Hemric Dialed in to Finally Tame Darlington
Venue: Darlington Raceway
Events: Buckle Up South Carolina 200
Date: Friday, March 20
Location: Darlington, SC
Track Description: 1.366-mile oval
Distance: 147 laps, 200.8 miles (7:30 p.m. ET – FOX Sports 1, Motor Racing Network, SiriusXM)
Taming That Mean Ole Lady … Daniel Hemric is set to make his second NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks Series (NCTS) start at Darlington Raceway and is optimistic about finally taming the “Lady in Black”. The driver of the No. 19 NAPA Nightvision Chevrolet Silverado RST scored a runner-up finish in last year’s playoff opener in Darlington County. He and crew chief Kevin Bellicourt had a stout afternoon in that event, scoring 49 points, an effort that has poised them to be one of the favorites on Friday evening. Hemric hopes to add a fourth victory for MHR in the last five Triple Truck Challenge events, as an extra $50,000 is on the line at Darlington.
Righting the Ship … After a rocky outset to the 2026 campaign, Hemric and the No. 19 team righted the ship with an eighth-place result on the St. Petersburg street course on February 28th. The Kannapolis, N.C. driver gained 10 positions in the standings with a resilient top-10 run and is eager for more at the track “Too Tough to Tame”. Darlington marks the first true intermediate tracks of the NCTS campaign and Hemric feasted on those venues last season. He banked six top-five and eight top-10 results at tracks 1.366-1.5-miles in length in 2025, including his second-place run at Darlington last August. Hemric also has one top-five and four top-10’s in the “Saturday Series” to his credit in 10 Darlington appearances.
Season to Date … Despite enduring hardship in the first two events, Hemric is only 21 markers behind the provisional Chase cut line. He’s currently 19th in the NCTS drivers’ point standings with one top-10 finish after three races.
Tune In … Activity from Darlington gets underway at 3:30 p.m. ET on Friday afternoon with practice and qualifying on FOX Sports 2. Coverage moves to FOX Sports 1 for the green flag at 7:30 p.m. ET. Stay connected with the No. 19 NAPA Nightvision team by following @BMR_NASCAR on Twitter, @bmr_nascar on Instagram, and Bill McAnally Racing on Facebook.
Daniel Hemric Quote:
On returning to Darlington:
“This week is the first true test of the year for everyone. The first intermediate race of the year and there’s a lot of bonus money on the line. That’s always exciting with some added stakes. Darlington was great to us last year. Hopefully we can finally have a smooth night and put our NAPA Nightvision Chevy towards the front to give ourselves a shot at that extra money. If we do that, the points will take care of themselves. We need to qualify towards the front to start banking some stage points and we’ll get ourselves back in a good points position.”