Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finished 11th and was paid $108,300, but 17th place Ryan Newman got $133,950, 19th place Robby Gordon got $119,208, 24th place Sam Hornish, Jr. (a rookie with no Cup wins ever) got $132,625, 25th place Elliott Sadler got $115,095 and Reed Sorenson finished 39th and got $108,564. That does not seem fair to me. Of those only Newman has a win in 2008. Hornish and Sorenson have never won a Cup race. Are their sponsors more generous?
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. led a lap. None of theothers l mentioned led a lap.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. led a lap. None of the others l mentioned led a lap.

l know Nascar has a winners circle bonus payout program, but definitely Hornish & Sorenson cannot be on it. Maybe someone just made a typo printing up the list. No way Robby Gordon would get paid more than Dale, but it may also have something to do with Dale being on a brand new team. Looking at the final rundown shows almost everyone between Dale & Clint Bowyer making more money. Clint made about the same & won a race last year. Jeff Gordon made a ton more money than anyone around him. Yes, that is really odd.

It is not sponsors, it is ''contingency'' pay-outs. The decals on the cars are the contingency money participation, based on where they finish a race. l just looked at the pay outs from yesterday-that is truly odd. Maybe Jr did not have some stickers on his car ?
Also, leading the race gives each of them so much per lap. But l do not remember any you mentioned leading. Very strange pay out from yesterday.

yeah thats messed up
ambrose gets $100,000 for 29th
and the least was 42 43 $81000 i've never really seen it that screwed up
i knew some drivers always got more no matter where they finished but not like this

The payouts r not the same for every driver. They have not been for many years. Each drivers individual contract determines what the payout is. Jeff Gordon always makes more than the few spots ahead of him. Go back & check some ''Results'' pages & u will see. it is always jumbled in every race.

Click on the link below, then click on any race result & u will see that payouts r not in order. They r jumbled according to each drivers contract.

http://nascar.com/races/cup/2008/rr_index.html

NEGOTIATIONS!!!!

The same concept as why Football, Baseball, Hockey etc PLAYERS, are paid more than others.

Is A-Rod is ability to strike out really making him worth 11 million a year. Heck l can go up and strike out for less than 1 mill.

Every drivers contract is different.