Hemric Rallies for Top-Five at Pocono

Daniel Hemric recorded his seventh top-five finish of the season on Friday evening in resilient fashion at Pocono Raceway. The driver of the No. 19 NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet Silverado RST came alive over the last 20 laps in the final stage to tally a fifth-place finish. Hemric’s seven top-five’s through 14 races is now second-most in the series as he remains third in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks Series (NCTS) standings.

The first 200-mile NCTS event at Pocono began with Hemric buried in the 19th starting position. Through the first 20-lap stint, Hemric wrestled with a loose handling balance which mitigated his progress. The lack of rear grip in all three corners held him back in the first 20 laps as he ran 12th at the end of Stage 1 after electing to stay on track.

Crew chief Josh Graham brought Hemric to pit road for four tires, fuel, and significant chassis adjustments during the stage caution. The NAPA Auto Care team also repaired cosmetic body damage to the critical right rear fender. Upon the restart, Hemric lined up 24th and methodically inched his way forward. The loose condition persisted to a lesser degree as he ran 17th at the end of Stage 2 on lap 40.

The second and final pit stop of the evening during the stage caution ignited the team’s trend through the field. A quick four-tire stop by the NAPA squad gained him two spots, and he restarted 15th on lap 47. Two restarts and an avoided wreck allowed Hemric the opportunity to vault up the leaderboard. The evening’s final restart on lap 62 featured Hemric utilizing the outside lane to perfection and immediately launched from 10th to sixth position. He claimed the fifth position shortly thereafter for his best NCTS result at “The Tricky Triangle”.

“It was just a day of doing what this No. 19 group does,” Hemric said after scoring the top-five finish. “We just started the first stage off. I don’t know if I’m just doing a really bad job of telling them where to get the truck to start or what, but as soon as we get our first round of adjustments or two, we’re back in the game. We got to truly identify what that is, and I’ll go to work to see if I can do something differently. Proud of everybody on this NAPA Auto Care Silverado RST. We continue to claw. We got a couple good restarts when we needed to, and when the dust settled, fifth.”

Start / Finish: 19 / 5
Points Standing / Total: 3rd / 486 pts. (-143)

Next Race: Saturday, Jun 28, Lime Rock Park
How to Watch or Listen: 1:00 p.m. ET on FOX or SiriusXM

NAPA: @NAPARacing
Daniel Hemric: @DanielHemric
Bill McAnally Racing / McAnally-Hilgemann Racing: @BMR_NASCAR