How Much Do Car Racers Make? F1, NASCAR, IndyCar & NHRA Pay
No single number answers how much car racers make. Forbes estimated Max Verstappen at $76 million for 2025, Front Office Sports lists the top NASCAR Cup salary at $16.9 million, and the Indianapolis 500 paid its winner $4.34 million in 2026. Those figures measure different things over different years. This guide sets each one beside what it actually covers, with the year and the outlet named, covering Formula 1, NASCAR, IndyCar and NHRA drag racing.
How Racer Pay Actually Works: Salary, Purse, and Sponsors
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Published racing pay figures mix different kinds of money. Most contracts between drivers and teams are private, so every driver number in this guide is an outlet’s estimate or a published purse, never a contract quoted from the driver. The table shows what each figure includes.
| Series and figure | What it covers | Published by and year |
|---|---|---|
| Formula 1 driver earnings | Salary plus bonuses; leaves out external sponsorship, merchandise, social media and taxes | Forbes estimates, reported by Crash.net, December 2025 |
| NASCAR Cup “total compensation” | Annual compensation per driver, compiled from Spotrac, PlanetF1 and SalarySport | Front Office Sports, list updated 2025 |
| Indianapolis 500 purse | Indianapolis Motor Speedway and INDYCAR awards plus special awards for the whole field | INDYCAR, May 2026 |
| NASCAR championship race purse | Total purse for the finale; NASCAR does not publish its detailed payout structure | EssentiallySports citing Jayski, November 2025 |
| NHRA nitro purses | Event purses and a year-end fund for Top Fuel and Funny Car teams | Competition Plus and NHRA, 2026 |
Because the columns differ, a $76 million Formula 1 estimate and a $12.4 million NASCAR race purse cannot be ranked against each other. One is a person’s estimated annual earnings, the other is what a whole field splits on one night. For a separate look at where racing money flows, see our guide on who pays the driver in car racing.
Formula 1 Driver Salaries: Forbes’ 2025 Estimates
Forbes ranked the highest-paid Formula 1 drivers of 2025. Forbes says its estimates are based on financial documents, legal filings and press reports, as well as conversations with industry insiders, according to Crash.net’s December 2025 report. The figures cover salary and bonuses and leave out sponsorship, merchandise, social media income and taxes.
| Rank | Driver | Forbes 2025 estimate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen | $76 million |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | $70.5 million |
| 3 | Lando Norris | $57.5 million |
| 4 | Oscar Piastri | $37.5 million |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | $30 million |
| 6 | Fernando Alonso | $26.5 million |
| 7 | George Russell | $26 million |
| 8 | Lance Stroll | $13.5 million |
| 9 | Carlos Sainz | $13 million |
| 10 | Kimi Antonelli | $12.5 million |
The list shows that bonuses reorder the table. Crash.net reports that Verstappen’s base salary is believed to be around $65 million with bonuses making up the rest, which by simple subtraction leaves about $11 million in bonuses. Norris is reported to have a base of $18 million and nearly $40 million in bonuses, which put the newly crowned champion third. Leclerc’s $30 million is reported as base salary with no bonuses in 2025.
There is also a structural detail most pay articles skip. Formula 1’s Formula 1 cost cap explainer says driver salaries and retainers are excluded from the team cost cap, along with the pay of the three highest-paid staff. The 2026 cap is $215 million, up from a base of $135 million plus inflation in 2025, but none of that covers what the drivers earn. For what the cars themselves cost, see how much a Formula 1 car costs.
NASCAR Cup Series Driver Pay
NASCAR driver pay comes from two different kinds of number: estimated compensation for each driver, and race purses for the field. Front Office Sports published its list of the 25 highest-paid NASCAR drivers in May 2024, updated it in November 2024 and refreshed the table in March 2025. It calls the figures total compensation and compiled them from Spotrac, PlanetF1 and SalarySport.
| Rank | Driver | Team | Total compensation (Front Office Sports) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kyle Busch | Richard Childress Racing | $16.9 million |
| 2 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | $13.1 million |
| 3 | Martin Truex Jr. | Joe Gibbs Racing | $10.4 million |
| 4 | Brad Keselowski | RFK Racing | $9.4 million |
| 5 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | $9 million |
| T-6 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | $8 million |
| T-6 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | $8 million |
The same list shows how steep the drop is. Front Office Sports says the top seven earn over $5 million, while the 24th and 25th entries are $500,000 and $330,000. It also reports that Busch’s $16.9 million works out to $444,736 per race over a 38-race season, which is Front Office Sports’ arithmetic, not a per-race payment.
How much does NASCAR pay to win a race?
NASCAR does not publish its detailed payout structure. EssentiallySports, citing Jayski’s Silly Season Site, put the total purse for the 2025 championship race at $12,394,135, up from $11,700,064 the year before, a figure it credits to FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass. The same article says the winner is generally understood to take 8 to 10 percent of the purse, which would be roughly $991,000 to $1.24 million. Treat that range as an unconfirmed rule of thumb: it does not say what share reaches the driver.
The article adds that each of the 36 chartered teams receives a base payout of about $141,000 per race. That money goes to the team, so it is not a driver salary. If you want to know how someone gets a seat in the first place, see how to get into NASCAR driving.
