Hemric Pads Buffer on Cut Line with Richmond Top-10

Daniel Hemric significantly increased his buffer on the provisional Chase cutline on Saturday afternoon at Richmond Raceway with a 10th-place finish. The driver of the No. 19 NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet Silverado RST drove from 20th starting position into the top-10 and now holds a 35-point cushion with one race remaining in the regular season. The result gives Hemric seven top-10 finishes this year and a firm grasp on his second-straight Chase berth.

The 250-lap feature in the Virginia Commonwealth was pushed to Saturday after thunderstorms on Friday night. The event began with a green-flag flavor as all 70 laps in Stage 1 were run under green flag conditions. Hemric’s fire-off speed was hampered by a tight condition but found pace later in the run as tires wore. He moved to 18th on lap 44 and powered into the top-15 just prior to the green-white checkers at lap 70.

The NAPA Auto Care team began their day by gaining one position on pit road after a sound four-tire pit stop during the stage caution. Hemric lined up 12th for the restart on lap 81 and displayed the strength of his Chevrolet by gaining three positions with a three-wide move at the green flag. His long-run speed was showcased again has he claimed the eighth position on lap 138 just before the end of Stage 2 on lap 140.

Another pit stop under caution allowed crew chief Kevin Bellicourt and the No. 19 team to bolt on four tires, matched with an adjustment to improve Hemric’s tight condition. He restarted seventh after gaining a spot on pit road and ran sixth before a cycle of green flag pit stops. Hemric pitted under green on lap 212 but was briefly trapped a lap down by an ill-timed caution. After taking the wave around to regain his lap under yellow, Hemric restarted 12th on lap 223. The final 28 laps ran under the green flag as he cut through lapped traffic to catch trucks for position and permanently claimed the 10th position by lap 228. The 10th-place finish was his seventh of the season and scored 30 points on the afternoon.

“Really good to move in the right direction with our NAPA Auto Care Silverado,” Hemric said of the top-10 finish. “Not what we needed in qualifying and didn’t quite know what we had, but when we got rolling and saw the strength that we had middle of the run to the backside of the run, it made it really fun. I love this place. I love Richmond. I’ve had a hard time continuing to love it the last couple of years, but I got back to loving it today, so it was fun.”

Start / Finish: 20 / 10
Points Standing / Total: 9th / 409 pts. (-344)

Next Race: Saturday, August 22, New Hampshire Motor Speedway
How to Watch or Listen: 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1 or SiriusXM

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Daniel Hemric: @DanielHemric
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