“Pathetic”: NASCAR’s Historic Daytona 500 Purse Marred by Controversy as Fans Expose a Dark Reality

“It’s a money loser…Big time.” Brad Keselowski said these words about the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series back in 2017. His team, BK Racing, reportedly lost $1 Million during the 2014 season, and that rate of loss remained the same for the next few years. We all know what happened subsequently, as in 2023, Keselowski set up his Cup Series outfit, proving that the Cup level is leagues apart.

NASCAR re-affirmed that ahead of the 2025 Daytona 500 race. The Great American Race is one of the most awaited events of the season, with all three NASCAR levels gearing up for a jam-packed weekend. However, the unappealing promises may drop the anticipation in Xfinity and Trucks.

Getting peanuts against a lion’s share?

Drivers’ sponsorship troubles have multiplied in recent times. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin lost his two-decade-old sponsor FedEx at the end of last season. Then Niece Motorsports had to let go of Christian Rose barely four days ahead of his Truck Series debut due to lack of a sponsor. All these issues are happening while NASCAR’s hefty media deal stands in the background. The sanctioning body signed a $7.7 Billion agreement with Amazon Prime, TNT, and The CW for 2025. However, that large amount seems to be lacking in the officially released purses for the upcoming Daytona races.

Journalist Bob Pockrass recently released the “Purses for Daytona weekend (Daytona 500 purse would include duels) and includes all payouts, all positions, plus charter payouts in Cup for competing and past two years points finish.” The Cup Series purse has already dazzled the internet – $30, 331, 250. This $30 Million purse has shattered previous records and also left behind the Indianapolis 500’s $17 Million. However, as soon as our eyes roll down to the Xfinity and Truck purses, the smile vanishes – $3,762,952 and $1,262,900 respectively.

This is hardly the first time this disparity has sprung up inside NASCAR. In March 2024, the Bristol Motor Speedway weekend also witnessed a shocking inconsistency. The Cup race at the ‘Last Great Colosseum’ offered a staggering $8,182,531 purse. Meanwhile, the Craftsman Truck Series had to make do with a meager $761,274, almost 10 times lower than what Cup Series drivers would earn. That prompted tremendous backlash from fans, one of whom wittingly said Truck drivers would only get new “floor mats and a commemorative keychain.”

The controversy has kicked yet again for the 2025 season. Fans are taking NASCAR to task for its huge disparity in purses.

Fans ridicule the jaw-dropping numbers

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It is as Brad Keselowski said eight years ago – the Craftsman Truck Series can loosen your pockets. He announced that he would disband his NCTS outfit in 2017, and this trend has continued until recently. Kyle Busch sold his Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) Truck team to Spire Motorsports in September 2023, and the sale even included his 77,000 sq. ft. facility. So one fan made their sentiment clear about the Daytona purse: “WTF is anyone doing in the Truck series???? Xfinity purse is terrible too. And that’s the biggest race of the year!!!” When you take a close look at the figures, you see that the Truck purse is 30 times less than the Cup purse. A fan noted that and satirically commented: “That looks sustainable.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s team, JR Motorsports, will field a Cup Series entry for the first time since 2007. Justin Allgaier will wheel the No. 40 Chevrolet at the Daytona 500. One fan wittily quipped that Dale Jr. is in it for the green buck: “We know why jr is fielding a car this race now!! lol” Dale Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt Miller’s team races in the Xfinity Series, the payout for which is 10 times less than Cup in Daytona. However, their Truck rivals’ cruel fate continued to bother fans. Somebody suggested rebelling against NASCAR – like Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan are doing in the lawsuit. “Truck series pay is pathetic…they should seriously boycott or something 😂 my god that’s awful !”

Then NASCAR’s colossal media deal also entered the conversation. The $7.7 Billion agreement is evidence that the popularity and TV ratings of the sport have gone up in recent years. One fan brought out stats to question why the Truck and Xfinity purses are still so low. “I saw on another post that these numbers are up roughly 8% – 11% from last year. Meanwhile, the new TV deal is up about 34% from the last deal. Obviously this isn’t the whole story, but it sure looks like NASCAR just took most of that TV money to line their own pockets.”

Clearly, a controversy is brewing even after the Daytona 500 has been flagged off. For this season, drivers would need to make do with the allotted purses – and hope for a more lucrative future.