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2012 Auto Club Dale Earnhardt JrHow much do your favorite NASCAR drivers take home on their paychecks?  According to Forbes here’s your top 10 highest paid drivers

10 Brad Keselowski $11.4 million

9 Kasey Kahne $12 million

8 Kyle Busch $12.5 million

7 Danica Patrick $12.9 million

6 Kevin Harvick $13 million

5 Carl Edwards $13.7 million

4 Jeff Gordon $18 million

3 Tony Stewart $18.7 million

2 Jimmie Johnson $23 million

1 Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the highest paid driver for the 5th straight year, earning $25.9 million bucks

SOURCE: FORBES 

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Finale Earns ESPN’s Largest NASCAR Sprint Cup Viewership Ever

The final race of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup featured a down-to-the-wire battle for the championship and earned the largest viewership ever for a NASCAR Sprint Cup race telecast on ESPN.

With a peak audience of 10.5 million when the checkered flag fell on champion Tony Stewart at 8:08 p.m. ET, ESPN’s telecast of the Ford 400 from Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, Nov. 20, averaged 6,799,000 viewers and earned a 4.6 household coverage rating (4.0 U.S. rating), according to the Nielsen Company. The viewership average broke ESPN’s previous record of 6,668,000 viewers for the 2008 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. Final figures do not include a rain delay from 4:45-6 p.m.

Viewership was up 21 percent and the rating was up 18 percent from last year’s event, which also aired on ESPN and earned a 3.9 coverage rating and averaged 5,605,000 viewers. In addition, the 2011 race out-delivered the 2009 race that aired on ABC and earned 5,607,000 viewers and a 3.6 U.S. rating.

Ratings for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup on ESPN and ABC increased 14.8 percent from 2010, averaging a 3.1 U.S. rating compared to 2.7 for last year (not including the rain-delayed Chicagoland Speedway event, which was run on a Monday). Also, excluding rainout races, ESPN and ABC’s NASCAR Sprint Cup coverage for 2011 averaged a 3.2 U.S. rating, up more than six percent from a 3.0