Jr., Highest Paid Driver in 2009

BobbyFord

BobbyFord

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#88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. is NASCAR's highest-paid driver for a second straight year with earnings of $30 million in 2009. Earnhardt has had little racing success the past two years, with only one win at the track. He finished a disappointing 25th in the Sprint Cup standings last year, but was voted NASCAR's most popular driver for a seventh straight year. Forbe's earnings estimates include salaries, endorsements and the drivers' share of track winnings and licensing income. Earnhardt's immense popularity translates into big dollars in each of these areas outside of track winnings. "Nascar needs Dale Jr. to be competitive, because he is so closely associated with the success of the sport. [As] go the fortunes of Junior, so goes Nascar," says Ardy Arani, managing director of Atlanta-based Championship Group, a motor sports marketing consultancy. The top 10 list from forbes.com:
No. 1 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Earnings: $30 million
No. 2 Jeff Gordon: Earnings: $27 million
No. 3 Jimmie Johnson: Earnings: $23 million
No. 4 Tony Stewart: Earnings: $19 million
No. 5 Carl Edwards: Earnings: $14 million
No. 6 Kevin Harvick: Earnings: $13 million
No. 7 (tie) Kyle Busch: Earnings: $12 million
No. 7 (tie) Kasey Kahne: Earnings: $12 million
No. 9 (tie) Matt Kenseth: Earnings: $11 million
No. 9 (tie) Mark Martin: Earnings: $11 million
(full article and more at Forbes.com)(3-25-2010)
 
"Nascar needs Dale Jr. to be competitive, because he is so closely associated with the success of the sport. [As] go the fortunes of Junior, so goes Nascar," says Ardy Arani, ".............................

Yeah, I agree with that to an extent. Maybe not a HUGE part, but still a part of the decline in ticket sales/tv ratings could be attributed to Jr. performing poorly.

And frankly, honestly, it amazes me that he DOES perform so poorly given the fact he (bet on it) very likely has the best stuff HMS offers(with the exception of Knaus, naturally).

I don't know. The way -out -there conspiracy theorist in me thinks in MUST be a deliberate case of wanting to break the Earnhardt legacy on Hendrick's part (Why, I couldn't even guess).

Meanwhile, the Anti-Earnhardt part of me just thinks he might actually have just been terribly overrated all along.

But the logical part of me can see it might just be that he simply does not match with an organization as big as HMS( even though Martin jumped right in and began winning and Kyle won with them)...

Final answer: I'm just baffled at the way he can't seem to even run half-a$$ed competitively with HMS after this length of time.
 
CRAP... I would take Front row Joe's earnings for last year and be quite happy. :D
 
I wanna know how Jimmie can win how many races, win the championship, and still be #3?
 
I guess he puts the earn in Earnhardt through popularity and not performance. Ya' know...like Paris Hilton.

I know alot of commercial time during races is spent on him so he obviously makes alot away from the track.
 
97forever said:
"Nascar needs Dale Jr. to be competitive, because he is so closely associated with the success of the sport. [As] go the fortunes of Junior, so goes Nascar," says Ardy Arani, ".............................

Yeah, I agree with that to an extent. Maybe not a HUGE part, but still a part of the decline in ticket sales/tv ratings could be attributed to Jr. performing poorly.


The decline in ticket sales might also be attributed to the worst recession in decades.Unemployed fans are staying home and corporations that used to purchase thousands of tickets ae not purchasing any.When I go to sporting events I have seen whole rows and sections that are empty.I assume those used to be corporate sales.The seats will fill up again.Nascar is still more popular than ever.A lot of the folks who are attending races are Junior fans,and he is a top ten driver.
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ted@economy said:
97forever said:
"Nascar needs Dale Jr. to be competitive, because he is so closely associated with the success of the sport. [As] go the fortunes of Junior, so goes Nascar," says Ardy Arani, ".............................

Yeah, I agree with that to an extent. Maybe not a HUGE part, but still a part of the decline in ticket sales/tv ratings could be attributed to Jr. performing poorly.


The decline in ticket sales might also be attributed to the worst recession in decades.Unemployed fans are staying home and corporations that used to purchase thousands of tickets ae not purchasing any.When I go to sporting events I have seen whole rows and sections that are empty.I assume those used to be corporate sales.The seats will fill up again.Nascar is still more popular than ever.A lot of the folks who are attending races are Junior fans,and he is a top ten driver.
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1. The recession has hurt Nascar, no doubt. However, if Nascar thinks that is the total reason for the decline , then they will lose more fans. If Nascar thinks the seats will fill up when the recession is over they are going to be terribly dissapointed.
2. There is no question that when jr starts winning there will be an increase in fans.
3. Nascas needs to take a close and realistic look at why they are losing fans - none of the above is the total reasons. they were losing fans "before" the recession.
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Since it's the fans that ultimately fund NASCAR, I think it's about time that the tracks drop the seat prices a little bit. Fontana dropped the prices on the cheap, front row, lower level seats but the good-seat prices stayed the same. Also, it's not necessary to charge someone $7 for a $1.50 cheeseburger and $7 for a $1.50 beer. The seats and pit passes are way more expensive at Las Vegas Motorspeedway than they are at Fontana. I think attendance would pick up if it were a little easier on the average race fan's wallet.
 
BobbyFord said:
Since it's the fans that ultimately fund NASCAR, I think it's about time that the tracks drop the seat prices a little bit. Fontana dropped the prices on the cheap, front row, lower level seats but the good-seat prices stayed the same. Also, it's not necessary to charge someone $7 for a $1.50 cheeseburger and $7 for a $1.50 beer. The seats and pit passes are way more expensive at Las Vegas Motorspeedway than they are at Fontana. I think attendance would pick up if it were a little easier on the average race fan's wallet.
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agreed
 
de7xwcc said:
fans !!

that 30 million includes merchandise
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That's what im saying... how many fans does it take to fill a deicit of a bunch of wins/top 5's and the championship purse?

Thats alot of Jr fans and basically no Jimmie fans...
 
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