NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Awards $1.3 Million in 2021 Payouts; Figure To Rise In 2022



(Press Release from NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications)

In the course of a 14-race season that concluded with the crowning of a three-time series champion, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour distributed nearly $1,325,000 to competitors during the 2021 season.

The payout number will rise in 2022.

With FloRacing on board as the new streaming home of all NASCAR Roots properties, the Whelen Modified Tour will see a $10,000 per-race enhancement in 2022 payouts.

Additionally, at each event, the Sunoco “Rookie of the Race” will be awarded $625 as the highest finishing eligible 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Rookie of the Year candidate.

In 2021, every race winner earned a minimum of $10,000.

“We have great partners in both our tracks and series sponsors who contribute to the health of the series,” said Jimmy Wilson, senior director of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. “The addition of the FloRacing purse supplement and the Sunoco Rookie of the Race award gives our drivers even more to race for each event.”

New for 2022, the FloRacing awards breakdown on a per-race basis is as follows: $1,500 for first, $1,000 for second, $900 for third, $800 for fourth, $700 for fifth, $600 for sixth, $500 for seventh-10th, $300 for 11th-15th and $200 for 16th-20th.

The $625 Sunoco “Rookie of the Race” award brings the per-race qualifying and special awards total to $7,675, up from $7,050 per race in special awards last season.

The Sunoco “Rookie of the Race” award in 2022 will add to the existing list of special awards for each Whelen Modified Tour event. The list includes the Whelen Winner of the Race award ($3,500), the Jostens Half Way Leader award ($400), the Hoosier Lap Leader award ($600), the Hoosier Most Improved award ($500), the Hoosier Hard Charger award ($500), the Sunoco SPEC Engine award ($550) and the Mayhew Pole Award ($1,000).

Also returning to the Whelen Modified Tour in 2022 is the $10,000 year-end rookie payoff, which awards $5,000 to the highest finishing rookie in points, $3,000 to the second highest finishing rookie and $2,000 to the third highest finishing rookie.

The 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season begins Saturday, Feb. 12 with the New Smyrna Visitors Bureau 200 #lovensb at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway. The event, which will be shown live on FloRacing, features $115,800 in posted awards.

The first-place prize of $14,300 at New Smyrna does not include potential earnings from special awards.

Comments

  1. There will also be 20k divided among full time teams year-end. So that’s at least 180k Flo is paying out to the tour this year. Would be more if the promoter gets a kickback as well.

    It’s nice to see the modifieds getting the majority of the benefit from the Flo deal. The east series is getting 4k per race (1st-20th get 200 each) and, 5500 added to the point fund. Don’t know where the extra money goes if <20 cars enter. I would imagine the west series is similar.

    Main ARCA gets the same 4k per race and a 18k point fund contribution. So 98k or so.

    No info out on the Pinty's series yet.

  2. is BIDEN running NASCAR says

    pennies on the dollar for NASCAR .tell me where is cost vs reward ?? you telling me a teams deficit margin wouldn’t be less with an unaffiliated touring series?? . NASCAR is a joke

  3. You would think if it were that easy for another entity to have a 14-18 race schedule that pays like that, they would, right? I mean, NASCAR was able to throw their weight around and get multiple times more money from Flo compared to a place like Stafford for arguably less content.

    It’s nowhere near as easy as doing it for a one off or 6 races series.

    There’s a reason a lot of these top teams that drop off the tour don’t find their way to other series very often. Gotta spend money to make money.

  4. I know many race fans like to divide up into shirts and skins when the topic of NASCAR is brought up. I’m mostly agnostic. I get the criticism but on the cusp of new season it’s hard not to be impressed watching the elephant move like a gazelle in an effort to shake things up.
    The modifieds are at New Smyrna. No entry list but you just get the feeling with 47 cars signed up for the open races to follow it’s going to be a great field of cars. They sure are doing what they need to money wise. With FloRacing and the other sponsors they can throw more money at races then any other sanctioning body if they have a mind to.
    The CUP guys are opening up in that whacky race in the LA Coliseum. The ultimate bull ring with heats and consi’s and everything people say they like in a short track race. And they’re doing it with a completely new car that is so revolutionary it actually has the potential to shake up the pecking order in CUP racing. If you’re a local fan how do you not watch Preece in that particular setting to see by shear skill if he can race at the front when the expectations are so low going in.
    Credit where credit is due. NASCAR is not sitting on the status quo hoping the sport comes to them. In many respects they’re literally taking their products to new audiences. No dink and dunk for them no sir it’s no risk it no biscuit this year. We’ll see if it pays off.

  5. Hey Shawn, what is the Sunoco SPEC engine award? What is the criteria for the award?

    Thanks

  6. To all the tour haters tell me what series pays 92,000.00 to the series champion at the end of the year like the 2021 Nascar tour champion got last year.

