Every major sport has its All-Star moment—that one weekend where the biggest names show up, the stakes are (usually) lower, and it’s all about flash, fun, and fanfare. The NBA brings out the dunks and drama. MLB turns its Midsummer Classic into a celebration of history and skill. Even the NFL’s Pro Bowl, for all its critics, is a chance for players to unwind. And what’s NASCAR’s take?

A million-dollar sprint where bragging rights meet, that sees drivers fight it out on the track. It should be the perfect mix of chaos and competition. But while the format has evolved, from inversions to pit-stop duels, one thing hasn’t budged in over 20 years. And now, one of the sport’s biggest voices is asking a very simple question. Has NASCAR’s All-Star payday fallen behind the times?

Denny Hamlin isn’t afraid to speak his mind, especially when it comes to the business side of NASCAR. Hamlin openly questioned whether NASCAR’s showcase event is keeping pace with the rest of the sports world. ” I don’t know how we stack up to other sports as far as how does their all-star weekends from a ratings perspective equal to what a regular season game is, right? I think like ours is pretty much the same. It’s a normal race weekend,” Hamlin said. And he isn’t wrong.

Take last year’s ratings for example. The 2024 NASCAR All-Star Race drew 2.573 million viewers. In comparison, the 2024 Cup Series had an average of 2.838 million viewers. So, there’s hardly any difference. It demonstrates that despite being marketed as a spectacle, the All-Star Race failed to draw a significantly larger audience than a regular Cup event. Compare that to the NBA, and you start to see the problem. The average viewership for the regular NBA season was somewhere at 1.56 million in 2024. In comparison, their All-Star game had 5.4 million viewers! That’s a massive difference.

And it’s not just the viewership aspect. However, Denny Hamlin’s main gripe lies with the prize money. “Certainly, the purse could get updated with the times. If you don’t win, it really financially is not a great deal for us to come here. So, it’s a bit challenging as far as that’s concerned. I think there’s any sport that can get the most out of its teams and players in an all-star format.” 

That $1,000,000 prize for the All-Star winner? It hasn’t changed since 2003. That’s over two decades with zero growth in headline earnings—despite inflation, rising team expenses, and NASCAR’s push to elevate the sport globally. When adjusted for inflation, the 2003 prize money for the driver comes at around 1.7 million dollars. Thus, this again signals a decline of $700,000.

The bigger problem for teams, however, is the risk vs reward aspect, especially if NASCAR had gone with the Run What You Brung concept. Hamlin had been vocal of the costs, explaining, “The research and development itself would just cost a lot of money.  I think initially when they had conversations, it was Chad Knaus and Travis Geisler that met with NASCAR and said, ‘It’s gonna cost a lot.’And you gotta trust those guys. They’ve been doing this for far longer than I have. Gibbs — same thing. They would spend a lot of money. Yes, I understand it’s your option to spend. But we don’t all show up to just show up. We go to compete and unfortunately it would just be an arms race who would be willing to spend the most.”  

What’s his solution? Well, Hamlin suggested an increase in the prize money. “I don’t know. I think a dollar is now $3 today — 30 years ago. So probably $3 million.” 

Joey Logano thinks differently. While he is in it for the money, he hasn’t expressed any qualms about the size of the prize money. “I don’t want this to sound bad. I’ve raced for championships, but I race for money. What’s wrong with that? It’s a big piece of it.” And Logano’s reasoning about the All-Star race explains, in a way, why he’s happy with the prize money. “The race is a bit of an all-or-nothing kind of race. You’ve got nothing to lose. You can’t lose any points. You’ve got nothing to lose and a million bucks to gain. To me, it’s a pretty fun race because you can race with your hair down a little bit.”

On the other hand, there’s a driver who has a completely different idea about the money aspect.

Denny Hamlin’s employee has a different perspective

While Hamlin feels the prize money needs to go up, one of his team members has a completely different perspective. We’re talking about 23XI driver Bubba Wallace. Now, while Hamlin’s comments come as a team owner, Wallace is putting forth the driver’s perspective.

As he explained, “You’re putting on a show for the fans. 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.” He isn’t wrong is he? The All-Star race is a spectacle and it needs to be treated as such by NASCAR and by it’s drivers.

Wallace didn’t stop there. “We always have that ‘give it your all’ factor. 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.”

While Bubba Wallace hasn’t had a win at the race, he has been a strong contender in the races he has participated in. With an average finish of 8.0, he has a shot at winning it this year.