Lottery winners, start your engines! With an exciting announcement on Sunday, Jeffely Pargo from Frederick is advancing to a climactic race day in Miami where he will be one of four lottery players with the chance to win $1 million.
The news was announced Sunday during the NASCAR Cup Series™ race at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia, as a group of 10 lottery players, who had advanced from the previous rounds of the NASCAR Powerball — The Chase drawings, was narrowed down to four finalists.
Pargo and three others will travel to Miami Nov. 6-8 for an exclusive NASCAR Championship Weekend™ experience. Each winner and a guest receive roundtrip airfare, three nights hotel accommodations, meals and various VIP experiences at the NASCAR Championship Weekend.
On Sunday, Nov. 8, the four finalists will participate in a live televised drawing shortly after 2 p.m. during NBC’s pre-race coverage of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. One of the four finalists will win $1 million, while the other three will each receive a $10,000 prize.
“I am excited … very excited,” Jeffely said, adding that the trip will mark his first time attending a NASCAR race. “I already feel like a winner.”
The retired federal government employee says he plans to take his fiancé on a big trip if he wins the $1 million prize.
Pargo was randomly selected from more than 276,000 entries during the Maryland Lottery’s NASCAR Powerball — The Chase second-chance promotion, which ran from May 4 through June 15. Forty winners each received $2,500 prizes, and were entered into a random drawing to determine who would represent Maryland nationally. Lotteries in 24 other states ran similar promotions and each had one winner to represent their state.
As he has advanced through the national promotion, Pargo has accumulated prizes totaling $12,500 so far. In addition to the $2,500 he won in the Maryland Lottery’s promotion earlier this year, Pargo won $2,000 for being named the Maryland Lottery’s national semifinalist, $3,000 for making the first cut when the field was narrowed from 25 to 20, and another $5,000 for advancing to the final 10.
Pargo will be joined in Miami by three other finalists: Agnes Whitaker of North Carolina; Rachel Tobaben of Nebraska; and Tina Lanning of South Carolina.
The 2026 season marks the fourth year that Powerball and NASCAR have partnered on a promotion to award one lucky player a $1 million prize in Victory Lane before the start of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race.
