Hemric Notches Podium Finish in Rockingham Return

Daniel Hemric delivered a podium result with a third-place finish in Rockingham Speedway’s reopening on Friday evening. The driver of the No. 19 NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet Silverado RST was the second MHR driver on the podium, behind race winner and teammate Tyler Ankrum, as all four of the organization’s entries finished in the top-10. Hemric notched his third top-five of the season and moved to fourth in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) points standings.

A 17th-place qualifying effort didn’t hold Hemric back for long on Friday afternoon. After narrowly missing an early caution on lap two, Hemric methodically moved forward in the opening segment and ran 15th as Stage 1 concluded on lap 45. Crew chief Josh Graham elected to take four tires and fuel on the first pit stop in order to open up the NAPA team’s strategy playbook for later in the race.

With fresh tires and adjustments to improve his balance, Hemric restarted 14th on lap 56 and maintained that position for the entirety of the second segment. Graham gave Hemric two right side tires under the second stage caution and leaped forward to fourth, courtesy of the strategy call. Hemric made full use of the track position and clean air to advance to second by lap 102. After two red flag periods, Graham brought Hemric to pit road for the final pit stop under a lap 117 caution for fuel only.

Hemric restarted fifth on lap 124 and settled into ninth as several of the leaders employed an over-aggressive fuel strategy. The final 77 circuits ran under green-flag conditions, which played directly into Hemric’s hands. On lap 172, several lead lap trucks began to pit for fuel as Hemric cracked the top-five with under 15 laps to go. Two other trucks at the front of the field ran dry as the laps waned as Hemric drove to a third-place finish, his second podium result of the season.

“It was a ride,” Hemric said. “Up, down, probably the craziest roller coaster, one of them, that I’ve ever experienced. We just didn’t have the balance in the NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet that we were searching for, not even this weekend, even at the test. I say all that to say how much I feel like we overachieved as a group to finish third. I feel like, everyone struggled so much in air and traffic, and even in lapped traffic you lose half of three-quarters of second just trying to find a lane, trying to find something. Just a wild ride. But we had enough fuel to make it. Thought we were going to cycle to fifth, and we cycled to third.”

Start / Finish: 17 / 3
Points Standing / Total: 4th / 239 pts.

Next Race: Friday, May 2, Texas Motor Speedway
How to Watch or Listen: 8:00 p.m. ET on FS1 or SiriusXM

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Daniel Hemric: @DanielHemric
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