NASCAR: Denny Hamlin praises ‘new opportunity’ to give back

NASCAR Cup Series team owner and driver Denny Hamlin spoke about FedEx Career Insights Program and the opportunities that it has provided for HBCU students.

As part of FedEx’s ongoing efforts to support Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) across the United States, they recently launched the FedEx Career Insights Program. This program that paired 24 HBCU students with NASCAR, Cup Series teams 23XI Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing, and Fox Sports for a series of seminars and in-person learning sessions.

The program was designed to serve as a resource to create more connections and open more doors for hand-picked HBCU students with a passion for sports. It was designed to deliver them the support they need to grow their professional network and gain real-life experiences as they pursue careers in their respective fields.

Denny Hamlin, 23XI Racing co-owner and driver of the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, took part in this initiative and met with a number of the students at Richmond Raceway and Charlotte Motor Speedway.

He had the opportunity hear about their experiences and career interests.

“I’ve gotten to do some really cool things with the FedEx Cares program, but supporting the HBCUs is nothing new for them; it’s just new for me and my participation in it,” Hamlin told Beyond the Flag.

“But really, it’s a great opportunity for these kids to kind of network and give them an opportunity to speak with us at 23XI, me as an owner, or at Joe Gibbs Racing, me as a driver. Opportunities with Fox, they’ve had participation as well.

“Really, it’s for them to have some seminars with us and talk about what we do and whether a career in motorsports or on TV is something that interests them: how can we provide an opportunity for them? So that’s what we’re doing, and it’s had great success.”

Hamlin scored his first win of the 2022 season this past Sunday afternoon at Richmond Raceway with the HBCUs on his #11 Toyota.

“Having the HBCUs on the FedEx car this weekend and winning, getting to entertain those kids and seeing them in victory lane was obviously very cool and hopefully fueled that passion even more for them,” he said.

Hamlin also discussed the fact that there are so many different career opportunities in the world of motorsports that even go beyond the general idea of what defines a “race team”.

“It really is all over the place, and I explained to them yesterday that we’re not just a race team,” he added. “We don’t just field cars. We also have marketing, human resources, sponsorship, activation. In the wheel of careers, we hire them all.”

He hopes that this program will further fuel the drive of these young individuals to pursue their passions and their interests as they embark upon what they hope will be fulfilling careers.

“It doesn’t matter what field you particularly might be studying,” he continued. “I guarantee it relates somewhat into what our race team does, and we are in constant need of people like that in our industry. I’m really excited. I could see the excitement in the opportunity that might be in front of them. Hopefully they’re able to capitalize on it.”

Perhaps most importantly, Hamlin spoke a little bit about the follow-up process after students complete the program. At no point would any of them have too far to look if they need additional assistance from their mentors.

“It could come through their university; for us personally, we give them all the contacts from our race team as they progress,” he said. “We have what we call a SPEED Institute at 23XI Racing, where we have 23 internships that we hire, and then we hire a certain amount of students out of that internship each year. So one of our partners has been a big supporter of that.”

More information on the team’s SPEED Institute can be found here.

“There are so many different opportunities, but yea, when they decide that, ‘Hey, I want to be part of a race team’, they definitely have the connections to do that now,” he concluded.