While it may appear from the outside that racing at the top level in NASCAR means earning a fortune, the reality isn’t always that. The amount of money a driver makes depends on a lot of factors and variables. Kenny Wallace, who was a legend in the sport, recently shared what he did to build his net worth, and it is a lot more than just racing.

Kenny Wallace comes clean on how he made his $9M fortune

NASCAR veteran Kenny Wallace recently addressed a fan’s question about whether he made more money as a race car driver or in his TV stint. Wallace, who is worth $9 million at present, according to sources, raced in NASCAR between 1988 and 2015 with 547 starts in the O’Reilly Series and 344 in the Cup Series. After his retirement, he also worked with FOX Sports as an analyst.

However, in his response to the fan about how he made his fortune, he revealed it was neither from NASCAR nor from FOX. “Neither. I made most of my money in real estate,” Wallace said.

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NASCAR drivers as successful as Richard Petty also struggled to make ends meet at times. In a 2025 revelation, Wallace revealed the story Kyle Petty told him that at one point,

“We were broke. If you look at it right now, Richard’s living in this little biddy old home, because they spent all their money on racing,” Wallace revealed.

In a 2024 video posted on his X account, Kenny Wallace shared details of how he made his money from real estate. He said that while there were many NASCAR drivers who were better than him, he still made more money than them.

Wallace claimed he saved all his money, invested in real estate, and cashed out by selling and investing back in the stock market. He gave an example of putting in $19,000, whose value increased to $42,000.

Wallace on the only tier of NASCAR where drivers can make a living

In 2023, Kenny Wallace opened up on how much money race car drivers actually make. He claimed that the only division where drivers can make enough money ‘to make a living’ is the Cup Series. Wallace said that making it big, be it in the MLB or the NFL, is okay. But in a series like World of Outlaw Sprint Cars or Late Models, racecar drivers either need sponsor money or a wealthy car owner.

Talking about the Cup Series, he said, “In the Cup Series now, this is where you make a living, you’re going to make anywhere between 750,000 up to $8 million. I do know three drivers who make seven or eight million dollars. Chase Elliott makes about seven million; we know that Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch make about 8 million. So it’s very easy to find out the drivers that have their own sponsorship.”

Drivers also stand a chance to make more money than their base by winning a race. For someone like Elliott, that number can be as much as $4 million over his base salary.

The TV deals from the past have gotten a lot better, and you can only imagine how much the money would have increased in previous years. However, as compared to other sports, NASCAR still has problems with money, as there is some disparity between what Cup drivers make and what other non-Cup drivers make. While it is understandable that the top racers would deserve more money, it is important to fairly reward drivers from non-Cup races, as they also deserve stability and financial backing to race at the top level.