NASCAR considers the Daytona 500 its most prestigious race and compensates its winners accordingly. It’s long been America’s highest-paying motorsports event, and now it’s set for another record-breaking milestone.
Whoever wins the Cup Series race will take home $31,045,575, surpassing William Byron’s 2025 prize of $30,331,250 for the highest payout in the U.S. history. The Xfinity Series winner will take home $3,782,120, up from $3,762,952 a year ago. For the Truck Series winner, they will collect $1,276,300, an improvement of $13,400 over 2025.
The Daytona 500 kicks off the Cup Series.
The Daytona 500 kicks off the Cup Series season in earnest after last week’s non-point cookout collision. Byron is aiming for a third straight win at Daytona, something no Cup Series driver has done before.
Byron’s quest begins when the Daytona 500 begins Sunday at 1:30 PM ET.
This article was originally published for The Win: Daytona 500 Prize Money: How much is the record-breaking purse for 2026?
