Hemric Makes Huge Gain in Standings with Top-10 St. Pete Run

Daniel Hemric breathed a sigh of relief after capturing his first top-10 of the season on the streets of St. Petersburg and made a massive ascent in the standings. The driver of the No. 19 Motion Industries Chevrolet Silverado RST rallied from being involved in an incident on lap 26 and drove from 24th into the top-10 during the final segment to advance 10 spots in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks Series standings to 19th.

Friday’s qualifying session was washed away in the Florida rain and forced Hemric to start from 34th position on Saturday under bright sunshine. Only one caution slowed the opening 20-lap stage as Hemric methodically worked his way to 21st by the end of the first segment. Kevin Bellicourt and the Motion Industries team armed Hemric with fresh tires and fuel under the subsequent three-minute stage break.

Shortly after restarting 21st, Hemric met adversity when he was pushed into an incident on the exit of Turn 8 which also included his MHR teammate Christian Eckes. Hemric pitted twice to assess damage to the nose and right side of his Chevrolet, restarted 30th on lap 31 and was scored 21st on lap 40 at the end of the segment.

Hemric restarted 20th on lap 44 but took advantage of a caution on lap 53 to pit and utilize fresh tires. The call by Bellicourt and company paid huge dividends down the stretch as the fresh rubber allowed Hemric to blitz through the field after restarting 24th on lap 56. He rapidly climbed inside the top-10 by lap 64 and took the checkered flag in eighth position for his best finish in three races this season.

“It sure feels good to get a top-10, at least get some sort of a good finish to get our season rolling,” Hemric said after the street course race. “Great to have Motion Industries on board today, Gates Hydraulics, Chevrolet. I wasn’t sure what shape we’d be in after getting in that wreck in the second stage, but the balance was pretty good and Kevin [Bellicourt] made a great call to get tires on the second-to-last caution. That really gave us a nice advantage and thought we could get even more had we caught another caution. Overall good day, good response. Glad we could gain some points and we’ll keep working towards Darlington.”

Start / Finish: 34 / 8
Points Standing / Total: 19th / 46 pts. (-106)

Next Race: Friday, March 20, Darlington Raceway
How to Watch or Listen: 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1 or SiriusXM

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Daniel Hemric: @DanielHemric
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