Denny Hamlin claims “a lot of drivers” are not making as much as an engineer in NASCAR
23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin has made some startling revelations about drivers salaries amidst the lawsuit saga.
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Denny Hamlin (Via IMAGO)
The NASCAR community is having some very important discussion about the financial state of the sport following the anti-trust lawsuit against the sport. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports sued NASCAR, after refusing to sign the 2025-2031 charter deal, alleging monopolistic practices to limit earnings of the teams.
This has opened a can of warms and one of the main discussion points are the drop in salaries of the drivers and crew. Majority of the garage doesn’t make anywhere close to the salary and benefit their counterparts used to make in the 2000’s. In the recent episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, while talking about this salary drop, Denny Hamlin made a serious revelation.
He admitted that that there are a handful of drivers that gets paid a respectable sum compared to the past, but the remaining in the grid isn’t getting anything close to it. Denny Hamlin pointed out that the drivers who are below the middle tier of the pay scale is making similar or less than an engineer does in the sport.
Every team is different and driver salaries are on a very wide spectrum. There’s some at the very, very top that are still you know, close, they’re close, they’re not at the peak of what it used to be but it’s close to it. And you’ve really got another tier of, yeah they’re kind of in the middle of, you know, it’s good not great. Then you’ve got a lot of the field that’s not making as much as an engineer makes. It’s really, really dispersed throughout the field.
Denny Hamlin said via Happy Hour podcast.
Denny Hamlin confesses that teams are not signing the best talent available
Because of the drop in revenue and the drop in sponsorship money, teams nowadays can’t afford to pay for the best talent available. They are forced to look into hiring drivers capable of bringing in money, overlooking talents that could have been more productive.
We’re not, at that point we won’t be looking for, well, does it financially make sense to hire this driver, right? We’re just going to say, if we’re in a healthier spot, we’re going to say, ‘Give me the best guy.’ And if there’s one or two people that are head and shoulders above the rest, I’m going to pay a s*** ton for that guy. Because he’s going to make the difference on my race team.
Denny Hamlin said.
The fight Denny Hamlin and his team has taken up against NASCAR is aimed at helping the teams to get back to their glory days. They want teams to generate sustainable revenue, which they can use pay for the best drivers in the market.
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Justin P Joy
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