When Daniel Suarez won the Xfinity Series championship in 2016, he was quite the talk of the town. Afterall, it is not every day that a foreign-born NASCAR driver comes and takes trophies away in a whizz. Being the only non-American driver who has won titles in all three formats of the race, he definitely set the bar for any NASCAR driver who was an outsider. Fast forward to 2023, and we have Shane van Gisbergen pulling a Daniel Suarez as he wins the Chicago Cup Series race. 

However, not much has been discussed about the details of the money that went behind bringing him to NASCAR. Dale Earnhardt Jr brought a change to that. In the latest episode of the Dale Jr Download podcast, the NASCAR ace shed some light on the exact amount of investment that may have gone into bringing the Australian hit racer to the States. 

Dale Earnhardt Jr makes jaws drop with his estimation

A few weeks ago, NASCAR took the racing community by storm by introducing its first-ever street race. If that wasn’t big enough, the race was won by an outsider, who is not even trained in NASCAR. For the first time, the American racing audience got to experience the unadulterated glory of Shane van Gisbergen. However, how much exactly did Justin Marks and Pitbull have to invest to bring him into NASCAR, and into Trackhouse Racing? Dale Earnhardt Jr gives a neat estimation of the possible funding that SVG’s coming to NASCAR may have required. 

“I don’t know if there’s going to be an Xfinity slash truck component. Let’s just say that’s going to be about a three to four million dollar’s investment. Then you’re going to have a full Cup deal which is anywhere from 15 to 20. And then do you have to buy a charter which is going to be anywhere from 30 to 40 million dollars? I mean this is going to be an expensive…. The reason why I felt like this was so unlikely even with his success in Chicago is because it’s so expensive to do what he needs to do to come over here and ramp up his knowledge in, you know,” he explained.

Indeed, without a charter, it could not have been possible for him to secure a position in the Cup Series, and it is pretty common knowledge that purchasing a charter in NASCAR is costly business. Thus, Trackhouse Racing must have a pretty solid plan regarding the three-time Supercars winner with respect to his career in NASCAR.

Dale Jr makes other assumptions that might have gone into the investment

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Dale Jr. has been in NASCAR for approximately 26 years and has seen his fair share of investments and partnerships in the sport. With a net worth of approximately $300 million, it can be safely said that Dale Jr has a clear idea about how NASCAR fundings and investments work. So, who better than the celebrated NASCAR ace to give an accurate idea of such investments? Dale Jr reflects on the van Gisbergen investment further. 

“But if he’s going into an already chartered car, who’s out, right who’s who gets knocked out who’s he replacing? And then there’s that you know. Then you can take that having to purchase the charter off the table. But you’re still looking at around you know at minimum 20, 21 million dollar investment,” he concludes. It is indeed enough to make the jaws of NASCAR fans drop to the floor. It is perhaps a good thing that Ross Chastain bags multi-year sponsorships for his No. 1 Chevy, for it certainly gives Trackhouse the bandwidth to experiment with SVG further.

“I Like Him” – Shane Van Gisbergen Gets the Fans’ Love With Just One Blunt Interview

Amid news of SVG making his Truck Series and IndyCar debut shortly, NASCAR fans surely hope that he does justice to the investment that went behind bringing him to NASCAR. 

Watch this story – Trackhouse boss Justin Marks could lose SVG to bigger sharks