Denny Hamlin outpours his support for Dale Jr. and others for levelling up CARS Tour

Denny Hamlin applauded the NASCAR personalities behind the growth of the CARS Tour. Per FloRacing on X, the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver approved of the opportunities the stock car racing series is getting, including a North Wilkesboro Speedway race on Fox Sports.

The zMAX CARS Tour, which fields late model cars, is co-owned by Hamlin's former on-track rivals, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, and Jeff Burton. Justin Marks, the co-owner of Trackhouse Racing, is also part of the co-owner group.

The series is holding the 100-lap Late Model Stock race on Friday at North Wilkesboro Speedway, coinciding with NASCAR's All-Star weekend, an event Hamlin won in 2015. The main event will also mark its inaugural broadcast on Fox.

Speaking about the CARS Tour amid the All-Star Race weekend, Denny Hamlin said:

“Love the opportunity that these guys were getting. I mean on the big stage, sharing a weekend with the Cup guys on the All-Star weekend. You're at a NASCAR Cup Series track... you're on a big network. All those things are fantastic.” [0:27]

He commended the series' co-owners for the job well done, adding:

“It's great to see the job that Justin (Marks), Jeff (Burton), [and] Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) have done with the CARS Tour to keep this thing promoting and keep growing it. It's going to be fantastic to see.”

After the CARS Tour's LMSC race, Denny Hamlin is gearing up for the heat race on Saturday to determine his starting position in the main event. He is one of the eligible drivers courtesy of being a previous All-Star winner and winning at least one race in the past two seasons.

The NASCAR All-Star Race will kick off at 8:00 p.m. ET on Sunday. It will be Fox's last race before the media network passes the broadcasting duties to Prime Video, starting with the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

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Denny Hamlin banters with former teammate Kyle Busch over all-time win record

In the latest episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin playfully urged Kyle Busch to stop winning so he catches up on the all-time list. He aims to finish in the top 10 list of race wins, a feat his former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate already accomplished.

For context, Hamlin is a 56-time Cup race winner (11th on the all-time list), while Busch won 63 times (9th on the list). Former NASCAR champion Kevin Harvick, who retired from full-time competition in 2023, is between the two with 60 wins.

On the said podcast, Kyle Busch said:

“Let's win a race.” [0:02]

In response, the podcast host replied:

“Let's try to keep your win total reachable. I would've exceeded my goals 'cause my goal was to get to 60 (wins).”

“I'd love to finish inside the top 10 on winners. I just think it's going to be hard if we continue running Next-Gen cars for people to win that many races,” he later added. [0:26]

As former All-Star Race winners, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch will face each other in the main event for a chance to win the $1 million prize money this Sunday. His former JGR teammate won the non-points-paying contest in 2017.