Hemric Records Strong Points Night and Top-10 at Kansas

Venue: Kansas Speedway

FINISH: 10th

Start: 22nd

Stage 1: 6th

Stage 2: 4th

Laps Led: 0

NCTS Point Standings Position: 3rd

Daniel Hemric rallied in the late laps on Saturday night at Kansas Speedway to score the third-most points of all drivers with a 10th-place finish. The driver of the No. 19 Gates Hydraulics Chevrolet Silverado RST banked 12 critical stage points throughout the evening to tighten his grasp on third position in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series standings after nine races.

Hemric’s night started with a heavy dose of work advancing through traffic after starting 22nd. A chaotic start to the event gave Hemric an opportunity to gain multiple spots in the opening laps. An early caution and restart allowed him to rip the outside and move to 11th by lap nine. A caution on lap 23, just shy of the first stage finish, saw the field pit for fresh tires as Hemric restarted 12th. He lined up on the outside lane on lap 29 and immediately moved forward. He was credited with running sixth at the first stage on lap 30 to earn five points.

Stage 2 went green on lap 37 with Hemric restarting sixth and featured another caution, close to the segment’s conclusion at lap 51. Hemric and most of the lead lap trucks took four tires for a five-lap dash to the green checkered flag. Once more, a strong restart from fifth allowed Hemric to protect his position and tallied seven points on lap 60 and was credited with fourth position.

While electing to restart on the bottom lane, Hemric found himself in ninth following the restart on lap 68. He advanced to eighth by lap 77 and maintained that spot until a round of green flag pit stop began around lap 90. As Hemric finished his final four-tire stop of the night under green on lap 95, an untimely caution flew, trapping him a lap down. The Gates Hydraulics team took the “wave around” as the leaders pitted under yellow to regain his lap. Hemric was scored 18th for the final restart of the night on lap 115 and utilized the bottom lane to full effect over the final 20 laps to take the checkered flag in 11th. Following a disqualification to the second-place truck in technical inspection post-race, Hemric was credited with his sixth top-10 finish of the season.

Daniel Hemric Quote:

“It was a character-building night for sure. The last set of tires we had on our Gates Hydraulics Chevrolet lost a lot of grip on the restart, but we were able to run the bottom effectively and make our way forward. Not the finish we wanted by any means, but good to get some stage points and make it a decent points night. That caution during the green flag cycle put us behind, or I think we could have had a chance to finish top-five.”