IndyCar Driver Earnings
IndyCar’s official numbers are race purses rather than salaries. INDYCAR published the total purse for the Indianapolis 500 in May 2025 and May 2026, and the purse record has now been broken five years in a row. The INDYCAR release on the 2026 Indianapolis 500 purse says the 2026 total was $30,906,400, with first-time winner Felix Rosenqvist earning a record $4.34 million.
| Year | Total Indy 500 purse | Winner payout | Average payout per NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | $16,000,200 | $3.1 million | Not stated in the releases |
| 2023 | $17,021,500 | $3.7 million | Not stated in the releases |
| 2024 | $18,456,000 | $4.3 million (includes a $440,000 roll-over bonus from BorgWarner) | $543,000 |
| 2025 | $20,283,000 | $3.8 million | $596,500 |
| 2026 | $30,906,400 | $4.34 million | $936,500 |
Two details sit behind the table. The Indianapolis 500 purse consists of Indianapolis Motor Speedway and NTT INDYCAR SERIES awards, plus other designated and special awards, and neither release says how each payout is divided between driver and team. The race also pays a $50,000 bonus to the top rookie: it brought Robert Shwartzman’s total take-home to $327,300 in 2025 and Mick Schumacher’s to $218,800 in 2026. The previous record before 2022 was $14.4 million in 2008.
No official IndyCar salary list was found, so this page gives no salary for any IndyCar driver. For how the series compares with Formula 1 on cars and costs, see IndyCar vs F1.
Drag Racing and NHRA Top Fuel Pay
NHRA is unusually specific about prize money. In February 2026 it announced more than $27 million in total purse and payouts across a 20-race season, including a one-year Wally Parks 75th Anniversary Appreciation Fund of $500,000. Competition Plus reported the Top Fuel and Funny Car details from NHRA letters to teams dated February 26, 2026. NHRA’s announcement says the money is awarded to teams, so what a driver keeps depends on arrangements that are not published.
| 2026 NHRA nitro payout | Amount |
|---|---|
| Four-session event, total purse | $319,000 |
| Four-session event, winner | $51,000 to $54,000, depending on qualifying runs |
| Four-session event, runner-up | $21,000 to $24,000 |
| Five-session event, total purse | $386,000 |
| Five-session event, winner | $96,000 to $100,000 |
| Five-session event, runner-up | $26,000 to $30,000 |
| Qualifiers 17 and 18 / 19 and 20 | $7,500 / $6,500 |
| Regular-season points leader bonus | $150,000 per category |
| Year-end purse (top 10 in each nitro category) | $850,000 total |
| Champion / runner-up / third | $500,000 / $100,000 / $50,000 |
| Fourth to tenth | Descending from $40,000 to $20,000 |
| Nitro Touring Fund, outside the top 10 | $10,000 if participation rules are met |
As simple arithmetic, the $500,000 champion’s payout is five times the $100,000 runner-up payout. Both are year-end fund amounts for the Top Fuel and Funny Car categories, not salaries.
Pay Below the Top Tier and Wage Data
The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook page for athletes and sports competitors gives a median annual wage of $66,710 for May 2025, with about 22,900 jobs in 2025. The summary page does not give a separate figure for motorsport drivers, so that number describes athletes and sports competitors in general and is not an average race driver’s pay.
Inside the published racing figures the floor is visible too. NHRA’s 19th and 20th qualifiers receive $6,500 in a 2026 nitro event, and the bottom two rows of Front Office Sports’ NASCAR list are $500,000 and $330,000. This guide does not cover local short-track or club purses, karting or the cost of racing; use the series’ own rulebook and entry pages for those. If you are comparing gear costs for a first season, see best racing helmets for beginner drivers and how to get into car racing.
What the Published Numbers Leave Out
- Forbes’ Formula 1 list excludes external sponsorship, merchandise, social media income and taxes, so it is not total income or take-home pay.
- NASCAR does not publicly release its detailed payout structure, so no source here splits a purse between driver, owner and crew.
- INDYCAR’s purse releases cover the whole field and do not say how a payout is divided between driver and team.
- NHRA payouts are awarded to teams, and the share a driver keeps is not published.
- Estimates differ by outlet and year, so compare a Front Office Sports 2024-25 figure with a Forbes 2025 figure only with that in mind. For a younger driver’s route to a paid seat, see our guide to the salary of a young race car driver.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do car racers make?
There is no single answer. Forbes estimated Verstappen’s 2025 Formula 1 earnings at $76 million, Front Office Sports lists NASCAR’s top compensation at $16.9 million, and the BLS median for the broad athletes category is $66,710 (May 2025). Most contracts are private.
How much does NASCAR pay per race?
NASCAR does not publish a detailed payout structure. The 2025 championship race had a total purse of $12,394,135, and Front Office Sports calculates Kyle Busch’s $16.9 million compensation as $444,736 per race over 38 races.
How much do drag racers make?
NHRA’s 2026 nitro champions share an $850,000 year-end purse, with $500,000 to the champion. Event winners earn $51,000 to $54,000 at four-session events and $96,000 to $100,000 at five-session events, paid to teams.
What percentage of the purse do race car drivers get?
No source read for this guide states a driver’s percentage. EssentiallySports says winners generally take 8 to 10 percent of a NASCAR purse, which is unconfirmed, and INDYCAR’s releases do not give a driver and team split.
Who are the top-paid race drivers in the world right now?
In Forbes’ 2025 Formula 1 list reported by Crash.net, the top three are Max Verstappen at $76 million, Lewis Hamilton at $70.5 million and Lando Norris at $57.5 million.
Do Formula 1 driver salaries count against the cost cap?
No. Formula 1’s cost cap explainer says driver salaries and retainers are excluded, as are the salaries of the three highest-paid staff. The 2026 cap is $215 million.
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