The engines are roaring once again in NASCAR with the annual February trip down south for the historic Daytona 500. It doesn't get much better than feeling the rumble of these high-octane machines going 200 laps around the 2.5-mile track at ludicrous speeds and continuous action throughout the race. It's the perfect way to kick off every NASCAR season.
Despite the fact that other races throughout any given NASCAR season generate plenty of excitement, there are none as big as the Daytona 500 in terms of impact. That's also true when it comes to the purse and prize money. Even dating back to the late 1950s, this race's place as the biggest event in the NASCAR world has always left us with drama and a ton of fun on the line.
But how much prize money is hanging in the balance at the famed track in the third Sunday in February for this year's race? Let's dive fully into the Dayton 500 prize money and purse for this year's race before taking a closer look at the winner's payout or at least what we know about such things.
Daytona 500 purse: Record-breaking money on the line in 2025
As reported by FOX Sports NASCAR and motorsports expert Bob Pockrass, the Daytona 500 purse comes in at a whopping $30,331,250, the most in the history of the biggest race of the season and in the sport. It's also up $2 million from the reported $28 million that was hanging in the balance last year in this race that kicks off every Cup season.
For what it's worth and to put that total purse size into even more perspective, the Daytona 500 in the Cup Series dwarfs the prize money available in the Xfinity and Truck Series races. There is a reported total purse of $3,762,952 for the Xfinity Series race that transpired on Saturday while only $1,262,900 was on the line in the Truck Series contest as well.
How much prize money does the Daytona 500 winner take home?
The winner of the Daytona 500 is expected to take home a whopping $2.4 million-to-$3 million in prize money. That is, unfortunately, an estimate as NASCAR does not report full payout information, something that they used to do several years ago. What we do know, again from Pockrass, is that NASCAR reportedly gives the winner of the race around 8-10 percent of the total purse. So with the purse coming in at just a shade over $30 million this year with the record-breaking prize money on the line, that would come out to the above winner's share.
Beyond that, though, we don't have much information about the remainder of the payout distribution. It would be great for racing, however, if NASCAR were once again willing to share their information on the subject, largely because it's a great update for fans to see the money available in the sport.