increase by about 2.5% in 2010. Even as the tracks are handing out less at the pay window to drivers.
But attendance at NASCAR Sprint Cup races will continue to be off in 2010. So the reduced purses will help offset the loss in ticket sales.
To their credit NASCAR tracks have been offering race fanss lower ticket prices to get people in the grandstands.
For what it’s worth International Speedway Corporation owns about half of the tracks on the Sprint Cup series schedule.
NASCAR is essentially owned by the owners of International Speedway Corporation.
“NASCAR did the right thing to work with the tracks to reduce their costs in order to manage the economic realities,” said Ramsey Poston, NASCAR’s corporate communications honcho.
“Tracks have done a great job reducing ticket prices and enhancing the fan experience. Likewise, we worked with the teams to contain costs.”
So it seems that the speedway operators are trying to hold their own while taking money from drivers and race teams.
Does that seem fair?
Comments
29 Comments on A NASCAR Pay Cut
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poof on
Fri, 29th Jan 2010 9:56 pm
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John Gee on
Fri, 29th Jan 2010 10:17 pm
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marcel on
Fri, 29th Jan 2010 10:34 pm
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AZomah on
Fri, 29th Jan 2010 10:36 pm
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John Gee on
Fri, 29th Jan 2010 10:55 pm
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Gardner on
Fri, 29th Jan 2010 11:01 pm
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REGAN on
Fri, 29th Jan 2010 11:21 pm
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Donna on
Fri, 29th Jan 2010 11:42 pm
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Randy King on
Fri, 29th Jan 2010 11:55 pm
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Mavis on
Sat, 30th Jan 2010 10:00 am
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Danielle on
Sat, 30th Jan 2010 10:08 am
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wm berkeley on
Sat, 30th Jan 2010 11:24 am
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steve-o on
Sat, 30th Jan 2010 1:20 pm
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REGAN on
Sun, 31st Jan 2010 7:50 am
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dennis on
Sun, 31st Jan 2010 4:06 pm
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REGAN on
Mon, 1st Feb 2010 10:08 am
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LINDA S on
Wed, 3rd Feb 2010 7:52 pm
with the “average family”which is what made the sport what it is today, struggling to decide to pay rent,or buy groceries,I think ANY big multimillion corperation should lookat at home first.I commend Hendricks for getting involved in Haiti,but what about the millions of under employed,and unemployed here at home?
You got that right poof, why overseas before the US Americans, I guess it’s the hell with us, isn’t that right Obama?
chevynation Reply:
February 1st, 2010 at 2:20 pm
Get Real ,keep this where it belong’s Hendricks can’t give everyone a job,and like you said it’s good what he did.As you remember has gone through a great lose once.THIS IS NASCAR not THE WHITE HOUSE. Stop in the right pit stall are leave the track!
Don’t know where your going with this puff and Gee, whats it got to due with pay cuts?. Nascar needs to cut the ticket prices so an average american can go to a race once a year. I know it a dangerous sport, we have drivers racing Saturday night short tracks for less than 2% of nascars purse, same danger. Big time racing needs to take a big cut or it wont survive. I don’t want to see that.
This seems fair to me, maybe the drivers will start caring more about the fans now. Drivers either hide out in their haulers or run from fans when they tour the garage area. The tours are done by the tracks as a reward to season ticket holders in some cases, other fans pay to do the tour, no matter how they get back to the garage, some fans have left the sport when their used to be driver was so rude to them. Why do they run and/or hide? Are the fans not good enough for them, or flush enough in the pocket? What is their(the drivers) problem? A driver by the name of Richard Petty knew how important fans are, in his driving days if a fan did not get his autograph it was because they didn’t try hard enough. Who do todays drivers think made the sport popular? Who do they think put some of the money in their pockets? There is more than the economy causing the attendance problems. NASCAR is working at solving some of them, but they haven’t caused them all, and I won’t even go into the greed factor!
marcel it has alot to do with paycuts, Nascar had to give paycuts because it’s not doing so well because of the economy, and here goes Obama shipping more of our resources out of the country and making our economy even worse.
I know people need help now and then, but we are always first to jump on the bandwagon, do you see any other countries helping?, I think not…
So the paycuts coming from Nascar having to lower ticket prices to get people to come to the races due to the fact our economy being in the dumps, now O’Dummy will get our economy even worse…
Marcel you make an excellent point. Ticket prices have gone ballastic and so have accomodations at hotel/motels not to mention camping areas. I was on business in Bristol the week of the last August race and after Wednesday a room could go from $70.00 to $210 for the rest of the week within one hour driving range from the track. That is gouging in an extreme form. There has to be some compromise from all entities to make the sport survive. Poof and John, it is big money people who have moved a large portion of US manufacturing to CHINA. It called a “Global Ecomomy” and all of Congress is allowing it. It is not the President who says overseas before US residents. It all of Washington again because it has to be approved spending by more that one person. After WW II the US has been paying Japan millions for years to help economic recovery and they don’t have the economic problems as large as ours.
