Record Chase purse in Texas.

Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage announced on Tuesday that the inaugural Dickies 500 on Sunday would have a purse in excess of $6.8 million, making it the richest payout in the two-year history of the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

The official purse totals $6,815,880 and eclipses the previous purse high for a Chase race by nearly $1 million, which was held by Atlanta Motor Speedway at $5,889,437 for last weekend's Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500.

The Dickies 500 purse, in which the winner will collect $424,350 plus any additional posted awards and contingencies, also is the fourth largest for the entire 36-race Nextel Cup Series season.

"The Dickies 500 will offer the largest Chase purse ever, be held in front of the largest crowd in Chase history and be hosted in the largest market for any race in the Chase for the Nextel Cup," Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage said. "These factors make this truly historic inaugural event even more significant for the drivers, teams and our fans."

The awards posted for the Dickies 500 trails only the Daytona 500, the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard and Texas' April Nextel Cup Series race, the Samsung/RadioShack 500.

Gossage made the purse announcement in the speedway's Victory Lane and was joined by former Texas Cup Series winners Jeff Burton (1997), Terry Labonte (1999), Matt Kenseth (2002) and Ryan Newman (2003) as well as 2000 NASCAR Cup Series champion Bobby Labonte, the only two-time Cup pole-sitter (2003, '04) at Texas Motor Speedway.

In addition to the record-setting Dickies 500 purse, $1,150,720 will be awarded in Saturday's O'Reilly Challenge NASCAR Busch Series race and $543,771 in Friday's Silverado 350k NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event.

"More than $8.5 million will be paid to NASCAR competitors during the Dickies 500 race week," Gossage said. "The Dickies 500 race week offers our fans Texas' first NASCAR tripleheader weekend and will reward those that visit this Victory Lane handsomely."