{"id":321744,"date":"2025-12-03T02:02:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T02:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/321744\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T02:02:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T02:02:13","slug":"denny-hamlin-explains-why-he-deserves-higher-salary-than-nascar-rivals-motorsport-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/321744\/","title":{"rendered":"Denny Hamlin explains why he deserves higher salary than NASCAR rivals – Motorsport – Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Denny Hamlin made his Joe Gibbs Racing salary public on the second day of 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports’ antitrust trial against NASCAR in Charlotte – then bluntly explained why he deserves more than most fellow drivers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

When asked whether he opposed drivers being paid,\u00a0Hamlin<\/a>, who\u00a0burst into tears on the first day of the trial<\/a>, responded sharply: teams, not\u00a0NASCAR<\/a>, pay the drivers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When NASCAR\u2019s antitrust defense lawyer Lawrence Buterman noted that most drivers don\u2019t earn $14 million a year, Hamlin fired back that most drivers \u201cdon\u2019t win the number of races I do,\u201d arguing that top salaries should reflect top performance. It came after\u00a0Hamlin told the court the huge amount 23XI Racing pays JGR for their NASCAR partnership.<\/a><\/p>\n

Hamlin argued that many drivers don\u2019t deserve top money, but said that elite performers obviously do, per Motorsport.com.<\/a> That, Hamlin said, should dictate pay more than a flat revenue-share model.<\/p>\n

At the heart of Hamlin\u2019s argument was the expense and risk shouldered by teams. He pointed out that running a Cup Series car for the season, including all associated costs, can exceed $20 million, while charter and payout terms often don\u2019t guarantee commensurate returns.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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He told jurors that teams are forced to buy their own cars and parts, maintain staff, and fund all operations, while still competing under restrictions imposed by NASCAR.<\/p>\n

Hamlin challenged the notion that NASCAR\u2019s charter-system and multi-year agreements are beneficial. He emphasized that unlike a monopoly, teams and drivers should have real options.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He repeatedly said, \u201cwe are not a monopoly like you,\u201d in response to cross-examination by NASCAR\u2019s attorney, Lawrence Buterman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The point: teams pay the bills and carry the risk, but the systemic structure overwhelmingly favors NASCAR, especially when it comes to controlling revenue and mandating costs.<\/p>\n

Hamlin also criticized the new charter-contract deal proposed by NASCAR for 2025, arguing the flat-rate seven-year option screwed teams during downturns. Under that model, teams would still pay for cars, equipment and salaries, while receiving the same fixed payout. That, Hamlin said, is a bad business deal for anyone but NASCAR.<\/p>\n

Throughout his testimony, Hamlin expressed frustration with what he described as a top-heavy structure: one where executives call the shots, create expensive mandates, and limit team autonomy, while expecting them to adapt financially.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even after public praise of NASCAR in past years, Hamlin said those were separate from the \u201cbusiness model\u201d criticisms he was making in court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Hamlin and 23XI Racing, this is not just about higher wages for one driver. It\u2019s about reshaping the economic model for hundreds of drivers, teams, and crew who fund every aspect of competing at the highest level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Denny Hamlin made his Joe Gibbs Racing salary public on the second day of 23XI Racing and Front…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[2074,142701,49,48,3932,2332,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-321744","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-23xi-racing","9":"tag-antitrust-trial","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-denny-hamlin","13":"tag-motorsport-section","14":"tag-nascar","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}