NASCAR: Austin Dillon to run “majority” of 2015 XFINITY Series season

By Nov 24, 2014, 5:30 PM EST
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Austin Dillon’s 2015 calendar is now a lot busier.

Dillon, who just completed his inaugural NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season in the famous No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, has been announced to run “a majority” of next year’s NASCAR XFINITY Series events for RCR along with his regular Cup duties.

For these XFINITY events, Dillon will drive the No. 33 Chevrolet and have Rheem Manufacturing Company serve as a sponsor; an exact number of races for the 2013 series champion was not announced by RCR.

Earlier this month, RCR announced that NASCAR K&N Pro Series East driver Brandon Jones would also run select XFINITY races in that same No. 33 machine.

Said Dillon in the release: “Rheem has a long tradition of reliability and quality in their industry with close to 90 years in the business. My family has a long tradition in NASCAR and we also have a tradition of reliability and performance. I enjoy racing in the XFINITY Series and will be proud to represent Rheem while contending for wins on Saturday afternoons in 2015.”

The move will have him teaming up more often with little brother Ty Dillon, who runs RCR’s full-time No. 3 XFINITY entry; Ty tweeted the following after today’s announcement:

Austin’s first year in the Cup Series saw him avoid any DNFs, but only collect one Top-5 finish – a fifth at Daytona in July. He was put in the shade by fellow freshman and Chip Ganassi Racing driver Kyle Larson, who had Rookie of the Year honors locked up long before NASCAR made it official at Homestead a week ago.

With that in mind, perhaps RCR figures that getting Austin more track time on Saturdays in the XFINITY Series will help him earn stronger results on Sundays in the Cup Series. At first glance, a little extra seasoning wouldn’t seem to hurt for a young driver that’s still growing.

Winner Josef Newgarden earns $3.666 million from a record Indy 500 purse of $17 million

By May 29, 2023, 6:01 PM EDT
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INDIANAPOLIS — The first Indy 500 victory for Josef Newgarden also was the richest in race history from a record 2023 purse of just more than $17 million.

The two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, who continued his celebration Monday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earned $3.666 million for winning the 107th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

The purse and winner’s share both are the largest in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

It’s the second consecutive year that the Indy 500 purse set a record after the 2022 Indy 500 became the first to crack the $16 million mark (nearly doubling the 2021 purse that offered a purse of $8,854,565 after a crowd limited to 135,000 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

The average payout for IndyCar drivers was $500,600 (exceeding last year’s average of $485,000).

Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske, whose team also fields Newgarden’s No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet, had made raising purses a priority since buying the track in 2020. But Penske but was unable to post big money purses until the race returned to full capacity grandstands last year.

The largest Indy 500 purse before this year was $14.4 million for the 2008 Indy 500 won by Scott Dixon (whose share was $2,988,065). Ericsson’s haul made him the second Indy 500 winner to top $3 million (2009 winner Helio Castroneves won $3,048,005.

Runner-up Marcus Ericsson won $1.043 million after falling short by 0.0974 seconds in the fourth-closest finish in Indy 500 history.

The 107th Indy 500 drew a crowd of at least 330,000 that was the largest since the sellout for the 100th running in 2016, and the second-largest in more than two decades, according to track officials.

“This is the greatest race in the world, and it was an especially monumental Month of May featuring packed grandstands and intense on-track action,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said in a release. “Now, we have the best end card possible for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500: a record-breaking purse for the history books.”

Benjamin Pedersen was named the Indy 500 rookie of the year, earning a $50,000 bonus.

The race’s purse is determined through contingency and special awards from IMS and IndyCar. The awards were presented Monday night in the annual Indy 500 Victory Celebration at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.

The payouts for the 107th Indy 500:

1. Josef Newgarden, $3,666,000
2. Marcus Ericsson, $1,043,000
3. Santino Ferrucci, $481,800
4. Alex Palou, $801,500
5. Alexander Rossi, $574,000
6. Scott Dixon, $582,000
7. Takuma Sato, $217,300
8. Conor Daly, $512,000
9. Colton Herta, $506,500
10. Rinus VeeKay, $556,500
11. Ryan Hunter‐Reay, $145,500
12. Callum Ilott, $495,500
13. Devlin DeFrancesco, $482,000
14. Scott McLaughlin, $485,000
15. Helio Castroneves, $481,500
16. Tony Kanaan, $105,000
17. Marco Andretti, $102,000
18. Jack Harvey, $472,000
19. Christian Lundgaard, $467,500
20. Ed Carpenter, $102,000
21. Benjamin Pedersen (R), $215,300
22. Graham Rahal, $565,500*
23. Will Power, $488,000
24. Pato O’Ward, $516,500
25. Simon Pagenaud, $465,500
26. Agustín Canapino (R), $156,300
27. Felix Rosenqvist, $278,300
28. Kyle Kirkwood, $465,500
29. David Malukas, $462,000
30. Romain Grosjean, $462,000
31. Sting Ray Robb (R), $463,000
32. RC Enerson (R), $103,000
33.  Katherine Legge, $102,000

*–Broken down between two teams, $460,000 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, $105,500 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports