Daniel Hemric Texas Motor Speedway 2016 Recap

Daniel Hemric (@DanielHemric) had a lightning fast BULLDOG Ford F-150 in the Rattlesnake 400 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway, qualifying third and taking the lead twice for a total of 19 laps. 
 
Unfortunately, the No. 19 truck lost a brace on the right-rear quarter panel late in the race, costing Hemric speed on the racetrack and valuable track position when he was forced to make multiple pit stops for repairs. He made a nice rally in the closing stages of the event to earn a respectable 10th-place finish.
 
Hemric was fourth in the weekend’s opening practice session and qualified third. After the wave of the initial green flag, he grabbed the lead on lap 17, holding the point position for the next 18 laps. When the caution flag waved on lap 52, Hemric was running in second position.  Crew chief Chad Kendrick made the call for four tires, fuel and and both air pressure and wedge adjustments to help Hemric turn better in the corners.
 
Hemric lined up second when green-flag racing resumed, leading one more lap before tightness began to hinder the center of the corner.  On lap 85, he was third when he radioed the BULLDOG team that he felt like he had a slow leak in his right-rear tire. The young driver was able to reduce his speed and ride out the run, but dropped to eighth place in the running order by the time the caution flag waved on lap 97. 
 
When he pitted, Hemric’s crew discovered that a brace had broken on the right-rear quarter panel.  The broken piece deprived his Ford F-150 of critical side force and caused the unstable sensation of a tire leak.  
 
The team performed a quick fix before racing resumed, but it wasn’t until the next caution on lap 121 that the crew was able to make a more permanent repair over the course of two pit stops. The time on pit road relegated Hemric back to the 17th position for the lap-125 restart.  
 
Hemric needed one more caution to regain the lost track position but, unfortunately, that yellow caution never came.  He was able to pilot his way up to the 10th position before the checkered flag waved, earning his sixth top-10 finish of the season.

BKR PR