The event’s cash prize is the biggest incentive for the competition. It’ll be the thing drivers are vying for when they travel to Texas Motor Speedway to take part in this year’s iteration of the race.
Well, that and bragging rights.
Sporting News has you covered on how much a winning driver makes for winning the All-Star Race, as well as a list of past winners of the competition.
How much money does a driver get for winning the All-Star Race?
Prize money: $1 million
The winner of NASCAR’s All-Star Race gets a cash prize of $1 million. Racer’s teams also take part in a pit stop challenge, which can net them $100,000.
It was a prize first introduced in the 2003 All-Star Race, which was the last one sponsored by Winston.
In ‘03, that cash prize was quite significant. Jimmie Johnson, the winner of the 2003 All-Star Race, won over $7.7 million that season, the second-highest earnings of that year’s Cup Series earnings behind champion Matt Kenseth.
That $1 million earned during the All-Star race constituted about 13 percent of Johnson’s total earnings in 2003.
Fast forward to today, and the race has dwindled in popularity. The cash prize is more of a footnote than anything else in the present day, as it pales in comparison to the race winnings drivers earn over the course of the season.
In 2015 (the last year NASCAR made team earning available), Kevin Harvick made a series-leading $11.7 million. Yet the All-Star race prize remained the same. Hmm.
All-star race winners are technically losing money year-on-year. Allow me to explain.
The cash prize offered to racers has been fixed at $1 million since 2003. However, Jimmie Johnson’s 2003 All-Star race winnings would actually be worth $1.57 million in today’s market, according to Yahoo Sports’ Nick Bromberg.
The value of the American has depreciated over time. Yet the actual cash figure remains the same. So, racers are unable to stretch that $1 million as much as they could in 2003.
It seems NASCAR’s executives don’t have a great grasp of economics.
And the lack of interest in the contest has been apparent to many. This is one of a dozen or so different formats that have been used to drum up interest in the All-Star race. That’s the sign of a dying fanbase.
Perhaps NASCAR should make a change to the cash prize they offer rather than the way the race is run. Give drivers and their teams bigger payouts for winning the competition. Or, as Bromberg suggested in a 2017 article, simultaneously offer a $1 million cash prize to fans as well.
