You got to love. Larson

[tsand]

He said in an interview on jayski that he is using Nascar to one day fulfille his dream to run the full WOO sprint series. I think that most Nascar drivers hate running the cup series but only do so for the money.

[lokwaidid]

it would be hard to give up the nascar money, but I find it hard to believe that he couldn't find a full time ride when ever he wanted one.

[jr29]

I remember Clint Bowyer saying if he could make half the money running a modified around Kansas City that he does in NASCAR he'd have never left Kansas.

[TS FAN]

Larson is star for sure, but his dream of WOO full time would have to be after he is completely finished with Nascar. It will just not work any other way. IMO to put the breaks on his Nascar career with the idea of coming back at a later date would be very difficult to pull off. The reason being that getting to the point where you can win races in Nascar takes a huge total team effort. It takes a few years to get to that point. In the mean time he can still running most of the big WOO races he wants too.

[PRCKartRacer9]

Or was he saying run the series as owner of the whole gig?

[formercrewguy]

I think it is great. Nascar is sucking hind t i t to dirt racing.

[3 wide]

It's the greatest show on earth I just wish I lived farther north were I could go to more of them.

[jog49]

Even the most obscure of NASCAR drivers is a multi-millionaire so yes, they do it for the money. Lately, NASCAR is sucking hind tit to the piglet races at the county fair.

[CIRF]

Larson shows no signs of being a fool so it's probably a cinch that he'll be driving a NASCAR Cup car on a regular basis for the foreseeable future. His affection for dirt racing is refreshing. It appears that Kyle believes the more he runs the midgets and sprints the sharper it makes him in the Cup car. I doubt anyone could produce an argument against that.

Kyle Larson is probably the best all around driver on the planet and is a talent that comes along just once in 2 or 3 generations but unfortunately, given the circumstances and contractual obligations of modern day motor sports he can't go and race like guys such as A.J. and Mario once did.

Even though all of us would love to see him race regularly on dirt personally I feel very fortunate to get to see him race on dirt at events like Turkey Night Grand Prix, the Knoxville Nationals and The Chili Bowl.

In addition to his dirt racing there are a lot of fans out there that would love to see Kyle qualify one of Chips Indy Cars for the Indy 500. I think that will happen, it's just a question of when.

[tb1545]

Even the most obscure of NASCAR drivers is a multi-millionaire so yes, they do it for the money. Lately, NASCAR is sucking hind tit to the piglet races at the county fair.

Nascar has really taken a hit the last 5 years and it got even more slimmed down this year. Its the reason why a lot of veteran guys have retired. While many of the Monster cup guys are making a million or more, the younger guys are getting cut to $300k or less per year contracts (with incentives might push them close to $1mil). Think that article even said teams went from 90-100 million budgets per car to 8-10 million per year. Cant really blame the vets for taking their cash and retiring especially with 1/10 of the salary being offered. Hopefully more transition back into grass roots racing. I also hope it means the drivers are less likely to have terms in their contracts that restrict their racing outside of napcar.
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/J...-salaries.aspx

[dirtcrazy4u]

It's funny in that Tony Stewart got fed up with NASCRAP and I personally believe is much happier than he has ever been. Jr. got out for the same reason. The FUN was gone. They both own teams. The money is still a factor. They make a lot. Larson, will follow in TS path I feel. The big difference being I think he will get out when he can still be competitive in a sprint car. Kyle will climb in a sprint car every chance he gets. At his age he could stick around for another 10 yrs and still be able to be competitive in a open wheel car. Could it be sooner ? Would not surprise me at all...

[CIRF]

Nascar has really taken a hit the last 5 years and it got even more slimmed down this year. Its the reason why a lot of veteran guys have retired. While many of the Monster cup guys are making a million or more, the younger guys are getting cut to $300k or less per year contracts (with incentives might push them close to $1mil). Think that article even said teams went from 90-100 million budgets per car to 8-10 million per year. Cant really blame the vets for taking their cash and retiring especially with 1/10 of the salary being offered. Hopefully more transition back into grass roots racing. I also hope it means the drivers are less likely to have terms in their contracts that restrict their racing outside of napcar.
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/J...-salaries.aspx

I don't have any idea what Cup drivers are making these days so correct me if I'm wrong, but what I think I hear you saying is NASCAR Cup drivers' salaries have become much more merit sensitive. In other words, if a driver doesn't produce they don't make the money. Personally, I see this as a very good thing and will obviously help to hold down costs for the less funded teams. There was a day that a guy that road around in 25th position all year made way more than he ever should have. I'm kinda' glad to see that swinging the other way. 20 years ago a middle of the road, mediocre driver was nailing down a lot more than he ever should have simply due to bloated sponsor budgets for middle of the road teams.

