Daytona Road Course
August 15, 2020
Track Specs: 3.61-mile road course / 52 laps
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 79 degrees
No. 8 Poppy Bank Chevrolet Camaro
Start: 23rd
Finish: 37th
Daniel Hemric had methodically worked his way into the top 10 in Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course before an incident following a lap 14 restart severely damaged the nose of the Poppy Bank Chevrolet. With heavy rain falling throughout the weekend in Daytona, Hemric found himself submerged in the grass, unable to get rolling again due to the damage to the front end of his JR Motorsports Camaro. After initially hoping that with the help of a tow truck he would make it back to pit road for repairs, it was discovered that the damage was too severe to continue, ending Hemric’s day prematurely and relegating him to a 37th-place finish.
Stage One Finish: 28th
Hemric took the green flag for the 52-lap event from the 23rd position after the field was set via a new formula by NASCAR earlier this week that is based on the previous week’s finishing position, the team’s fastest lap run in the previous event and where the team is ranked in the owner standings. Right from the onset Hemric marched forward, charging up to the 12th position by the completion of lap 3. The driver of the Poppy Bank Chevrolet continued his ascent up the leaderboard from there, racing into the top 10 and up to ninth by the time the first caution flag of the event was displayed on lap 12.
While under this caution period, crew chief Taylor Moyer called the driver of the Poppy Bank Chevrolet to pit road for four tires and a chassis adjustment after Hemric reported that he needed help with rear stability in the hard-braking zones. Returning to the track for the one-lap shootout to end Stage One in 10th, Hemric entered Turn 1 three-wide for position. However, as the field exited the first corner, contact from another car running behind Hemric knocked him sideways, sending the Kannapolis, N.C. native hard into the retaining wall and badly damaging the nose of the Poppy Bank Chevrolet. This damage proved to be too severe to continue on, bringing an end to Hemric’s afternoon shy of the finish.
In the end, Hemric was scored with a 37th-place finish.
Despite the result, the No. 8 team remains 11th in the owner standings, 25 points ahead of the 12th and final playoff position.
Daniel Hemric, driver No. 8 Poppy Bank Chevrolet team
“We were making a lot of progress with our Poppy Bank Chevrolet, getting up there in the top 10 and in position to keep moving forward. I just hate that we ran into trouble again. This team is tough and resilient and we will rebound from this. We all have a never-give-up attitude and we will be ready to go for both Jeb (Burton) and I next week in Dover.”
Next up:
Hemric returns to the No. 8 Chevrolet on Sunday, August 23, at Dover International Speedway for the Xfinity Series back end of a weekend double header from Dover, Del. Coverage will be at 1 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN, and SiriusXM 90.