Forbes: Earnings up for top drivers
Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009
They're balance sheet-to-balance sheet as they come off the 2008 season! But - look at that, fans! - Dale Earnhardt Jr. was able to edge ahead of Jeff Gordon in earnings, according to Forbes.
As the 2009 season cranks up at Daytona International Speedway, an analysis on Forbes.com shows that Gordon remains the all-time earnings leader among NASCAR drivers. But Peter J. Schwartz writes that Earnhardt did finish ahead of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate last season.
Overall, the Forbes analysis showed, earnings for the top-10 drivers in Sprint Cup accelerated $180 million, or 4.7 percent. And that was while track attendance and revenue were headed the other way.
Forbes has Earnhardt as last season's highest earner at $35 million, which worked out to roughly $830 for each left turn he made. Salary and race purses accounted for $12 million, but nearly twice that - $23 million - came through endorsements and royalties.
That money came primarily through the sale of merchandise bearing the new car number of NASCAR's most popular driver, Forbes said, totals that easily outpaced those posted by the rest of the field.
Gordon's earning were pegged at $30 mllion, according to the Forbes study, $16 million of which came from licensing and endorsement.
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