Pursuit of $1 million and VIP trip to NASCAR Championship Weekend™ begins
Twenty-five lottery players from across the country — including one from right here in Maryland — are one step closer to a $1 million prize as the NASCAR Powerball — The Chase to $1 Million enters its next phase.
After months of promotions conducted by 25 participating lotteries, one player from each lottery has been selected as a semi-finalist in the national Powerball® promotion. Each semi-finalist has already won $2,000 and now advances to the next round of drawings inspired by NASCAR’s championship format.
Maryland’s representative is Jeffely Pargo from Frederick. He was randomly drawn from among the winners in the Maryland Lottery’s NASCAR Powerball — The Chase Second-Chance Promotion, which ran from May 4 through June 15. More than 22,000 Maryland Lottery players entered Powerball tickets into the promotion, which awarded 40 winners of $2,500. Those 40 were entered into a random drawing to determine who would represent Maryland nationally.
Pargo and the other 24 national semi-finalists were revealed during Sunday’s coverage of the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway® on USA Network. Twenty of the 25 semi-finalists will each win $3,000 and advance to the next round. Those 20 winners will be announced on Sept. 27 during the Hollywood Casino 400 from Kansas Speedway.
The field will be narrowed to 10 on Oct. 18 and those 10 will each win $5,000 with the announcement during the Freeway Insurance 500 at Phoenix Raceway. The field narrows again to four finalists, who will be announced during the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Nov. 1. Each finalist wins a VIP trip to the NASCAR Cup Series Championship™ race at Homestead Miami Speedway on Nov. 8, where one will win a $1 million prize, and the other three will each win $10,000.
The 2026 NASCAR season marks Powerball’s fourth year as the Official Lottery Game of NASCAR and the fourth consecutive year that a lucky lottery player will have the chance to win $1 million in Victory Lane before the start of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race.
