The world of NASCAR money is a secretive one.
Since 2016, race purses and prize money information have been private, leaving fans combining guesswork, outdated numbers and rare peeks behind the curtain to glean information about the economic picture of the sport.
But just before the 2020 Daytona 500, the association released the race purse — a record-setting $23.6 million will be distributed among the 40 drivers.
Below is everything you need to know about the Daytona 500 purse, including estimates of how much the winner will make.
MORE: Complete Daytona 500 starting lineup | TV schedule
What is the Daytona 500 purse for 2020?
- 2020 Daytona 500 purse: $23.6 million
The $23.6 million 2020 Daytona 500 purse is the highest in American motorsports history, according to a NASCAR announcement.
In 2015 — the last year NASCAR disclosed race purses until this week's announcement — the Daytona 500 purse was $18 million. According to a bankruptcy filing from BK Racing and released by NBC Sports, the 2018 Daytona 500 purse was $15.5 million.
How much money do you get for winning the Daytona 500?
This requires some guesswork, because NASCAR didn't release place-by-place prize money.
The 2015 winner, Joey Logano, earned about $1.6 million, approximately 8.8 percent of the total purse. That share of the purse was about on par with the previous Daytona 500's in recent history.
If the 2020 edition has a similar share, the winner of the Daytona 500 will take home about $2.06 million. It would likely be the first NASCAR race to award the winner upward of $2 million.
How much money does a NASCAR driver make per race?
The amount of money a NASCAR driver makes in a race depends on what the race is and where they finish. Because the data isn't publicly available, the best we can do is estimate based off past data.
The amount of money on the line at a given NASCAR race varies significantly. In 2015, the largest purse was the Daytona 500's $18 million, and the smallest was $4,494,688. The average purse was $5,556,775.
Then, drivers earn money based on their final position. Under the previous, public system, there were more variables and incentives that affected payout of a race, but that went away (along with publishing those payouts) in 2016.
At the 2020 Daytona 500, teams can make between an estimated $2.06 million and $365,000. Other races historically had a much flatter payout structure, with payouts that would line up with approximate estimates between $320,000 and $78,500 in the 2020 season.
Daytona 500 prize money breakdown 2020
The following table is an estimate, based off the percentages of previous Daytona 500 purses earned by finishers, applied to the updated $23.6 million purse for 2020.
| Position | Prize money (estimate) |
| No. 1 | $2,064,397 |
| No. 2 | $1,512,975 |
| No. 3 | $1,114,836 |
| No. 4 | $936,544 |
| No. 5 | $784,844 |
| No. 6 | $624,009 |
| No. 7 | $566,133 |
| No. 8 | $529,577 |
| No. 9 | $495,596 |
| No. 10 | $470,354 |