ITS CALL THE FLEECING OF AMERICA!! BUT HEY WE GOT BUSH TO BLAME FOR EVERYTHING RIGHT? I CANT WAIT FOR OBAMA TO LEAVE OFFICE AND THE SAD PART IS I DONT EVEN CARE HOW HE GOES. I JUST WANT HIM TO GO!
John Gee Reply:
January 31st, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Bush to blame, senate and congress to blame and now Obama, he is in the process of screwing it up more…
I agree totally with everyone. Everyone has gotten so greedy.
kyle doesn’t care about the money, kyle cares about winning. end of story…
John Gee Reply:
January 30th, 2010 at 3:17 am
And if he doesn’t he cries, he say’s we come here to finish second, Waaahhh…
MIKE Reply:
February 1st, 2010 at 10:06 am
because he knows second place is not a winner. The great Dale Earnhardt
could not stand to finish second. He would complain that is because
they are true winners. A winner is never satisfied.
I don’t think a 10% pay cut will hurt the drivers. Reduced ticket prices should help bring in the fans to races. I’m not sure how any of this helps or hurts the race tracks. I know here in Edmonton when we have the Indy race the city has to make up for a big deficit. They seem to have lots of people at the races but there is still a shortfall.
As for Haiti, I applaud Hendrick for helping out. Anyone who can should do their share. Here in Canada, our government is matching donations from the public, so anything we give is doubled. It’s a sad situation down there, just as there have been in certain parts of the USA. I’m sure the government there has helped in areas where there were tornados, earthquakes, fires or floods. It’s much harder to help individuals outside of catastrophes as they are harder to identify. We just have to support the organizations that help them.
So nascar cuts what drivers are paid, they were over paid anyway and probably still are.
Correct me if I’m wrong but don’t the teams also pay drivers?
IT APPEARS TO ME YOU ARE ALL ABUNCH OF WINERS NOT KYLE,WHO IS ABOUT ONE OF THE BEST DRIVERS IN NASCAR AND HE IS RIGHT IF YOU DONT WIN.YOU ARE SECOND BEST AND A LOSER
Hmmm… greed factor. Aren’t the France family billionaires? Did they ever give Sam Ard anything to help him in his time of need? I know that Kyle Busch did. amd he had never even met him. I have NO sympathy for Nascar, even if their tracks have lost paying customers.
WHEN NASCAR HELPS GET THE COST OF HOTELS DOWN I JUST MIGHT GO BACK TO THE RACES. PLEASE DONT ANYONE TELL ME THAT THEY CANT HELP WHAT HOTELS CHARGE BECAUSE THEY CAN THROUGH THIER INFLUANCE WITH LOCAL GOVERNMENT. WE SEE ITHAT HAPPEN ALL THE TIME. I SPENT AROUND $1300.00 FOR MY SON, WIFE AND I TO GO TO THE COKE 600 IN 2008. HAVE NOT BEEN BACK SINCE. I ALSO AM A SPEEDWAY CLUB MEMBER AT LMS AND ALL THAT REALLY DOES IS LET ME BUT HIGH PRICE TICKETS AND PARKING PASSES, EAT AT THE SPEEDWAY CLUB IF I WANT TO TO FOR ABOUT $40.00 A PERSON! AND ALL THIS COST ME WAS ALOT OF MONEY TO BE A MEMBER. WHAT A BARGIN ! I THINK THEY ALL FORGOT ABOUT THE LITTLE MAN. YOU KNOW THE ONES THAT MADE NASCAR. NOW THEY ARE HURTING AND I HOPE THE GREED DOES THEM IN GOOD.
John Gee Reply:
January 31st, 2010 at 12:35 pm
I hate to say it Regan, but you are right along with the Gov’t jacking up the economy.
REGAN Reply:
January 31st, 2010 at 11:01 pm
HOW SO? BECAUSE I REFUSE TO BE ROBBED BY A BUNCH OF GREEDY PEOPLE?
John Gee Reply:
February 1st, 2010 at 12:16 am
Scratch that last sentence, I should have said the Gov’t, Nascar, all the hotels is what is screwing everything up, I didn’t mean to make it sound like you, wrong wording there, I’m right with you everything is sky high to do anything in this economy.
I like the new nascar news letter it is easyer to read and very clear, thanks Dennis…
JOHN GEE I AM GLAD TO KNOW THAT WE ARE ON THE SAME PAGE. I WENT TO YOUR SITE AND IT WAS VERY GOOD!!! GOOD JOB!!! I SURE MISS THE MAN IT AINT BEEN THE SAME SINCE. REGAN
THE TRACKS REALLY NEED TO LOWER THOSE TICKET PRICES. DALE JR TALKED ABOUT THAT LAST YEAR. HE SAID THEY SHOULD LOWER THE PRICES, SO HE IS THINKING OF THE FANS.. WITHOUT THE FANS YOU HAVE NOTHING..
Tell me what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
Buck Black Jr Reply:
January 29th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
Okay, If Americans can not afford to go to a NASCAR race there will be no NASCAR races.
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