Denny Hamlin brings the largest projected paycheck in the NASCAR Cup Series field to Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, win or lose.
Hamlin enters the fourth of 10 Chase races one point behind Kyle Larson, leaving Sunday to settle both the points lead and the weekend’s biggest payday.
NASCAR stopped publishing driver earnings in 2016, so all figures rely on court records and salary estimates. One number is mostly solid. Hamlin testified under oath in December 2025 that Joe Gibbs Racing pays him about $14 million a year, according to a PitByNumbers report.
Spread across 36 points races, that comes to roughly $389,000 per start. Joey Logano’s estimated $9 million and Chase Elliott’s $8 million, according to Apostle Sports Media salary estimates, work out to about $250,000 and $222,000. Estimates put Larson near $236,000 per race and Ryan Blaney near $194,000.
Kansas offers a total weekend purse of $11,233,037, charter payments and contingencies included, according to NASCAR insider Bob Pockrass. Court documents from the 23XI Racing antitrust case exposed the payout curve, which handed 2025 Phoenix winner Blaney’s Team Penske roughly $640,000 of a $12.4 million total, according to Forbes.
Applied to Kansas, that curve pays the winning team about $579,000. This model gives each driver 40% of that share, or roughly $232,000 for a win and $150,000 for 10th. The $141,000 charter base payment stays with the team, according to Pockrass’ breakdown.
The 40% split remains an educated guess, however.
“Honestly, every deal is different. There’s drivers in the Cup Series that make anywhere from 5 percent to 50 percent of the prize money,” former Cup driver Landon Cassill said in 2014, as quoted by The Gazette. Drivers at the top of that range, Cassill added, usually draw no salary.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin Tops Projected Kansas Payday
A second- through fifth-place run puts Hamlin near $559,000 to $572,000. A win lifts him to about $621,000. Even a last-place finish in the 36-car field, according to a NASCAR.com staff report, sends Hamlin home with around $444,000 for Sunday afternoon’s work.
Larson ranks second at $406,000 to $468,000 for a top-five finish. He passes Hamlin only by winning while Hamlin falls to about 30th or worse.
Logano, the Bristol winner, projects third at $400,000 to $429,000 for a finish between 10th and third. Elliott follows at $372,000 to $392,000 and needs a podium to clear $400,000.
Blaney and Tyler Reddick split fifth. Blaney lands near $344,000 to $364,000 with a top-10 or top-five result. Reddick’s $167,000 slice grows to about $337,000 with a top five and $399,000 with a win.
A win by a lower-salaried driver such as Carson Hocevar pays roughly $310,000 to $350,000. In other words, Hamlin can make more cash by finishing last than Hocevar would by winning in Kansas. Endorsements and team win bonuses give drivers more money, but fall outside these estimates.
Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson Leads Kansas Favorites
Larson opened as the +400 favorite at Caesars Sportsbook, with Hamlin at +425 and Christopher Bell and Reddick each at +575, Fjeld reported. Blaney sits at +775, Ty Gibbs at +900 and Logano at +2500.
Larson and Hamlin have dominated Kansas in the Next Gen era. Hamlin has seven top-five finishes there and Larson six, with Larson leading 577 laps. Bell owns four Next Gen poles there, and Reddick two wins, including this spring.
The 1 1/2-mile showdown starts at 3 p.m. EDT, noon PT, on USA Network, with Logano 16 points behind Larson and Bell 17 back.
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