In between NASCAR race weekends, NASCAR drivers find many ways to have fun in between. Some drivers travel and some relax but Kyle Larson, the current Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points leader, is one of those drivers who goes anywhere and everywhere to race. Even after he’s been in a car that was lifted in the air the night before.
Kyle Larson, along with Kasey Kahne, is in Central Pennsylvania for PA Speedweeks. It’s a week-long series where local sprint car drivers race every night during the first week of July. And considering the Central PA area is a hot bed of some of the best local dirt track racers in the country, it can attract some big racing stars to show up on a random weeknight and race among the locals.
On Sunday night, Larson won at Path Valley Speedway in the small town of Spring Run, PA and with that, took home the winner’s prize of $5,000. Drivers like Larson race on dirt because it’s fun and not really for the money, but one interesting detail emerged from last night that put a spotlight on something that hasn’t been noticed before.
At Path Valley, a track that might be big enough for a couple thousand people to attend, Larson reportedly sold $13,000 worth of merchandise racing on Sunday night. So to sell that much merchandise for a small crowd is remarkable. What’s even more remarkable is Larson’s response to that piece of news.
More than I've made all year in NASCAR sales…. 👍🏼 https://t.co/IWmsG93qpv
— Kyle Larson (@KyleLarsonRacin) July 3, 2017
Larson cannot be serious, can he? Just doing the math, Larson has had 19 NASCAR race weekends so far and has his merchandise showcased in NASCAR’s online store. And Larson is one of the top stars so he has had to have sold a lot of merchandise to his fans.
The only logical explanation is that NASCAR, and its licensing deal with Fanatics, is giving drivers a rather low percentage of the sales when their merchandise is sold.
Larson didn’t come right out and say that NASCAR drivers are getting the short end of the stick with merchandising and nobody needs to shed a tear for him because he’s probably doing well financially, but this is seen in other areas, particularly the music industry. When someone buys a song, the $.99 gets split so many ways that the person who actually sang that song probably gets a cent or two of that. Stream a song on Pandora, and they could be making even less that and get paid fractions of a cent. That’s why so many go on tours and perform live because that’s how performers can make up for that loss of revenue they used to have when people bought physical CD’s.
When it comes to NASCAR, things probably were somewhat better for the top drivers years ago when they were able to make their own licensing deals. Dale Earnhardt Sr. did that and he was very protective of his brand when he was alive. Now, as long as you’re racing in NASCAR, that licensing deal goes through Fanatics and it’s one huge store. With his sprint car merchandise not under that umbrella, Larson is selling his own merchandise and seems to be more lucrative for him.
It’s tough to really figure out what’s going on without all the info available. I do know that something is going on because it seems weird to see that Kyle Larson, the man who has a win and is currently leading the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series point standings, is making less than $650 in merchandise sales per race weekend.
Ahh, Yes! The ugliness of NASCAR and it’s relentless pursuit of big profit at the sake of the fan, it’s drivers, and teams becomes more apparent! Greed gentleman… That’s what’s killing NASCAR! Adding another automotive manufacturer name plate won’t make much difference if you continue bleeding everyone for the almighty dollar!