Purse money, guaranteed salaries and bonuses represent only part of the income for NASCAR drivers and teams.
Endorsements, personal-service contracts and licensed merchandise sales can more than double a year's earnings.
In 2002, it was estimated that NASCAR-related items -- caps, shirts, jackets, die-cast car replicas, golf balls, wallpaper, video games, even furniture -- sold for more than $2 billion.
"And about half of that went to the No. 8," only half-jokingly said D.J. Kazmierczak, vice president of Camp & Associates, a North Carolina collectibles marketing firm. "Him and his dad are the hottest items around. They drive the market."
That would be Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet, and his late father, the seven-time Cup champion who was killed in a racing accident Feb. 18, 2001, during the Daytona 500.