WHO IS THE WINNER?
In NASCAR, there seems to be two winners in the race. There is the logical winner, who is the driver that can make it across the finish line first and then there is the driver that can make the most money during a race.
The logical winner, which is the driver that comes in first, does a lot of work to make sure that he is first. These winners have to make sure their crew can work cohesively to ensure efficiency and effectiveness during all practices and races. Then they have make sure the engineers operating on their cars have done everything they can to create a lean, mean racing machine that adheres to all codes and qualifications that NASCAR officials have put into place. Along with the car and the crew, the driver himself has to make sure that he has the stamina to endure the race that he is in. When all of these things come into play, there's potential that the driver will be in 1st place at the end of the race.
Then you have the other winner of the race, who is the driver that makes the most money. This driver has to have the crew, car, and the stamina like any other driver that strives to get that 1st place slot, but there is a little bit more that occurs during the race. How this driver becomes a winner is based on different sponsorships that can be accumulated. The car and driver are essentially turned into fast-paced, moving, and sometimes breathing billboards for many companies and/or products that are available for consumer use. Each racing team and driver accumulates money from the sponsors that are on the cars and how much is received from these sponsors is relative to the location of advertisement on the car itself. The main sponsor has its advertisement in the main locations such as the hood of the car and the suit of the driver. Then you have the sponsors that are located on the front quarter panel of the car. Although the driver pays to have them placed on the car, if that particular company or product is endorsed during the race then the driver gets compensated. So essentially, the team and/or driver is making an investment to increase their wealth based on advertisements during the race.
Now the final question is this, "Which winner would you like to be?" Would you like the pleasure of personal achievement or do you want financial wealth. Now the best part of it is no one said you couldn't be BOTH winners!
And that's the view from here.
NG