Denny Hamlin exposes the broken business model in NASCAR with Parker Kligerman's example

Denny Hamlin recently took Parker Kligerman's example to highlight a major problem in the Xfinity Series. Ahead of Daytona, Kligerman was announced as the standby driver for Connor Zilisch.

And midway through the race, the standby driver was asked to jump into the car. Kligerman ended up winning the race and completed his personal redemption after his DSQ at Daytona in the Truck race earlier this season.

On his podcast, Denny Hamlin said that Kligerman is 'one of the better' drivers at speedways over the last few years, and he's 'very, very good.'

But despite that, his not having a full-time ride is what Hamlin suggested as a major issue.

"Guys, this is a prime example of how broken this business model is. The guy makes more talking about the drivers than actually being a driver. I mean that is the true system and how broke it is that he could he could have a ride, but it doesn't pay anything. and he would be taking a massive pay cut by being a star in the Xfinity Series versus being an announcer for the Xfinity Series," Hamlin said. [37:10]

He claimed that it is the crux of the problem, and it would continue to 'hamper the best talent' in the Xfinity Series. Hamlin mentioned it would be so because of the limited opportunities being taken by pay drivers.

"You're going to need something like this where one of the top teams is like, 'Okay, well, you know, I'm going to be okay with two or three pay drivers and then maybe I got one seat for whoever I actually want or whoever I actually think is pretty good,'" Hamlin added.

Having said that, Denny Hamlin also admitted that team owners have to run their business as well, so there's a balance. He claimed there would be some pay drivers on the rosters and some who could be given the seat on the basis of their talent.

Denny Hamlin

Following Denny Hamlin's suggestion, a big issue in the Xfinity Series, with Parker Kligerman's example, he was asked whether there is a fix for it. Hamlin claimed it is limited because, whatever the cost is for team owners, there's not enough purse money or team money to support it.

The 23XI Racing driver claimed that to cover their expenses, teams either have to go through sponsorship or drivers with sponsorship.

"It's just a tough thing for them to do. Do they want to survive or not? They're going to do whatever they have to do to survive. And to survive, you've got to, if you don't have a sponsor in your pocket that is willing to sponsor nobody until you tell them who to sponsor, you rely on the driver to bring that sponsor or, their family or whoever," Hamlin described. [39:00]

Because of this, Denny Hamlin said that the Xfinity Series need the Cup to 'supplement' it.