The Vast Difference Between the Truck and Cup Series Purse for the Bristol Race Leaves NASCAR Community Livid

As of late, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series has been gaining a bad rep due to the growing claims that its nature is slowly turning into that of a “demolition derby.” However, the 2024 CTS has already seen a handful of historic memories created. From Rajah Caruth’s inaugural victory, making him only the third African-American driver to win in a top-3 NASCAR National Series race, to Kyle Busch’s 65th career Truck Series victory with a team that was not his beloved Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM), The season is running at full speed for the battle of trucks’ supremacy.

Nevertheless, the winnings’ purse has seen a heavy yet steady disparity for the Truck Series ever since NASCAR started sharing their weekend payouts publicly for fans to speculate over. And if averages mean anything, Bristol will be no different, as NASCAR correspondent for FOX, Bob Pockrass, recently shared the numbers on Twitter.

“Floor Mats & Commemorative Keychains” at the CTS Podium for the Bristol Race

In his tweet, Pockrass shared the expected earnings for the Truck race in Bristol, including “all payouts, all positions, and for Cup, charter payouts including payouts for past three years/historical performance of charters. Also includes contribution to points fund and other awards.”

His update showed a staggering $8,182,531 combined for the Cup race that will take place at the “Last Great Colosseum” and a meager $761,274 for CTS payouts in the same weekend. That is almost 10 times less than what the Premier Series drivers will supposedly earn.

Pockrass’ post drew a lot of emotions from the fans’ end, with one even going as far as to say, “NASCAR needs to stop screwing the lower divisions. That truck purse should be at least 1.5 million.” Although a million dollars can be deemed fair, in comparison to the risks these drivers take weekly, the current cumulative contrast is more than 5 million short of what drivers like Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson may make in Bristol.

This fan seemed to agree, providing a detailed breakdown stating the calculations “per truck,” as he wrote, “That is $21,146.50 per truck team at 36 entries. It’s insane to think that many teams will receive much less than that.”

And that puts things into “stark contrast” for the Truck Series as a whole. This fan encapsulated this collective sentiment in one sarcastic reply as he shared, “Truck winner gets new floor mats and a commemorative keychain.” The Twitter user’s recent comment is sure to make even the toughest critic smile.

Xfinity Series Hit but Not As Hard

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Last week, there was no Truck Series race in Phoenix. The week before that in Vegas, Caruth opened his 2024 season with his history-making performance at the Voice of Victoria Foundation’s 250. This race garnered a total of $736,214, while the purse for the Cup drivers stood at a combined $9,386,054. Even the Xfinity race faced its own differences, as NASCAR paid out only about $1,801,278, but in comparison to the Truck Series, that amount looks heavier than gold.

Read More: Joey Logano Exposè of NASCAR’s Financial Unfairness Goes Unheard as Phoenix’ Cup Series Purse Asserts Glaring Disparity

The Bristol Motor Speedway is beckoning NASCAR’s biggest stars to its iconic “fastest half-mile in the world” as we head into the 5th race of the 2024 Cup Series season. According to a release on the BMS official website, Sunday’s Food City 500 will be preceded by the Weather Guard Craftsman Truck race at 8:00 PM (approximately) ET on Saturday. This weekend acts as a breather from the latest Xfinity happenings in anticipation of the late models joining us back on March 23rd at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, TX.