Hemric Hopes to Take MHR Back-to-Back at “The Rock”
Venue: Rockingham Speedway
Events: Black’s Tire 200
Date: Friday, April 3
Location: Rockingham, NC
Track Description: 1.0-mile tri oval
Distance: 200 laps / 200 miles (4:30 p.m. ET – FOX Sports 1, Motor Racing Network, SiriusXM)
Good Friday Pay Day … Daniel Hemric returns to Richmond County, N.C. for his second start at Rockingham Speedway, looking for a $50,000 pay day if he’s able to drive into victory lane on Good Friday. The driver of the No. 19 NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet Silverado RST is out to capture his second “Triple Truck Challenge” bonus, with his previous $50,000 win occurring last year at Martinsville Speedway. He and crew chief Kevin Bellicourt hope to secure back-to-back victories for MHR at Rockingham after the duo finished third last year to teammate Tyler Ankrum.
Putting Up a Fight … Hemric and the NAPA Auto Care team have righted the ship with consecutive top-10 runs in the last two races. A scrappy effort after rebounding from an early incident allowed Hemric to finish eighth on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. The Kannapolis, N.C. native most recently finished ninth at Darlington Raceway after he restarted 25th in the late stages two weeks ago. As Hemric has rediscovered his consistent touch, the finishes have netted him 15 positions in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks Series (NCTS) standings. In the series’ return to “The Rock” last season, Hemric came through the field from the 17th starting spot to lead a lap and record a podium result.
Season to Date … The last two races have allowed Hemric to climb to 14th in the NCTS drivers’ point standings, just 14 markers behind the provisional Chase cut line. His consecutive top-10 finishes have lowered his average finish to 19.3 after running into hardship in the first two events of the year.
Tune In … Hemric and the NCTS competitors are on-track beginning with practice and qualifying Friday morning at 11:00 a.m. ET live on FOX Sports 2. The Black’s Tire 200 goes green at 4:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1. 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 the NCTS’ second-straight trip to “The Rock”:
“It’s great to be going back to Rockingham for a second year. The pace was so fast last year, passing opportunities were at a premium and that’s why you saw so many teams flip the fuel strategy, including us. That ended up being the call that won the race and allowed us to finish third. I think you’ll need both the speed and strategy again on Friday. Our NAPA Auto Care team has a good direction of what we need in our Chevrolet, especially after the test back in February. Hopefully we can have a clean day on pit road and execute the way we need to. We need to keep stacking points and finishes together and we’re plenty capable of that this weekend.”