Running a NASCAR Cup Series car is a multimillion-dollar business, but how much does it actually cost for a team to compete in one race?
According to 23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin, it costs approximately $20 million to run one Cup Series car for a 38-race season.
That works out to about $526,000 per race.
The figure comes from Hamlin’s testimony during NASCAR’s antitrust trial. Importantly, the $20 million estimate does not include the driver’s salary or general business overhead, meaning a team’s total cost can be significantly higher.
What does the $526,000 cover?
The money goes toward almost every part of a team’s racing operation.
- Cars and parts: A complete NASCAR Next Gen car has been estimated by Hamlin at around $350,000. Including its major components. Teams do not build a new car for every race, but they need multiple cars and large inventories of replacement parts.
- Tires(~$25,000–$32,000 per car, per race weekend): Teams can use more than 10 sets of Goodyear tires during a race weekend. Industry estimates put a set at around $2,500, meaning tires alone can cost tens of thousands of dollars during some weekends.
- Engines and equipment(~$52,600 per weekend for the engine lease alone): Teams need multiple engines, transmissions, suspension components, brakes and other specialized equipment, all of which require maintenance and replacement throughout the season.
- Crew and engineers(~$83,500 per week): Mechanics, engineers, pit crews and other team employees are paid on average, about $83,500 a week, making personnel one of the largest parts of a team’s operating budget.
- Travel and logistics (~$30,000–$50,000 per weekend): Cars, equipment and dozens of employees must be transported around the country for 38 races, adding significant travel and logistics costs.
- Crashes: Repairs can dramatically increase spending. A serious crash can require a car to be rebuilt or a backup car to be prepared. (≈ $30,000 to $100,000 for typical wall damage; up to $250,000 to $500,000 for a total loss, in a bad week)
The $526,000 figure is therefore best understood as an average operating cost per race, rather than a fixed amount spent every weekend.
NASCAR compared with other motorsports
NASCAR sits between several major racing series financially.
A 2026 Formula 1 team has a $215 million cost cap, although several expenses are excluded. Spread across F1’s 24-race calendar, that is roughly $9 million per race before those additional costs.
IndyCar is much closer to NASCAR. Industry estimates put a full-time IndyCar operation at approximately $8 million-$12 million per season, or roughly $470,000-$706,000 per race across the 17-race 2026 calendar.
Meanwhile, a lower-budget NASCAR Xfinity operation can cost around $4 million for a season, or roughly $121,000 per race.
So while the exact figure varies from team to team, the available numbers give a clear picture: running one NASCAR Cup Series car can cost up to half a million dollars per race.
| Series | Approx. annual cost/budget | Races | Approx. cost per race |
|---|---|---|---|
| F1 | $215M cost cap* | 24 | ~$9.0M |
| IndyCar | $8M-$12M per car | 17 | ~$470K-$706K |
| NASCAR Cup | ~$20M per car | 38 | ~$526K |
| NASCAR Xfinity | ~$4M bare-minimum operation | 33 | ~$121K |
| Formula 2 | ~€2M-€3M+ driver/team budget | 14 | ~$210K |
| Formula 3 | ~€1.5M typical season | 10 | ~$150K |
More must-reads:
