Sunday's Viva Mexico 250 (3 p.m. ET, Prime Video, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Mexico City's Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez will be the 16th race of the NASCAR Cup Series season and the first international points-paying race for NASCAR's premier series since 1958.
The 2.42-mile, 15-turn road course is sure to challenge the sport's best considering Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski are the only drivers competing in Sunday's race that have previous NASCAR starts in Mexico City, albeit on a different layout. With the summer stretch heating up and only 10 races remaining before the playoffs following the conclusion of Sunday's race, the pressure is on heading into a historic race south of the border.
What is the total purse for the 2025 Viva Mexico 250?
The purse for the Cup Series race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is $12,561,250, according to Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports.
Purses for Mexico City weekend, includes all payouts, all positions, contingency awards, contribution to season-ending points fund, etc.; for Cup, incl all charter payouts.
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 11, 2025
Cup: $12,561,250
Xfinity: $2,151,939
While there is no direct comparison, given this is the first Cup Series race in Mexico City, there has been one prior road course race at Circuit of The Americas earlier this season in March. Unlike that race and some of the most recent events at Nashville and Michigan that saw a total purse of just over $11,000,000, the Mexico City purse presents a decent jump in overall prize money.
Although the Craftsman Truck Series is off this week, the Xfinity Series is back in action after a week off. While the payout is far less for NASCAR's second tier series, its purse increases from $1,651,939 at COTA in March and the most recent race in Music City to $2,151,939.
How much does the Viva Mexico 250 winning driver earn?
The exact take home for the winner of the Viva Mexico 250 is not verified. Depending on a variety of factors, the winning driver can expect to get between 8 or 10 percent of the total payout. This weekend, that could mean drivers will earn between $1,004,900 to $1,256,125.
According to Pockrass, the total purse includes all payouts, all positions and contingency awards, year-end fund contributions and all charter payouts. The winner gets a good percentage of the purse while the rest of the money is divided up amongst the remaining drivers
With the unprecedented nature of running a Cup Series race outside the United States for the first time in 67 years, there is a lot of incentive for drivers this weekend, especially for Monterrey, Mexico's Daniel Suarez, who enters the race 28th in the playoff standings.
Regardless of who comes out on top, a tough test awaits as drivers tackle the challenging road course and kick off a wild card stretch of races that includes three road/street courses over the next five weeks.