It's the afternoon of April 28 and JaMarcus Russell has just been announced as the No. 1 NFL draft pick of the Oakland Raiders. Minutes later, he's behind a curtain in Radio City Music Hall on a cell phone talking with Oakland owner Al Davis.

Congratulations and thank yous are exchanged. Small talk commences between the two men who have never met. And money is already taken care of -- sort of.

"By the way, JaMarcus," Davis asks in a matter-of-fact way, "what are your plans to help us cover the $50 million overhead of your contract?"

"That's exactly like it is in auto racing," said Ardy Arani, president and CEO of the Atlanta-based marketing and sales organization Championship Group Inc.

Arani was talking about the expectations laid on drivers to help foot the bill of running a race team, which increases incrementally with each level a driver climbs. Arani estimated that the primary sponsor of a Truck program hovers between $2-4 million annual whereas a Cup program jumps to $8-15 million annually. And the driver is often expected to help take care of a percentage with sponsorship deals.

"There aren't many hot-shot drivers out there that an owner signs and says he'll take care of all the bills from that point on," Arani said.

So when the question arises as to why a minority driver isn't at NASCAR's top level of stock car racing, dollars fly out of the mouth faster than a lap around Bristol. Arani, however, said that's the nature of the sport.

"Of course sponsorship hinders minority drivers, but it's the same way for all kids," Arani said. "The issue of sponsorship is colorblind. Minority drivers are looking for sponsorship the same as a blue-eyed, blond, Caucasian driver is trying to climb the ladder.

"There are so many talented kids getting halfway up the ladder and then you never hear of them again. Most of the time, the kid has talent but runs out of money."

Very few times does the kid turn out to be a Denny Hamlin story.

Hamlin's climb to the Nextel Cup Series has been well documented -- the second mortgage, the emptied retirement fund, the selling of collector cars -- all just to fund a young Late Model racer's career through the Virginia ranks. It worked. But that's rare.

"To the common family, that's a huge financial risk," Arani said. "For every one or two families like that, there are thousands of families sitting their son or daughter down to say, 'We just can't do this anymore.'" (Continued)