Daniel Hemric

He suffered early issues, finishing 32nd.

He finished 34th and 13 laps down, fourth in the points.

Daniel Hemric (born January 27, 1991) is an American professional stock car racing driver.

He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 31 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Kaulig Racing.

At 16, Hemric moved up to Legends cars, and in 2008, he won the track's Pro championship, as well as the first of two back-to-back Legends Pro national championships.

In 2009, with nearly 60 wins in just under 80 starts, he maxed out his National Points early on the way to winning his second national Legends Pro championship, in addition to earning the Summer Shootout Series championship on the strength of six wins in 10 starts.

In 2010, Hemric won the Legends Million at Charlotte Motor Speedway, winning the largest paycheck in Legends car history, $250,000.

Late in the 2010 racing season, Hemric made his debut in the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour; he would run selected races in that series and in the Whelen Modified Tour over the next three years, while in 2012 he ran a full season in late model cars, winning the Champion Racing Association JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour championship, scoring eight victories on his way to the title.

He rebounded the next week at Atlanta, finishing 9th for his first career Xfinity top-10 finish.

At Bristol, Hemric won the Dash 4 Cash.

At Richmond, he won his first career pole and then scored a then career-best 3rd-place finish.

At Mid-Ohio, Hemric would run in the top 5 for most of the day, bringing home an impressive and career-best 2nd-place finish.

In the playoffs, Hemric advanced to the Championship Round at Homestead as the lone non-JR Motorsports driver.

Despite starting the race strong, he was eventually plagued by battery issues that dropped him 12 laps behind the leader.

Hemric won the Summer Shootout Series championship again in 2013, in addition to competing in the Southern Super Series late model championship, driving the No. 98 Ford for Carswell Motorsports.

He also competed in the Blizzard Series late model tour, winning the series' 2013 championship.

In October 2013, Hemric made his debut in NASCAR national series competition at Martinsville Speedway, driving the No. 6 Chevrolet for Sharp Gallaher Racing in the Camping World Truck Series.

On November 2, he finished second in the 29th annual All American 400 late model race to Chase Elliott, winning the 2013 Southern Super Series championship by one point over Bubba Pollard.

In early November 2013, he finished 13th in his second Truck Series race, at Phoenix International Raceway.

Hemric made his third Truck start in 2014 for NTS Motorsports, finishing a solid 12th at Homestead.

After beginning his career in short track racing, Hemric moved up to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and raced full-time in the series in 2015 and 2016 for Brad Keselowski Racing.

In 2015, Hemric announced that he would compete full-time for the first time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series with NTS Motorsports.

Hemric drove the No. 14 California Clean Power Chevrolet Silverado and competed for the 2015 NASCAR Rookie of the Year title.

Hemric earned a best finish of fourth (Dover International Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park) and ran as high as fifth in the NCWTS Driver Point Standings, ultimately finishing the season seventh in the championship standings.

On November 3, Hemric announced that he would join Brad Keselowski Racing to drive the No. 19 Ford F-Series in 2016.

Hemric started the season with an 8th-place finish at Daytona.

Hemric later majority of the races with many top 5 finishes but no wins.

Hemric would make the Chase after being the highest non-winner points.

On September 17, 2016, it was announced that Hemric would join Richard Childress Racing in 2017.

Hemric ran the full Xfinity Series schedule and competed for Rookie of the Year, driving the No. 21 Chevy Camaro.

Hemric made his Xfinity debut at the 2017 PowerShares QQQ 300 at Daytona, which is where he finished 31st after being caught up in an early crash.

He ran two full seasons in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Richard Childress Racing, reaching the Championship Round of the NASCAR playoffs in both years, before competing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series for the team in 2019.

Following one Cup season, he lost his ride with RCR and joined JR Motorsports for a part-time Xfinity schedule.

In 2021, Hemric joined Joe Gibbs Racing and won his first career NASCAR race and the Xfinity Series championship.

A native of Kannapolis, North Carolina, Hemric began his career at the age of five, competing in go-kart racing at the 1/5-mile Concord Speedway, winning 11 races and a track championship at the North Carolina facility before moving up to Bandolero car five years later.

During that time, he started doing his backflip celebration, which was taken from Carl Edwards.

Hemric returned to the Xfinity Series in 2020, joining JR Motorsports' No. 8 car for a 21-race schedule and sharing the car with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeb Burton.

He recorded 12 top tens during the year.

Hemric moved to Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 18 Xfinity car for the 2021 season, marking a return to full-time competition.

At the end of the Atlanta race, he was involved in a fight with Noah Gragson after a pit road mishap during the race.