Total purse for 2024 Daytona 500 is largest in motorsports history

Tonight the NASCAR Cup Series will line up for a shot at becoming a Daytona 500 champion, and it comes with a record purse. While it would be nice to do it for just the glory and the fame, these drivers and teams are after the money, too.

The total purse for all finishing positions, based on the charter agreement and all of that, will be $28,035,991 total. That’s a whole lot of money for 500 miles of racing.

NASCAR says that it is the largest purse not just in their history, but the history of motorsports. Ever. World record. Never done before. Say it however you want this is a big deal. As it should be.

While we’ve had to wait a long time for this Monday race day, the wait is over. The sun is out here in Daytona and we are going to have 800 miles of racing with the Cup and Xfinity doubleheader.

Who is going to claim the biggest chunk of this record purse and etch their name on the Harley J. Earl trophy?

That's big. #DAYTONA500 pic.twitter.com/UJZSUL7bnc

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 17, 2024

You know, they say patience is a virtue, but I’m about run out of patience. It is a good thing that the sun has come out, the rain has gone away, and track drying efforts are underway. Another delay today and it would have been devastating.

While the wild Florida weather pushed us back two days on Xfinity and another day for the Daytona 500, Mother Nature has finally relented. We are ready for racing today.

Daytona 500 weekend brings lots of surprises

The rain wasn’t the only shock for fans and NASCAR this weekend. Daytona 500 weekend usually has one or two surprises, but the Cup Series teams brought out one of the biggest in recent years.

Over the weekend, the Cup Series chartered teams informed NASCAR that they had hired renowned antitrust attorney Jeffrey Kessler. Sports fans may recognize his name from the recent NCAA NIL drama going on in the courts and Washington D.C.

Denny Hamlin, co-owner of 23XI Racing, went as far as to say NASCAR and the France family have a monopoly on stock car racing.

“I think that this whole thing is such a monopoly that you kind of get shut down in different areas, you’re allowed in some places, but not in others,” Hamlin said.

Those are strong words from a team owner. Denny is not one to hold back when he speaks out, and that doesn’t appear to be changing in regard to the charter negotiations. NASCAR refused to meet with the teams this weekend, for what it is worth, preferring to meet with team individually.

How will NASCAR respond to this in the coming days?