Denny Hamlin commends Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s role in promoting true racing talent amid 'buy-your-ride' culture

Dale Earnhardt Jr. giving a chance to Parker Kligerman was something Denny Hamlin recently appreciated him for. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver took the mic on his podcast show, Actions Detrimental, to highlight a feature about Dale Jr.'s approach in picking his driver.

With Connor Zilisch's injury at Watkins Glen and his uncertainity for Daytona, Dale Jr. rang up Kligerman to be his standby driver. While Zilsich won the pole and started the race on Friday (August 22), he subbed out for Kligerman who finished the race in first place.

Following this, Hamlin spoke about Dale Earnhardt Jr. as he said:

"What I love about Dale Jr. and obviously the Xfinity series is if we're being honest, it's primarily made of buy-your-ride drivers and even your top teams have a handful of those on their roster. But Dale always seems to have one car that he's trying to give the other guys a shot. The local short track guys or whoever it might be, trying to give them opportunities to showcase their talent.

"So then maybe a sponsor has interest in them. He did it with Josh Berry. I guess it was Tire Pros or something that latched on to Berry and kept him going and then next thing you know he got a ride into into Cup." [35:10]

Hamlin commended Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his sister Kelley for doing a 'great job' at JRM by giving deserving drivers a stepping stone.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. comments on Connor Zilisch's performance with JRM so far

After the race at Daytona which Parker Kligerman won but was attributed to Connor Zilisch, Dale Earnhardt Jr. opened up on his young star. Earnhardt deemed Zilisch as 'awesome' and strange considering how mature he is for his age.

Speaking about the decision to take out Zilisch mid-race, Earnhardt claimed he wants to race for a championship but also has to be mindful of 'the next two decades' of his driver's career. He said via Motorsport (via The CW Sports):

"That’s not worth it. So we will do whatever we need to do to make sure that we hand him off to his next opportunity in a good place and ready to go and rock. He’s already exceeded expectations this year for us and helped us have a really exciting, awesome year. But we’ll see what we can do the rest of the season."

He mentioned that JRM wanted to make the right decisions that were beneficial for Zilisch's long term career. Dale Jr. also hoped his driver understands the balance between prioritizing the present and the next 20 years.

It's worth mentioning that Connor Zilisch was recently promoted to the Cup Series by Trackhouse Racing ahead of the Daytona Cup race.