The world of racing centers around the Daytona International Speedway every February for the Daytona 500. Every NASCAR season has kicked off with this inaugural race since 1982. It is an important event not only for fans but for the teams and drivers as well. Joe Gibbs Racing President Dave Alpern detailed to the JGR media team how it was the highest-paying race on the calendar.
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He mentioned the difference in money from the Daytona 500 to other events was so wide that the race could decide how the rest of the season went for teams. In his words, “Where your team finishes in the Daytona 500 can really make or break your season financially.”
In 2023, the ‘Great American Race’ was reported to have an overall prize money package of $26,934,357. This figure was distributed amongst all the teams with the winner grabbing the biggest share of the pie. However, the exact breakdown figures remain a mystery since NASCAR does not reveal the intricacies of the payouts anymore.
According to veteran reporter Bob Pockrass, the winner would have received somewhere around $2.3 million considering all the variables. Since the turn of the century and the advent of the charter system, the payout from the Daytona 500 has rocketed high. Dale Earnhardt was the first to win more than $1 million for the race in 1998.
Purses for Daytona weekend (includes all payouts through the field as well as all per-race charter payouts for Cup and historical performance payouts for Cup):
Daytona 500: $26,934,357
Xfinity: $3,327,595
Trucks: $1,025,847
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) February 14, 2023
The last time NASCAR officially let out breakdowns was when Joey Logano took the flag in 2015. He was reported to have received $1,586,503.
The history of the highest-paying race on the NASCAR calendar
It all began when a few men thought it would be a good idea to race their horseless carriages across Daytona Beach at the beginning of the 20th century. Racing evolution came into play at Daytona and the carriages were soon replaced with cars. A mechanic in the locale, Bill France, had taken an affinity for speed and races around the 1930s.
After dabbling around for a decade in the 3.2-mile city-beach course, he took a leap of faith and created NASCAR in 1947. Within a few years, he realized that developing these races into something bigger wasn’t a possibility without a more permanent race track. Plans for a 2.5-mile trip-oval circuit were drawn up and France found the sponsors for it.
The track was completed in 1959 and the first Daytona 500 came into existence on February 22 as a crowd of over 40,000 watched on. 59 cars raced that day for a prize money of less than 70 grand. The rest, as they say, is history.
