What is the NASCAR All-Star race worth? More than $1 million, drivers say
The NASCAR All-Star Race returns this weekend, back to North Wilkesboro for a third consecutive year, while offering an incentive that hasn’t changed since 2003: a $1 million payday.
While its purse has remained the same, the exhibition race’s stature as a marquee event has grown — especially when stacked against the shrinking stakes of other professional sports’ all-star showcases.
But as the event has grown in scope and stature, an underlying question has emerged: How exclusive is becoming a NASCAR all-star?
Sunday night’s main event at North Wilkesboro Speedway will feature a 23-car field — three larger than last year — that includes more than half of the full-time Cup Series grid. Intended to spotlight the sport’s most accomplished drivers, the All-Star Race still holds its prestige. But its exclusivity, once a defining trait, is undeniably fading.
“You’re putting on a show for the fans,” said Bubba Wallace, who’s finished in second place and sixth place, respectively, in the past two All-Star Races.
“Even if it’s $1 million, for those guys, $1 million to NFL players is nothing. But for us, it’s another race. It doesn’t matter if we’re at Martinsville, North Wilkesboro, Daytona, where the speeds can vary. We still give it our all.”
More than half of the Cup Series is an ‘all-star’
There are more drivers competing in the All-Star Race main event than will qualify for the NASCAR postseason.
All drivers who have won a Cup Series points race since the beginning of last season are automatically eligible, in addition to any past Cup champions or previous All-Star Race winners who are still full-time competitors in the sport’s premier series.
The list fills up fast.
Sunday night, 23 drivers will line up to take the green flag: 20 who have already secured their spots and three more who will emerge following the Fan Vote and Sunday evening’s All-Star Open. That’s a wider net than the 16-driver field used to determine the NASCAR playoffs.
“When a team wins for the first time — whether that’s in a season, or in his career — it’s going to be a major moment in that driver’s career,” NASCAR spokesperson Mike Forde said. “It puts you into the playoffs, but it also puts you into the All-Star Race. That’s a little bit of a caret that maybe goes unnoticed when you win for the first time in a season, but it’s certainly something that is definitely in the driver’s mind.
“These are clearly the best of the best who are locked into the All-Star Race. Because they won a NASCAR Cup Series race, and that is the hardest thing to do in NASCAR.”
Among those already in is Harrison Burton, who scored a dramatic Daytona victory last summer. Though now a full-time driver in the Xfinity Series, Burton will pilot the No. 51 Ford for Rick Ware Racing — a one-off opportunity fueled by garage relationships that carried over from his Cup Series tenure.
“Being in the race is a big deal,” Burton said. “I’ve watched the NBA or the NFL and the things they do are not, they just don’t seem to care as much, whereas last year we had guys fighting over the All-Star Race. It just shows what NASCAR is about.”
Still searching for stronger competition
Last year’s race offered a reminder of how passionate drivers can be — and how the on-track product may eventually need refinement.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch stole the headlines with their famous brawl after colliding on the second lap. But the rest of the race lacked that intensity.
Joey Logano, the eventual Cup Series champion, started on the pole and led flag-to-flag en route to his dominant win, with the only challenge coming after a mid-race restart. Christopher Bell got side-by-side with Logano from the inside and Denny Hamlin briefly made it a three-wide battle — but Logano held steady and pulled away from the Toyota duo.
Team Penske’s dominance remains intact. Each of its drivers are locked into Sunday’s race, including Austin Cindric, who returns to the playoffs after winning at Talladega and enters his first All-Star Race in two years.
“Just being a part of the race and some of the biggest names in the series, and to have a shot to go up against them and try to win the thing is big and important,” Cindric said. “It’s not a points race, but there’s a lot of cash on the line and definitely a cool title to go with it. The All-Star Race is something that’s been going on for quite some time. It’s jumped around to some new venues and it’s changed formats, but it’s definitely a cool event.”
‘A lot of different things that we have to fight for’
While the All-Star Race field grows and eligibility becomes more attainable, the stakes — for drivers — haven’t diminished.
The $1 million paycheck still stands. And though it hasn’t increased in two decades — worth about $1.75 million today, adjusted for inflation, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — it’s not the raw number that matters most.
This isn’t an exhibition where players may chuck up a half-court shot or jog through their motions. Whether points or awarded or not to the All-Star Race winner or not, there’s only one driver behind the wheel of a race car on Sunday who will get a $1 million check in Victory Lane.
Drivers want to win that.
“We always have that ‘give it your all’ factor,” Wallace said. “It’s the same thing we do every weekend. You just so happen to take points away, it’s not like we lay over. We’re still racing. We want to win $1 million. You win the All-Star Race, you’re locked in for the next 10 years. There’s a lot of different things that we have to fight for during that race, and I don’t know how you ever get that incentive back for the other sanctioning bodies.”
Who’s in?
Here are the 20 drivers already locked into Sunday’s All-Star Race:
Christopher Bell, Josh Berry, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Chase Briscoe, Chris Buescher, Harrison Burton, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Daniel Suárez.
This story was originally published May 16, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
