First NCTS Darlington Start to Spark Hemric’s Playoff Run

Venue: Darlington Raceway

Events: Sober or Slammer 200

Date: Saturday, August 30

Location: Darlington, SC

Track Description: 1.366-mile oval

Distance: 147 laps, 200.8 miles (12:00 p.m. ET – FOX Sports 1, Motor Racing Network)

Dancing into the Playoffs … Daniel Hemric’s playoff run begins on Saturday afternoon with a dance with the “Lady in Black”. The driver of the No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST is making his first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks Series (NCTS) start at Darlington Raceway to kick off his seven-race quest for the series championship. Hemric is joined by teammate Tyler Ankrum as the two MHR drivers in the 10-driver playoff field. The No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet is featuring a throwback paint scheme to the legendary “Gray Ghost” NAPA Shocks Regal Ride scheme that Buddy Baker drove to victory in the 1980 Daytona 500 for NAPA’s first victory as a primary partner in NASCAR. Hemric hopes to add his own history to the “Gray Ghost” in NAPA’s 100th anniversary by adding a second Darlington victory to MHR’s trophy case.

History with the Ole Lady … NASCAR’s oldest “superspeedway” was absent from the NCTS slate in Hemric’s first two seasons in 2015-2016 but has since made 15 starts at the egg-shaped oval between the NXS and NASCAR Cup Series (NCS). He tallied one top-five and four top-10 results in his 10 NXS starts at the “Lady in Black”, along with five NCS appearances. Over the final stretch of the regular season, Hemric was a model of consistency by posting top-10’s in four of the last five races and in 10 of 11 races prior to Richmond Raceway.

Season to Date … Hemric finished the 18-race regular season fifth in the drivers’ points but begins the playoffs fourth in the point standings from his accrued playoff points. Hemric punched his ticket to the playoffs with a victory at Martinsville Speedway in April and has amassed eight top-five’s and 13 top-10’s thus far with an average finish of 9.4.

Tune In … Live coverage from Darlington begins Friday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. ET with practice and qualifying on FOX Sports 2. Race coverage for the first playoff race of 2025 goes live on Saturday at Noon ET. Stay connected with the No. 19 NAPA Auto Care team by following @BMR_NASCAR on Twitter, @bmr_nascar on Instagram, and Bill McAnally Racing on Facebook.

Daniel Hemric Quote:

On beginning the playoffs at Darlington:

“This is what we’ve worked all year for. It’s always a big opportunity to be in the playoffs and we have a great chance in front of our NAPA team over these next seven races. We have a cool paint scheme of Buddy Baker’s Gray Ghost on the truck this weekend. Hopefully we can add a little history of our own to it and start the playoffs right. Everybody at MHR has been putting in a lot of effort to improve our program overall and I’m excited to get on track and see what we can do this weekend. I’ve always loved racing at Darlington. It’s a huge challenge as a driver but also presents some chances to separate yourself too. Hopefully we can do that on Saturday and get NAPA back into victory lane.”