The NASCAR 2024 Cup Series playoffs are in full swing. First, Joey Logano kicked things off strong, securing the top spot for the next round with his win at Atlanta. Then, Chris Buescher showcased his road course skills with a victory in the second race, despite not being in the playoffs.

Next up is Bristol Motor Speedway, marking the first elimination race of the season. It’s surprising to see so many veterans struggling in the elimination zone, and there’s another twist: NASCAR Insider has revealed the prize money distribution across divisions. What’s surprising is the stark lack of parity, with the Cup Series taking the lion’s share, once again.

NASCAR’s eye-opening difference in pay at the Bristol

Going into the race, we have Denny Hamlin in the bubble, who is hopeful that this year is the one where he will win the championship. The #11 is closest to the cut line in the 13th position with -6 points.

Next, Brad Keselowski follows him on 14th with -12 points. 15th is Martin Truex Jr., who is not having the best final season of his career as he’d hoped. And the last is the first-time playoff participant, Harrison Burton. While all of them would be eyeing the win to keep their playoff dreams alive, it would also be for the very attractive race purse that Bristol brings.

FOX Sports journalist Bob Pockrass recently revealed the prize money for the Bristol Weekend. While there is good news for the Cup drivers, the Truck series’ race purse is still scanty. As Pockrass took to X, he wrote, “Purses for Bristol weekend, all payouts, all positions, year-end pts fund contributions, contingency awards and for Cup, all charter payouts for racing and historical performance: Cup: $9,222,417 Xfinity: $1,680,574 Truck: $720,063”

While the Cup drivers fight for nearly $10 million, the Truck driver’s prize pool is not even 10% of that of the Cup. It is crucial to note that this amount is the total prize pool of which the winner gets a certain percentage. So it isn’t hard to imagine how less the winner gets if you were driving in the Truck. A difference is understood since Cup Series bags the highest number of eyeballs, yet it seems unfair. After all, all drivers, be it Cup, Xfinity, or Truck race on the same tracks, facing the same amount of risks and challenges.

Well, the inequality is not unique to Bristol. Pay parity has been a long-standing issue across tracks.

• Take the iconic Daytona track, for instance. There, the Cup drivers had a race purse of $9,193,568, and for the Truck Series, it was $672,572, an even higher difference compared to Bristol.
• The Cup race at Richmond had a prize pool of $7,925,121, and that for Truck was $744,784. Only time will tell if this gap is shortened in the future.

Meanwhile, as previously revealed, there is fierce competition in the elimination zone. The question remains: who will manage to get out of it?

What are the chances for the drivers below the cutline?

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There is good news for Joe Gibbs Racing, as both their drivers have a good record on the track. Denny Hamlin has won there on the previous two occasions and will be eyeing a third back-to-back win on the track. However, his playoff finishes so far haven’t been ideal. The #11 finished 24th at Atlanta and 23rd at Watkins Glen International. If this trend continues, this could be his worst playoff performance.

However, Hamlin is confident going there, as he believes it to be familiar territory. He said, “I feel like we can go there and win,” Hamlin said. “We are going to an oval, back to a normal track. We can control our own destiny there.” As for Hamlin’s retiring teammate, he had finished at P2 in the last Bristol race. Hopefully, MTJ can repeat that.

However, he’s not the biggest fan of the Bristol track. Ahead of the race, he mentioned, “Bristol hasn’t been my favorite place, but we’ve had some good runs there, too. I think we’ve been competitive there over the years. It’s a place that’s tight and things happen fast there, so you have to be on your toes.”

If we compare past performance on the track, RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski has a good run on Bristol too. In the last race, he finished in third behind Truex Jr. Out of the last eight races on the track, six times he’s finished in the top 10, which is what he needs to get above the cut-off line. Well, the #6 certainly is confident. In a recent interaction, as quoted by FOX Sports, Brad said, “It’s a great track for us. You don’t want to go there behind. If there’s a track to go behind, that’s probably a good one for us.” 

Lastly, Harrison Burton has not had the best short-track racing so far. Amongst the 16 playoff drivers, Burton has scored the fewest points on short tracks. His best finish at Bristol has been 4th, but that has come in the Xfinity in 2020.

However, who is your favorite among the four?