5 months agoAs Daniel Hemric acclimates himself more to the Next Gen chassis, he does seem to be qualifying better in the second half of the season than he did in the first, but it hasn't led to much better race performance. Martinsville marks a good example, as he qualified 15th for today's race, which is better than he has ever finished at the track in three previous starts as well as better than any of his average running positions this year. Considering he has finished between 28th and 30th in four of the previous five short track races this year and has the second-slowest speed of any NASCAR Cup Series full-timer, he will almost certainly finish worse than he starts, but the improved qualifying suggests maybe he will finish a few positions better.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
5 months agoSince Daniel Hemric lost his Kaulig Racing ride in 2025, he clearly has something to prove to any remaining NASCAR Cup Series owners who might be listening as he unexpectedly qualified 9th at Homestead, his best qualifying run of the season. This is particularly surprising since Hemric has never started a Cup Series race at Homestead with this car, although he did finish 12th in his one previous start way back in his rookie season of 2019. He ran pretty well too with an average running position of 14th, but that has little to do with this car. However, he has never earned a top ten on a 1.5-mile intermediate track. The closest he came was at the wildly unfair Nashville debacle this year where he finished 9th but had an average running position of 26th. Given all that, it's hard to imagine Hemric maintaining his qualifying position.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
6 months agoDon't be surprised if Daniel Hemric walks away with a respectable finish after this weekend's South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It has been a season of struggles for Hemric and his Kaulig Racing team, but the No. 31 Chevrolet actually has been a little better than normal at intermediate race tracks. Hemric finished 19th in the first Las Vegas race this season and followed that up with a 20th-place finish at Texas, an 18th-place finish at Charlotte, and a 20th-place finish at Kansas a few weeks ago. At $5,100 on DraftKings this weekend, Hemric makes for an interesting punt play on the DFS site, as another top-20 finish from him on Sunday would be a pretty good return on one of the cheapest drivers on the slate, while also allowing you to grab a couple of the high-dollar guys. Hemric was 27th-fastest in practice on Saturday.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Jayski
6 months agoAlthough Daniel Hemric has never done much on the Charlotte roval at the NASCAR Cup Series level, he was a reliably consistent driver there in the Xfinity Series with four top-10 finishes, including two third-place finishes along with starting fourth or better in every one of his starts. But the Cup Series is another beast, and he only qualified 27th for Sunday's race and finished no better than 23rd in his two previous appearances here. Sometimes drivers can piggyback off their road-racing expert teammates' setup notes to gain speed, so Shane van Gisbergen winning the pole potentially could help Hemric's race setups. However, judging by his qualifying, Hemric seems more likely poised for his usual mediocre run.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
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