Having completed the first seven races of the season, with Joe Gibbs Racing winning four races, NASCAR now sets its sights on The Track Too Tough to Tame – Darlington Raceway – for this season’s Goodyear 400. To curb the dominance of these top drivers, drivers will be enticed with substantial monetary incentives.
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Fox Sports reporter Bob Pockrass revealed the purse details for the double-header weekend through his X handle on Thursday. The premier event, the Cup Series race, boasts a purse of $11,055,250.
Meanwhile, victors of the Xfinity race will vie for a pot of $1,651,939. The figures encompass all payouts, including those for historical performance, contingency funds, and contributions to year-end points, among others.
The last visit to Darlington Raceway in 2023 saw a prize purse of $8,644,143 for the Cup Series and $1,303,907 for the Xfinity Series race during the track’s September event. The previous year’s Goodyear 400 doled out $8,090,969, with the Xfinity and Truck races receiving $1,371,756 and $770,233, respectively.
Darlington purses this weekend includes all payouts, all positions, contingency awards, year-end points fund, etc.; for Cup, includes all payouts for charter teams for participating and historical performance:
Cup: $11,055,250
Xfinity: $1,651,939
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) April 2, 2025
In the spring race of the previous year, Brad Keselowski bagged the win in May, punching his ticket to the playoffs, while Chase Briscoe won the fall race, marking the end of the regular season.
Drivers to look out for at Darlington Raceway
The egg-shaped 1.366-mile oval of Darlington is not a typical NASCAR track. With its asymmetrical turns — Turns 3 and 4 being notably tighter than Turns 1 and 2 — it challenges the conventional racing line.
While most ovals favor a low and tight line along the inside, Darlington often sees drivers opting for the high line, skirting close to the wall to maximize momentum into the straightaways.
All eyes are expected to be on Kyle Larson as he hits the track, fresh from his victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Larson has an average finish of 10.8 at Darlington, including one win and seven top-5 finishes.
Despite leading a dominant 263 laps and winning the first two stages in last fall’s race on the track, he was outmaneuvered by Briscoe, finishing P4 and narrowly missing the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season title to Tyler Reddick by a whisker.
Not to be overlooked, Denny Hamlin, fresh off his last weekend’s win at Martinsville, also boasts a strong record at Darlington with an average finish of 8.2, four race wins, and 13 top-5 finishes under his belt. Meanwhile, Brad Keselowski, the last victor of the race, with an average finish of 11.0 and two wins, also poses a big challenge.
