Denny Hamlin gushes over 'wildly impressive' NASCAR phenom

Denny Hamlin has seen it all, and just about done it all and he knows a potential NASCAR superstar when he sees one.

The 44-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing great is the winningest Cup Series driver without a championship title to his name - 58 victories to date.

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Hamlin is therefore perfectly placed to assess the talents of the latest crop of young talent entering the grid, and this week he providing a fascinating take on precocious teenager Conor Zilisch.

The 19-year-old Zilisch claimed a sixth victory of the Xfinity Series season, and first place in the standings, at Watkins Glen on Saturday. He would of course hit the headlines postrace too, after fracturing his collarbone in a fall on Victory Lane.

Despite that painful moment, Zilisch has been sensational this year in Xfinity combat, with Hamlin pointing out one key fact which highlights his level of performance.

While Shane van Gisbergen has been destroying his Cup Series rivals on road courses in 2025, Zilisch has been even more dominant in Xfinity combat.

Hamlin on Zilisch - the verdict

Hamlin, speaking on his Actions Detrimental podcast, explained: “Beyond all that [the fall in Victory Lane], holy crap, how impressive was his win.

”Just as a race fan watching the Xfinity Series and watching what he’s doing in the field, look at what SvG is doing to what we deem some of the better stock car drivers around. He’s doing that, but even a little more, in the Xfinity Series.

“So the gap that SvG has on us in the Cup Series, Conor has almost double that advantage over all the Xfinity. If SvG does not run an Xfinity race, Conor would win these things by a f**king lap.

“I’m looking at the lap times, they’re not close - there’s nobody within six to seven tenths a lap. They’re not close. And so when he got shuffled, it was like ‘oh, Austin Hill moved him up, he went back to fifth’, it was like ‘he’ll be leading in a lap'.

“First of all, under the great platform that the Xfinity cars are, he can manipulate everybody that’s in front of him so he can just aero get 'em out of the way. In a Next Gen car that would been a little bit more difficult.

Talented teen is 'wildly impressive'

“But beyond that, watching his racecraft while the chaos is going on, he’s still hitting his marks and passing cleanly, wildly impressive. Wildly impressive.”

Hamlin is not only blown away by how Good Zilisch is already, at the tender age of 19. And already looking ahead to what he might be like when he really grows up as a racer.

“Man, it’s gonna be entertaining to see what he does next year. And he’s so young - can you imagine Conor with 20 more years experience because that’s how old he’ll be when he gets to SvG’s age. Like what the f**k.”

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