By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Saturday was another close one for Daniel Hemric in the XFINITY Series. But following a rough start to the weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, it was a major positive.
The No. 21 Richard Childress Racing sophomore was unable to turn a lap in morning qualifying in Texas, running out of time following pre-qualifying inspection. Consequently, it put him tail-end of the field (35th) for the green flag to start 200 laps.
“I know [the team] felt bad we couldn’t get out on the track to make a qualifying lap,” Hemric said. “We started deep in the field.”
But he didn’t stay deep in the field long as the North Carolina native blasted through the bottom half of the field and hit the top 12 by the end of Stage 1 on lap 45.
From there, Hemric reached the top 10, then top five. Eventually, a turn of strategy shook up the top 10 and Hemric grabbed the race lead on lap 94. The 27-year-old led 39 straight laps, the most he’s ever led in a single race in, ironically, his 39th start.
He couldn’t, however, hold off Ryan Blaney, who dominated most of the afternoon toward victory.
“I just didn’t quite have enough speed there 15 to 20 laps into a run,” Hemric said. “Clean air definitely helped once we got out front and led some laps. I’m proud of these guys, proud of [crcew chief] Danny Stockman for keeping us in the game all day.”
In Hemric’s eyes, Saturday was his best ever on a 1.5-mile track in 14 total starts.
“What we did today, for me as a whole, was my best mile-and-a-half race in the XFINITY Series start to finish,” he said. “I’m proud of that.”
With a fourth straight top-10 finish and second straight top five in 2018, Hemric feels that first win is truly getting close, as his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut approaches in just two weeks.
“What we did today is [something] I’m proud of,” he said. “We passed some cars, had speed. Slowly chipping away. Every week we’ve unloaded, we’ve gotten a little better and a little better. That’s what it’s all about. Like I said last time, keep chopping wood.”
He could just grind away to $100,000, qualifying for the XFINITY Dash 4 Cash for next weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.
“It always sounds good when you get a chance to run for $100,000,” he said. “It was cool to be able to get one there last year. I look forward to it.”