The big bucks aren’t limited to NASCAR’s garage area. Millions of dollars are spent on state-of-the-art motor coaches, owned by NASCAR drivers who covet convenience, privacy and family safety.

They might be gas-guzzlers, but they’re also status symbols.

NASCAR drivers frequently display the same competitive juices in a quest for the latest in lap-of-luxury living on wheels as they do on the racetrack. With motor coaches, bigger is better and more marble is more marvelous.

“These things basically cost $1.2 million,” said Eddie Jones, general manager of the Ken Schrader No. 49 Bam Dodge and a veteran of 34 NASCAR seasons.

“If somebody gets a motor coach with a plasma flat-screen TV, you can bet it’s only a matter of time that somebody else gets one with a larger plasma flat-screen TV.”

Since NASCAR is America’s fastest-growing spectator sport — with 6.7 million fans attending Winston Cup races last year — the novelty of about 10 years ago has become what Jones calls “a practicality” for drivers, owners and crew chiefs alike.

Bigger crowds meant more and more difficult hotel check-ins, food runs and traffic jams at virtually every race venue in the country.

“That all changed when there became enough money involved in racing for these guys to go out and buy motor coaches,” Jones said.

John Andretti, who drives the No. 43 Cheerios Dodge, doesn’t like to keep count of how many motor coaches he has owned in his lifetime.

Gregg Dillon, left, motor coach operator for NASCAR driver John Andretti, and public relations representative Jeff Dennison relax on board Andretti's ride, which features a 42-inch plasma flat-screen TV.

He just knows that his $800,000 Holiday Rambler Navigator with three extension slides — one on each side of the living room and one in the master bedroom — is a “home away from home” for him and his family for 36 weekends.

His 54-by-13-foot motor coach is fully carpeted, fully equipped and immaculately clean. There are spacious marble countertops, instant hot water and a large walk-in shower. Amenities also include a full navigational system, a 42-inch plasma flat-screen TV and a five-disc CD changer with Surround Sound.

“This is a good job,” said Gregg Dillon, a former Winston-Salem, N.C., diesel mechanic hired at the start of the 2003 season to drive Andretti’s motor coach from track to track.

“It takes me about two hours to wash the outside and 21/2 to 3 hours to set everything up inside: change the beds, clean the countertops, vacuum the carpet, take the dirty clothes to the wash-and-fold.”

His duties also include grocery shopping. Dillon knows to buy filet mignon for the outdoor gas grill and chicken for Andretti’s Sunday morning eating ritual before every race. Andretti also wants fresh watermelon in the refrigerator, and has been known to consume a can or two of cashews during race week.

Dillon, who moves from the motor coach to a hotel room when the Andretti family arrives, has learned to appreciate the highways of Texas, Arizona and Tennessee — and to cringe when driving over some stretches of Alabama and Mississippi.

The origin of the motor-coach craze seems in doubt. Andretti considers Geoffrey Bodine a pioneer. Others think it was Dale Earnhardt who made the biggest, earliest impression.

“Dale Earnhardt was the first to have a motor coach on a year-round basis,” former NASCAR public relations director Chip Williams said. “Once Dale got one, everybody did. And then racetracks had to come up with ways to accommodate all the motor coaches.

“It’s one of those deals that has taken on a life of its own.”