NASCAR drivers win big prize money, but they say it takes just as much to make the cars run

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Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Can-Am 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on November 12, 2017 in Avondale, Arizona.

Harvick, a 42 old NASCAR veteran who’s been racing for nearly 20 years, partially attributed his long-running career to his 2014 champion win. Last year, Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches extended its partnership with Harvick, which underscored the importance big brands place on visibility at premier NASCAR races.

The company “told me personally, ‘this is why we signed up to be on the car,'” Harvick said. “I want to go to Homestead with the chance to see my car win the championship, with my name on the hood.”

The prize money is at least as important as the sponsorships, the drivers explained. In some cases, sponsorship cash represents a stream of money that outlast a driver’s tenure on the race track.

“We have a time span in our life to make the money that we’re going to make for the rest of our lives. And when you win a championship, it really feels great because you know that you’re going to be financially secure after you get done performing, after you get done being a race car driver,” Keselowski said.

Although the competitors share some similarities with athletes in other sports, they differ in one major way: Their bodies, and their careers, tend to last much longer, they told CNBC.

“It’s not like the NFL and Major League Baseball where you’re 100 percent dependent upon your body, and thank God because I’m very slow and very uncoordinated,” Harvick joked.

Disclosure: The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship airs this Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on NBC, which is also owned by CNBC’s parent company, Comcast.