At Grand Slam Track, it’s about winning more than time. And the cash is pretty nice, too.

Trevor Bassitt didn’t know what his time was when he broke the tape in Sunday’s first Grand Slam Track race at Franklin Field. But he didn’t care because it was enough that he’d won that 400-meter sprint.

That’s been part of the fun with the Grand Slam circuit, which came to Philadelphia for the third of four events. Each racer runs in a group that contests two events each weekend, and they get points for their finishing place. After the second event, the runner with the most points is crowned the group champion and takes home a $100,000 check.

That was Bassitt in what was titled the men’s long hurdles group: a 400-meter hurdles race on Saturday and a 400-meter sprint on Sunday. Bassitt was second to Brazil’s Alison dos Santos in the former, then dealt dos Santos his first loss of the year in Grand Slam on Sunday.

“I don’t know, and honestly, I don’t really care,” Bassitt said of what officially was a 45.47-second run. “Because with a field like this, if you win, you ran good, the time doesn’t really matter, and that’s what they wanted. They want this to feel a lot more like championship racing, and it does.”

The circuit’s points-based system means that sometimes a weekend’s winner might have done much differently in one event from another. That was especially true in the short-distance groups, with an 800-meter run and a 1,500-meter run, which was won by Canada’s Marco Arop.

Arop, for example, won the men’s 800 on Saturday and finished fourth in the 1,500. But Sunday’s winner, Josh Kerr, finished fifth on Saturday, and a few others had notable variance.

» READ MORE: Olympic 1,500-meter champion Cole Hocker made his Franklin Field debut at Grand Slam Track

Arop appreciated the challenge.

“I think the sport is best when people want to win and not just chase times,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for the 1,500 medalists [Kerr, Cole Hocker, and Yared Nuguse] for all signing up, because that means they have to see each other four times, at least, in the year. Personally, that’s what I want to see — I’m sure that’s what everybody else wants to see as well.”

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, who won her third straight Slam title in the women’s short sprints group (100 and 200 meters), understood the skepticism when Grand Slam launched. But the series has made progress at each stop — first Kingston, Jamaica, then suburban Miami, now here. It will wrap up in Los Angeles at the end of June.

“It started out in Kingston, and some people were just kind of like, ‘I don’t know if this idea is going to work,’ because obviously, at that point, it wasn’t ideal,” she said after running a 10.73 100, the fastest time in the world this year. “But now it’s happening, now it’s here, and people are seeing the benefits of it. People are seeing the enthusiasm of it.”

» READ MORE: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone embraces being Grand Slam Track’s biggest star at Franklin Field

Sprinter Kenny Bednarek also now is a three-time Slam winner — in fact, he’s six-for-six in the short sprint races. A two-time Olympic silver medalist in the 200 meters, he has enjoyed trying the 100 at a meet and in cities that don’t always get to see track stars in person.

“I feel like the public, the fans, and everybody want to see the top athletes,” he said. “And to be able to have them be in Philadelphia or Miami or L.A. or Jamaica. I think it’s kind of rare.”

The money undoubtedly helps too, whether for a first-time winner like Bassitt or repeat champs like Bednarek and Jefferson-Wooden. Jasmine Jones, who won the women’s long hurdles group, will cash one of the first big checks of her first year as a pro.

“That’s honestly the icing on the cake,” she said.

» READ MORE: Grand Slam Track is a Franklin Field homecoming for Penn Relays veterans who are now pros

Dalilah Muhammad, who won Olympic gold in the 400-meter hurdles in 2016 and silver in 2021, brought a veteran’s perspective. The 35-year-old ran as one of the 48 “challengers” in the field, alongside the 48 contracted racers, and was happy for the opportunity.

“I really love what the meet has done for so many athletes and the opportunity that it’s bringing athletes has just been, honestly, so amazing,” she said. “I think the more opportunities we get, the bigger we can grow track and field, and athletes can support themselves. I think right now, we’re so based on shoe sponsors, and it’s so difficult to kind of even get opportunities.”

Grand Slam commissioner Michael Johnson liked what he saw throughout the weekend, from big crowds to smooth logistics.

“The crowds were amazing,” he said. “Both days, they were energized, and I think it just showed in how our athletes performed. They just love to perform in front of great crowds.”

The atmosphere was at its best in two moments Sunday: when Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone ran a 100-meter sprint for the first time in her career, and throughout the star-studded men’s 1,500-meter race. Two Americans, Nuguse and Hocker, had lots of fans, and they were into it right up until Arop snatched victory at the tape.

Though the venues for future circuits aren’t set yet, the sprinting legend sounded optimistic about bringing an event back to Franklin Field.

“It feels like it,” Johnson said. “That was an epic two days. I mean, it would be hard not to, to be honest, but we have to make those decisions after the season [about] where we go next. But this felt really good.”

Men’s 400 meters: Trevor Bassitt, United States, 45.47 seconds

Women’s 400 meters: Lina Nielsen, Great Britain, 52.60

Women’s 800 meters: Diribe Welteji, Ethiopia, 1:58.94

Men’s 100 meters Group 1: Trey Cunningham, United States, 10.36

Women’s 100 meters Group 1: Ackera Nugent, Jamaica, 11.11

Men’s 3,000 meters: Nico Young, United States, 8:01.03

Women’s 200 meters: Marileidy Paulino, Dominican Republic, 22.46

Men’s 200 meters: Alexander Ogando, Dominican Republic, 20.13

Men’s 1,500 meters: Josh Kerr, Great Britain, 3:34.44

Women’s 100 meters Group 2: Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, 10.73

Men’s 100 meters Group 2: Kenny Bednarek, 9.86

Each group winner won $100,000, and other finishers won varying amounts.

Men’s short sprints: Kenny Bednarek (1st in 200m Saturday, 1st in 100m Sunday)

Women’s short sprints: Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (1st in 200m Saturday, 2nd in 100m Sunday)

Men’s long sprints: Matthew Hudson-Smith, Great Britain (5th in 200m Saturday, 1st in 400m Sunday)

Women’s long sprints: Marileidy Paulino, Dominican Republic (1st in 400m Saturday, 1st in 200m Sunday)

Men’s short hurdles: Jamal Britt, United States (1st in 110 m hurdles Saturday, 2nd in 100m sprint Sunday)

Women’s short hurdles: Ackera Nugent, Jamaica (1st in 100m hurdles Saturday, 1st in 100m sprint Sunday)

Men’s long hurdles: Trevor Bassitt, United States (2nd in 400m hurdles Saturday, 2nd in 400m sprint Sunday)

Women’s long hurdles: Jasmine Jones (2nd in 400m hurdles Saturday, 2nd in 400m sprint Sunday)

Men’s short distance: Marco Arop, Canada (1st in 800m Saturday, 4th in 1,500m Sunday)

Women’s short distance: Diribe Welteji, Ethiopia (1st in 1,500m Saturday, 1st in 800m Sunday)

Men’s long distance: Nico Young, United States (1st in 3,000m Sunday; the winner gets $50,000 because it’s just one event)

Women’s long distance: Agnes Jebet Ngetich, Kenya (1st in 3,000m Saturday)