DAYTONA BEACH, FL - JULY 01: Josh Williams, driver of the #92 Chevrolet, William Byron, driver of the #9 AXALTA/Vorteq Chevrolet, and Blake Koch, driver of the #11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, race during the NASCAR XFINITY Series Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway on July 1, 2017 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Dale Earnhardt Jr: NASCAR Xfinity Series team profits?
Racing News
Dale Earnhardt Jr: “JRM sorta fluctuates between making or losing a couple hundred thousand per year.”
Can a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race team have a net loss? If a car gets destroyed?
That was the question posed to Dale Earnhardt Jr during his Dale Jr download this week. Basically asking if it’s possible for a NASCAR Cup Series team to lose money?
Of course.
Dale Jr elaborated, “There’s no guaranteed profit. That’s why you only have 36 cars attempting to qualify at Watkins Glen. In a race where 40 can make an attempt. That lets you know, you’re going to lose money if you show up, qualify and finish 40th.”
NASCAR Team Owners
Today, Kyle Busch stated, “If the limit for the truck series goes to zero, I’m done.”
So, Kyle Busch basically runs his team just so he can field a racecar for himself. If he’s not allowed to drive his own trucks, Kyle Busch Motorsports will close it’s doors. It’s not a money making operation, it’s a hobby.
Dale Earnhardt Jr operates his team for multiple reasons, hobby included. Below, Dale Earnhardt Jr discusses profit and loss of running a NASCAR Xfinity Series team via the JR Motorsports badge.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Team Costs?
JR Motorosports wrecked 4 out of 5 cars at Daytona. How does that effect the NASCAR Xfinity Series team bottom line?
The owner of JR Motorsports explains, “Basically every time you wreck a car, especially at Daytona, which is going to destroy it, it’s about a $100,000 to $150,000 hit. To an Xfinity team and if you’re running 4 cars and you tear all of them up. You can spend $600,000 of your budget, right away. In one race.”
“Heck, I mean you’re racing for a couple thousand dollars. I mean obviously, you’re trying to get sponsorship to pay for what it costs to be there. Then, what you win in the race partially goes to the driver. That’s really the key component for the driver’s salary is race winnings.”
“So, it’s very difficult. JRM sorta fluctuates between making or losing a couple hundred thousand per year. Depending on how much we tear up, really. It comes down to how many cars we crash. If we have a bad season and tear up a lot of cars then that hits the bottom line.”
Can a NASCAR Xfinity Series team be profitable?
Dale Jr states, “If we finish in the top 3 in points and have a relatively clean year we can make a couple hundred thousand dollars. But, we budget to break even. That’s what we do.
“This thing here to to give all these people working over behind this wall here in the shop a place to work and provide for their families. But, it doesn’t make a profit.”
The NASCAR Xfinity Series team owner concluded, “When it does make a considerable profit. If we do have a really extremely good year… We actually put all that money in an account that’s basically a safety net for us, if we have a down year. Say like if something like the recession hits, we have some money in a safe place for us to fall back on. Any profit, really just kinda goes into that.”