"Thanks to Michael Gaughan, everyone at South Point, and all of our supporters at Kaulig Racing for sticking with us. It’s not been thrilling or exciting the last few weeks, but at the end of the day we’ve managed a couple times this year to finish better than we raced. That’s what we did here today. I’m proud of Trent [Owens] for making the call to take two tires there and getting some track position. I need to do a better job on restarts; we had a couple go our way there at the end, especially that last one. I’m proud of the fight from this No. 31 team today."
- Daniel
Daniel Hemric qualified 38th for the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Hemric’s No. 31 South Point Camaro ZL1 handled tight, as he navigated through dirty air in stage one. He made it as high as fifth place as green-flag pit stops began. The first caution of the day came out on lap 51, as Hemric sat sixth. He pitted under caution for a major adjustment to help free up the car. He restarted 14th on lap 55 and went on to finish the opening stage in 15th.
Hemric radioed that the No. 31 handled better, but was still tight in traffic. He pitted for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment during the stage break, before starting the second stage in 18th. The next caution came out on lap 101, as Hemric sat 21st. He pitted under caution for tires and fuel before restarting 23rd. The next caution came out on lap 114, and crew chief, Trent Owens, made the call to pit again for tires, as some were on a fuel-only strategy. The field went back to green for only two laps before another caution came out. Hemric stayed out and restarted 25th with 40 laps remaining in stage two. Another caution fell on lap 137, and Hemric pitted for qualifying tires and a major adjustment to help the front-handling of the No. 31 Chevy. The field went back to green for only one lap, as the next caution came out on lap 143. Hemric stayed out once again and restarted 31st on lap 149. He went on to finish the second stage in 31st.
During the second stage break, Hemric pitted for four tires and fuel before starting the final stage in 29th. A caution came out just after the restart, before going back to green with 90 laps remaining. Hemric sat 26th, as yet another caution came out with 86 laps to go. He stayed out and restarted 26th with 83 laps to go. After a long, green-flag run, the next caution came out on lap 228, as Hemric sat 10th. He pitted for four tires, fuel and adjustments for the No. 31 South Point Chevy. He restarted 16th on lap 235. The next caution came out on lap 254. Hemric radioed that the No. 31 Chevy took off better but still struggled in dirty air. He made his final pit stop of the day under caution for right-side tires and fuel before restarting 21st with eight laps remaining. The next caution came out on the restart, as Hemric narrowly avoided a wreck in front of him. He restarted 18th with two laps to go before another caution came out on the restart. Hemric restarted 20th in the first overtime attempt, but another wreck forced a second overtime. Hemric went on to finish 20th.
