The Daytona 500 is just around the corner, and drivers enter the race with different motivations, even though winning remains the ultimate goal for everyone. For some, the incentive is purely competitive, while for others, it is about the significant payday that comes with winning such a prestigious event.
William Byron will enter with a chance to chase a third straight win at the World Center of Racing. Ryan Preece will line up to earn his first Cup Series points win. Denny Hamlin will have a different weight, hoping to add another Daytona 500 to his record in tribute to his late father, who invested years of effort into turning his son’s racing ambitions into reality.
Advertisement
For many, motivation will come in dollars. Veteran NASCAR reporter Bob Pockrass shared the purse figures for all three national series on social media.
This season, the Daytona 500 Cup Series winner will collect $31,045,575. That figure slightly exceeds the $30,331,250 paid out to last year’s winner, Byron, and his team. The total includes payouts across finishing positions and charter compensation for Cup participation.
The Xfinity Series winner at Daytona will receive $3,782,120, an increase from the $3,762,952 awarded last year. The Truck Series winner will earn $1,276,300, up from $1,262,900 in the previous season.
Byron’s take on trying to win three Daytona 500 races in a row
When emotion enters the equation, Hamlin will draw strong support. Yet his recent results at Daytona raise questions. Over the last eight races at the track, he has not finished higher than P17. Alongside the emotional strain he carries into the weekend, performance remains another hurdle he must clear before controlling the race on his terms.
Advertisement
Byron is the driver everyone will have their eyes on. Since leading 24 laps on his way to win in the 2020 summer race at Daytona, Byron has led 35 laps across the last 10 races at the track. Despite that, he has bagged two wins. He has not needed long stretches at the front to close the deal, only the right moment. Now he returns with the chance to attempt a third consecutive Daytona 500 victory and create history with the same.
However, Byron does not ignore the scale of the task. He acknowledges the nature of the race and the role chance plays within it. He said to NASCAR media, “Part of it’s unpredictable, but yeah, I mean, just go down there and have a good speed weeks.”
He also asserted that “Even if we don’t have a good speed weeks, it doesn’t necessarily matter for Sunday, but just learn what I need to throughout the week drafting, make good decisions, learned from what I did in Talladega in the fall where we were kind of in the hunt in contention and just be a little bit better on super speedways.”
Advertisement
The post NASCAR Daytona 500 Prize Money: How Much Will the Drivers Make? appeared first on The SportsRush.
