“Everyone wants to go have fun… but who is going to pay for it?” Denny Hamlin said these words about NASCAR’s All-Star Race innovation, questioning the meager $1 million prize for the event. But this was not the only instance that had rattled him financially in recent times. The NASCAR lawsuit is already costing him and Michael Jordan off-track. And now the sport’s Driver Ambassador Program is turning out to be a money hole for the Cup Series driver, unlike Kyle Busch’s fortunes.

Denny Hamlin, a longtime veteran of Joe Gibbs Racing, is widely known for his statesmanship. Fans tune into ‘Actions Detrimental’ for Hamlin’s unfiltered takes every week. Despite this consistent presence in the media, Hamlin gets little recognition from NASCAR, although his star guest got more.

Denny Hamlin reveals NASCAR’s hypocrisy

Well, the 23XI Racing co-owner has been trying to do that since last October. Both 23XI and Front Row Motorsports filed a lawsuit against NASCAR for monopolizing the sport. Now, another instance has arisen that is unfair to Denny Hamlin himself. Soon after the 2025 season got underway, NASCAR rolled out the Driver Ambassador Program. By using an app, drivers can accrue points for potential media opportunities.

For instance, every 15 minutes on national TV can lead to 1 point. The end goal of this is lucrative – the top performer can get up to $1 million in a year. That is why we saw two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch come to the ‘Actions Detrimental’ studio recently, and even visit the Door Bumper Clear podcast after the Talladega race. However, while Kyle racks up points in the program for his appearances, Hamlin’s podcast yields far less, despite reaching out to a large audience.

In a recent Actions Detrimental episode, Denny Hamlin immediately threw a question at Busch’s unlikely presence. He asked him in a friendly banter, “Are you on the DAP Tour or something? Come here to get your points? That’s a good idea.” The 232-time NASCAR national series winner said without remorse, “That’s right.” But then he got curious about Hamlin: “Where are you at on your standings? Are you getting DAP for this every week?” It was then that we got a sinister outlook on Hamlin’s unfair situation. The 56-time Cup Series race winner, unfortunately, does not get enough credit, as he sadly proclaimed, “Uh, I’m retired… Just so you know, you get full credit for coming here. I get 4 points in total. It’s bad.”

Meanwhile, Joey Logano, the 2024 Cup Series champion, apparently gets full credit for his work on Sirius XM NASCAR. Kyle Busch threw a spotlight on that unfortunate hypocrisy on NASCAR’s part as Denny Hamlin is denied the same favors. Busch said, “Logano gets all his points though for his stuff every week, right?” Then Hamlin took a sarcastic dig at the sanctioning body’s thought process: “If you have 100,000 listeners, apparently, it doesn’t do much for the sport each and every week.”

Many drivers have enlisted for surprise media appearances in this parallel competition. Chase Elliott was a guest at the Super Bowl and did a round of hits with Bubba Wallace on Barstool Sports. More recently, Brad Keselowski visited McLeod Children’s Hospital in Florence, South Carolina. Joey Logano even encouraged NASCAR’s intention to push drivers to enhance their public images. He said, “I think that no one should work for free. I don’t think that’s the case either. Every time you do something, you’re taking away from something else. I think being able to be incentivized to do things is not a bad thing.”

But while Logano and others are reaping the full benefits, Denny Hamlin is not. The economic inconsistency is definitely a problem for the DAP. However, this program just successfully turned around a heated rivalry.

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Ameliorating differences on camera

In a 2017 Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen International, the No. 18 JGR Toyota had a conflict with the No. 2 Team Penske Ford. Kyle Busch went into the wall off Brad Keselowski’s bumper just seconds after the race began. Following that, there was a colorful exchange of words, as Busch said that they “better keep (him) away from that (expletive) after the race.” Even Keselowski did not mince his words: “Kyle Busch is an a——.”

This rivalry has never really thawed over time, and both champion drivers have kept it as such. However, in a shocking twist of events, both acted in a NASCAR-produced content last Tuesday, a send-up of “Back to the Future”. Revealing the move to Homestead-Miami, the drivers looked like they were in a buddy comedy.

As of Monday morning, the video had 1.2 million views on X alone. So what changed the sour relationship between the two drivers? “DAP program, let’s just leave it at that,” Busch explained. But Rowdy did admit to the awkwardness involved with hours of filming the video. He said, “We don’t necessarily have a relationship. I probably don’t have a relationship with half of these guys here anyway. So we just show up and do our deal…That was definitely weird. But hey, when you’re a good actor, you can make anything work.” Brad Keselowski stressed his special acting award on X, writing, “Finally, my acting is being recognized and I got my very own Academy Award for this performance. Thank you to everyone who got me here.” 

Evidently, the DAP program has some benefits after all. Yet Denny Hamlin’s predicament seems concerning, and hopefully, NASCAR will do something about it.