  7. Racer,
    Not trying to take a dig in any way at the end of the season payouts for the series, which are definitley the best out there for asphalt Modified racing. The final end of the year payout for the Whelen Modified Tour champion is not something NASCAR makes public, but I can say – through information from an impeccable source on the matter – that the number you put out of $92,000 is definitely higher than what was actually paid to the 2021 champion. And not for nothing, but when people like you try to use public forums to spread factually incorrect information to make a point targeted at “the haters” you only serve to fuel their arguments further. Arguing that the series pays significantly better end of the season awards than anyone else is a perfectly fine argument, but then when you offer up fairy tale inflated numbers that you just invented in your head to make that argument then you just ruined and disqualified any point you were trying to make.

  8. What time does RaceDayCt happy hour begin and the bar opens.
    Ms. Cherokee is going to be getting some bad news and is going to need a stiff one.

  9. Shawn, can you please clarify exactly what that $1,325,000 covers?

    Is it the weekly purse payout?

    Is it the year end points fund distribution?

    Is it both the weekly purse payout and year-end points fund distribution?

    Or some other? Please explain.

    Thanks.

  10. I am thinking it is everything from the race purse, pole award, hard charger, points fund and comped contingencies like free gas, pit passes, and tires. Its definitely the best asphalt modified payout out there but pales in comparison to some other racing series. Last year the WOO sprints paid out 730k to their drivers in end of year points. winner took home 150k split among driver and car owner. Each race paid a minimum 10k to win 1k to start. Last year Tim McCreadie, Lucas Oil LM champ, took home 385k between points and race purse winnings. This doesnt include any of his off-series activity like WOO LM events or unsanctioned races like Eldora. Lucas is paying 150k to win, 75k 2nd, 20k to 12th for pts this year. They also will run 2 or 3 nights in a row at a race event typically running for 5+ to win on prelim night then 10 to 50k on the final night. There are 11 events paying over 50k to win on this year’s schedule. Now they are a National series with 60 plus races but the Nascar mods are starting to travel a little bit further from their regional roots becoming more national so maybe it is a reasonable comparison. So yes the mod payout may look impressive for a regional series but now that they are traveling further and further from home their pay out doesnt look as good compared to other National series. I wonder if any of that Flo money will make it to the drivers out of Nascars coffers. You have to appreciate what Stafford did for their drivers……and now that the streaming conflict is no longer an issue why hasnt Stafford got back together with Nascar.

  11. Well, something to think about…

    Take that $1,325,000 and divide it equally among 25 teams and you get $53,000. That $53k is the season tire bill and a couple pizza parties.

  12. CSG, WoO also had 77 races scheduled (after rain outs). If you take the payouts listed for all 351 teams on their website, it adds up to 5.5 million. That’s ~72.3k a race.
    the mod tour based on this is ~92.8k
    Super Dirt is 868k over 19 race, ~45.6k
    the money is there for the tour.

    One thing I think asphalt mods do a lot worse in general is something like T-shirt sales. All these major dirt guys have trailers parked on the midway selling hats and t-shirts, as well as online stores. I would bet these guys make just as much on sales as they do in purse each weekend. Tony Stewart swore off WoO because they won’t let him park his trailer there because he isn’t a platinum competitor. Even Larson has to find a place down the road to park his trailer. Only full time teams get to bring a trailer.

    I’m not even sure how much potential is there for the asphalt guys, though. With how repetitive and close the schedules are, you’re trying to sell to the same fans a dozen times. I would also bet almost every track owner would laugh in your face if you wanted to park a trailer in their midway.

    As for 53k not covering the tire bill. Last year’s allotment was about 40 sets. 53k very easily covers that, with a lot left over.

  13. Zig13,
    I think you answered the question there with the idea of merchandise sales. Those WoO guys are are playing to a way broader amount of fans in different regions over a season which is really what makes the merch sales thrive. The Whelen Modified Tour competitors are playing to many of the same people week after week. Getting someone to buy a t-shirt in Loudon and again at Monadnock and then again at Lee and then once again at Thompson probably isn’t going to happen. And as I’m sure you know, a lot of these WoO teams are basically a full blown business operation with staff to manage and oversee a merchandise operation. Most Whelen Modified Tour teams don’t even have a single full-time employee and wouldn’t even know where to begin as far as making a genuine merchandising effort a part of their operation. And that’s no knock on the teams of the Whelen Modified Tour, just reality. To do real merchandising takes devoted staff, lots of planning and people who understand that side of the business. All that said, I’ve always thought NASCAR should have a merchandising trailer to travel to all Whelen Modified Tour events and work with teams to have a shared revenue operation that was operated by NASCAR. But, I also think, going back to the original point about playing to the same fanbase regularly, I just don’t see it being a profitable idea for NASCAR.

