Daniel Hemric made his NASCAR national series debut in Saturday’s Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway, but a transmission issue on Lap six dashed the hopes for a solid finish in the Sharp-Gallaher Racing Chevrolet. The Kannapolis, N.C., native demonstrated his short-track prowess in his first appearance in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series ranking sixth and fourth-fastest in Friday’s two practice sessions in the No. 6 Jack Link’s/Valvoline Chevrolet. A tight-handling condition during qualifying resulted in a 15th-place starting position for the 22-year-old driver. After the green flag dropped to start the 200-lap event at the famed 0.526-mile Virginia short track, Hemric was able to quickly pull down into the preferred, inside line of trucks and settled the black and white machine into the 17th position. The first caution flag flew on Lap two for a spinning truck and on the ensuing restart, the shifter of the No. 6 truck became stuck between the second and third gears. Hemric brought the truck to pit road and ultimately behind the wall under green-flag conditions where the Bryan Berry-led team ascertained the issue. They quickly changed transmissions under a long green-flag period, and returned to the race track 60 laps down to the leader. Throughout the remainder of the race Hemric turned laps as fast as the lead trucks and gained valuable track experience, but the 32nd-place finish was disappointing to the young rookie.
Daniel Hemric Quote:
“I cannot thank everyone involved in this weekend enough for this opportunity: Eddie Sharp, Bill Gallaher, Jack Link’s, Valvoline, Murphy Family Ventures, my Late Model owners, Jake and DeAnna Carswell, and Stitch98. I hate that I couldn’t give them the finish that they all deserved. Bryan (Berry, crew chief) and the team were great to work with! This was an incredible weekend; I had so much fun and would love to do more in the future.”
Bryan Berry Quote:
“Daniel (Hemric) did a great job in the No. 6 Chevrolet this weekend. For a driver who has never been in a truck, except for a one-day test session, and to make his first NASCAR start at Martinsville (Speedway), he really held his own and demonstrated that he has what it takes to be at this level of racing. I hate that the transmission broke so early in the race and he couldn’t really show how good he is. It was nothing he did. When they took the transmission apart to look at it, there was a piece of the shifter that had broken off, causing it to jam when he was shifting from second to third on the restart. He went back out there and stayed focused, turning fast laps and bringing it back with barely a scratch on it. He is a great kid to work with.”
SGR PR