All that said, things are going to have to change a bunch more before it's possible to clear more money racing on the dirt than in NASCAR Cup. A lot of that has to do with sponsorship value and TV which hikes the average payout per race.

[Cardirt0]

If you a good driver you still making way over million bucks they ant getting 5 or more million now...

[formercrewguy]

Jimmy Johnson makes no less than 10mil/yr. probably much more now.

[CIRF]

Jimmie Johnson makes no less than 10mil/yr. probably much more now.

Actually, Jimmie is reported to have made over $21 million in 2016 which made him the highest paid Cup driver.

I believe these numbers to be obscene, just as the amount of money made by stick and ball sports is even more obscene, but if anyone deserves to be at the top of the pay scale for his profession it's Jimmie Johnson. He's been the gold standard of NASCAR Cup racing for over a decade.

[chupp n bloomer fan]

Actually, Jimmie is reported to have made over $21 million in 2016 which made him the highest paid Cup driver.

I believe these numbers to be obscene, just as the amount of money made by stick and ball sports is even more obscene, but if anyone deserves to be at the top of the pay scale for his profession it's Jimmie Johnson. He's been the gold standard of NASCAR Cup racing for over a decade.

While I’m with ya on wages being crazy in all sports, most of their careers are much shorter than ours. So I really can’t fault any sports person from making as much as they can as quick as they can. Spine injuries, concussions, ACL, MCL, things those of us in the regular work force rarely have happen, are regular occurrences for them.

I’m mean he!!, if I could get a million a year operating equipment, I’d do it. So I can’t really fault them.

[chupp n bloomer fan]

It's funny in that Tony Stewart got fed up with NASCRAP and I personally believe is much happier than he has ever been. Jr. got out for the same reason. The FUN was gone. They both own teams. The money is still a factor. They make a lot. Larson, will follow in TS path I feel. The big difference being I think he will get out when he can still be competitive in a sprint car. Kyle will climb in a sprint car every chance he gets. At his age he could stick around for another 10 yrs and still be able to be competitive in a open wheel car. Could it be sooner ? Would not surprise me at all...

Junior got out because of wanting a family and I think the concussion scared the sh!t out of him.

Stewart, as much as I dislike him, his heart just wasn’t in NASCAR anymore, so I agree with ya on Tony.

[CIRF]

CnBF, I agree with you 100% on the injury aspects, although the odds may be somewhat more in favor of being mortally injured in most forms of professional motorsports than in stick and ball sports. I also agree that anyone should get what the market will bear. If someone was stupid enough to pay me $20 mil a year to do what I do I'd grab it in a second.

It's a cultural thing that salaries are so askew. That's where my disenchantment comes in. I really don't wish to wax philosophical, but the people who do the least to better society through their profession make the most money. Sports figures, entertainment personalities, etc. Hell, even a POS like Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr., AKA Snoop Dogg is worth $135 mil. I never have fully figured out what that clown does to warrant that amount of money. Thus, I have trouble figuring out how the hell that can happen until I go to chitcago and look around a little and it becomes abundantly clear. LOL!

[mcarter815]

I don't have any idea what Cup drivers are making these days so correct me if I'm wrong, but what I think I hear you saying is NASCAR Cup drivers' salaries have become much more merit sensitive. In other words, if a driver doesn't produce they don't make the money. Personally, I see this as a very good thing and will obviously help to hold down costs for the less funded teams. There was a day that a guy that road around in 25th position all year made way more than he ever should have. I'm kinda' glad to see that swinging the other way. 20 years ago a middle of the road, mediocre driver was nailing down a lot more than he ever should have simply due to bloated sponsor budgets for middle of the road teams.All that said, things are going to have to change a bunch more before it's possible to clear more money racing on the dirt than in NASCAR Cup. A lot of that has to do with sponsorship value and TV which hikes the average payout per race.

It has the opposite effect. Teams aren’t running on a smaller budget be ause they want to. The TV viewership has dropped aling with the sponsorship money. Guys that had multi-year sponsorships with one primary now have to scrape together a hodge-podge of spinsors to fill out a schedule. I think the cars no longer being familiar week-to-week is part of the drop in casual fans. It also means that only drivers that can bring big money sponsors can land a ride. That’s what keeps Paul Menard running and what kept Danica goung for so long. NASCAR is a sport for rich guys. Unfortunately dirt racing has become that as well in many ways.

[TBSprintFan]

Smartest move NASCAR could make to get more fans to watch is shorten all those 1.5 tracks to .75 tracks with some also 1 mile or .5 mile. Those cookie cutter tracks (1.5) is the most boring racing to watch, in a matter of a few laps someone will have a 4-6 second lead or longer. First off the there are barely any cautions and second barely any side by side racing, if a driver makes a pass he seems to be long gone. It's like watching 4 hours of straight time trials .