No. 5 Chevrolet Driver Kyle Larson Expressed His Discontent With NASCAR’s Pay Disparity And Underpaying Their New Generation Drivers

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Renowned racing driver Kyle Larson has recently expressed his disappointment with the annual decrease in the salary of NASCAR drivers. His statements has prompted motorsports fans discussing about this issue in online forum.

Hailing from Elk Grove, California, Kyle Miyata Larson is an American professional racing driver.

Larson’s passion for motor racing started at the age of 7. Gradually, his passion turned into a professional career, and now he competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports and many more.

Kyle Larson Speaks Up About The Discrepancy Of Pay In NASCAR

Not long ago, Kyle Larson acknowledged an ongoing alarming trend in motorsports. The No. 5 Chevrolet driver condemned the decrease in the salary of NASCAR drivers annually.

Traditionally, NASCAR drivers earned sizeable base salaries that ranged from $50,000 to $10 million. They subsequently earned from ample sponsorship deals and race winnings.

However, these days, the new generation of drivers has been earning significantly less than what players used to earn in NASCAR 10 years ago. 

Expressing his discontent, he spoke to reporters on Saturday,

I haven’t really thought about it much until all this has come out, I’ve read some of the same things. We’re probably one of the only sports, if not the only sport, that athlete salary has gone down in the last couple decades, where I think we look at yearly most athletes salaries and stuff going up. Not just athletes but coaches, staff members, everybody in the sport.”
Obviously we would love to see it be a trend upward instead of the opposite which it’s been, but I think with that the teams probably have to make a lot more money to make it viable to pay the people that are working for organizations.

Hendrick Motorsports reportedly pays Larson roughly $10 million annually to drive the No. 5 car. Despite that, Larson has addressed the pay disparity in NASCAR compared to other major league sports organizations.

I know, I’m making way more than a good majority of the field, I don’t really know what to think but I think a lot of guys are just happy to say they’re a Cup Series driver and they don’t care.”
“They just want to be there and racing on Sundays and that just hurts the whole overall, I guess driver side of it, and trying to have leverage for some of these drivers.

Similarly, he disclosed that the top four drivers in the World of Outlaws Sprint car series are making more money than half of the Cup Series drivers.

NASCAR legends Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon were considered the greatest drivers in the history of the sport.

Moreover, Larson complained that the current generation of drivers is unable to earn anywhere near what Johnson or Gordon made in their illustrious careers.

Along with Larson, other NASCAR drivers have also expressed discontent with NASCAR’s financial structure and revenue sharing.

Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick were also vocal about the need for better revenue sharing between the teams and drivers.

After Kyle’s public statement about the pay disparity in NASCAR, fans started discussing the issue in many online forums.

Moreover, sources claim that NASCAR’s greatest driver, Kyle Busch, earns less than F1’s Max Verstappen. While Verstappen boasts a base salary of $55 million, Busch’s is just around $17 million.

In Case You Didn’t Know

  • Kyle Larson’s mother is Japanese American, and her parents spent time in a Japanese internment camp.
  • In 2020, Chip Ganassi Racing suspended Larson after he used a racial slur during an iRacing event the day before, due to which multiple corporations such as McDonald’s, Credit One Bank, and Chevrolet also terminated their sponsorship of Larson.
  • He married Katelyn Sweet in 2018, and together, they have three children.
Rimsha Khatri
Rimsha Khatri
As a content writer at players bio, Rimsha Khatri's main goal is to write well-researched news articles about athletes and sports. Her main focus is to use her literary skills and creative flair to make engaging and highly informative contents for the readers and subscribers of players bio.

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