  14. If there was a demand for NWMT merchandise, it would have been fulfilled long ago. That said, it is inspiring to see plenty of Richie Evans shirts at the tracks. There’s usually a small merch trailer at Thompson, and they do not seem to be all that busy, so that NWMT demand is already well served.

    zig, you’ve never seen invoices. 🧾

  15. Yea, I think it would be tough, I think it could be doable. Especially if some of the top guys were able to work together and have 2-3 top guys in a single trailer or even a tent.

    I look at the SDS, and they are pretty well centralized in NY/NJ/PA, and those teams manage to do pretty well with that stuff. The PA 410 scene does pretty good too. I think with the tour expanding its footprint outside of CT/NH/Long island the past couple years, it could help it.

    I don’t think any modified track would even entertain the idea of letting them set up shop, though. It’s just a cultural problem/difference that these tracks have. It’s not even just modifieds, it’s asphalt in general.

  16. wmass01013 says

    There is a demand i think, and while yes i agree that the fan base is the same you could benefit from a Merch Trailer as the exposure to new tracks and when a team has a new design fans want it, i always notice WMT driver shirts at races but hard to get at pit parties or after race in pits when teams putting equip away, the Fergusons did it in early years, too bad cant be done today, would the SAP shirt with JAILBIRD on back be a big seller!!!!!!!!!!

  17. Good points Zig I have several dirt racers tshirts probably 4 or 5 and 2 pavement modified racer tshirts. Bob Polvarari and the TC memorial tshirt. Not sure why that is because I got to more pavement modified races than dirt. Shaun is probably right, there just isnt enough demand given the modifieds are a regional series albeit expanding geographically with Nascar scheduling.

  18. It’s both impressive and depressing when the conversation turns to comparing the NWMT to dirt. Knowing nothing of dirt I have only one question. If they are heavily populated by full time teams with a fan base to support them what value does it have comparing them to the NWMT that depends on guys with day jobs?

    Yes there is all kinds of problems with comparing “posted awards”. However Stafford is posting $130,000. As I understand it that includes the $15,000 contributed for lap money by fans and the purse for PASS and all the support divisions. It’s for a two day commitment with costly racing over the two days and the biggest event of the season for them.
    NASCAR for this opener is posting $115,800. It is certainly not convenient to get to but other then the opener it’s not a special race like the 50th for the Sizzler.
    There’s never enough prize money but as openers go hasn’t the NWMT done their bit to make the race as attractive as possible?
    Having read the insider projections for the field of cars it looks to be as was anticipated last fall which is to say anemic. Don’t get me wrong there will be a banner number of top tier teams competing for the win but the total number disappointing if predictions pan out.
    How could that be? You’ve got this banner field of cars heading down to race in 5 open events for essentially peanuts. All kinds of inexperience blended with great veterans in great cars with wrecks not an if but a how many and how bad.
    So if the projections are right and we’re looking at mid to low twenties when you have this massive population of cars sitting and waiting for Monday night that would be about as bad a look for the NWMT as one could expect wouldn’t it? Especially since it does not appear to have anything to do with money.
    Or the insider tally is wrong and there will be 30 plus cars that start the NWMT opener.

  19. Doug,
    You said: “However Stafford is posting $130,000. As I understand it that includes the $15,000 contributed for lap money by fans and the purse for PASS and all the support divisions. It’s for a two day commitment with costly racing over the two days and the biggest event of the season for them.”
    Based on the information I’m getting from Stafford, what you’re posting is not correct. The $130,000 mentioned is ONLY for the Tour Type Modified NAPA Spring Sizzler. The PASS races is another $20,000 by itself and the weekly divisions are another $20,000 making the total awards number for the weekend $170,000.

  20. My apologies for that I was going off the November 10th article:
    “Big Cash: Format Details Revealed Format 50th Spring Sizzler At Stafford; More Than $130,000 In Prize Money”.
    I was trying to make the point that the money for the NWMT opener was terrific not trying to say the Sizzler payout was deficient by any stretch it certainly is not. That top line number of $170,000 may be somewhere but I haven’t seen it. It’s impressive.
    Just perplexed by the prediction from an informed source that the cars entered for the NWMT opener is low when the money seems to be first rate with so many modifieds heading south for the open races.

  21. The wheels tour mods are the best in the business. Most people on the site hate that.

  22. Someone,
    I’m going to assume you’re referring to the Whelen Modified Tour. I don’t think most people on the site hate the Whelen Modified Tour. I think, sadly, part of the world we live in today, there are a lot of people who feel like they have to take a hardcore stance for what they love. So when someone is critical or offers less than positive opinion of something you love you just call them haters. It’s a sad fact. The Modified Tour has things that are good about it and has some things that people as negative issues. But just because someone talks about issues that might be negative doesn’t mean they hate it. Everything in this world doesn’t have to be sugarcoated just to make people happy.

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