HEMRIC RALLIES FOR 12TH-PLACE FINISH AT MID-OHIO
Date: June 5, 2021
Event: B&L Transport 170 (Round 13 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (2.258-mile road course)
Format: 75 laps (Stages: 25 laps / 25 laps / 25 laps)
Start / Finish: 11th / 12th (Running, 78 of 78 laps)
Point Standing: 3rd (437 points, -121 points out of first)
Race Winner: AJ Allmendinger
Stage 1 Winner: AJ Allmendinger
Stage 2 Winner: Justin Haley
Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-25)
Daniel Hemric started Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course from the 12th position and finished 25th in stage one.
Early in the race, the Poppy Bank Toyota Supra methodically worked up the leaderboard as Hemric found his way into the top five before lap 20.
Crew chief Dave Rogers called Hemric to pit road for fuel only several laps before the stage ended. With the Xfinity Series’ regular pit crews traveling to California for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race, the pit rules for Saturday’s race limited teams to pit for either fuel or tires, but not at the same time. The strategy call allowed the No. 18 team to pit for tires between the stages while other teams were forced to pit twice. This moved Hemric to second to begin stage two.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 26-50)
Hemric started second and finished 32nd in stage two.
The Poppy Bank Supra held on to the runner-up spot for the opening laps of stage two before eventually slipping back to fourth before a caution on lap 41.
·After the restart, a flat left-rear tire caused significant damage to Hemric’s Supra and forced him to make an unscheduled pit stop. The unfortunate sequence of events dropped the No. 18 team two laps down.
When the stage ended on lap 50, Hemric was scored 32nd. During the caution, the team opted to stay on track and take the wave around to recover one of the two laps Hemric lost to the leaders.
Stage 3 Recap (Laps 51-78)
Hemric started the final stage in 32nd and finished 12th in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
With the race running green for much of the final stage, Hemric found himself stuck one lap down in 32nd.
Finally, a caution on lap 69 gave Hemric the free pass to rejoin the led lap for the final few laps of the race.
Rogers brought his driver to pit road for four fresh tires and the Poppy Bank Supra lined up 23rd with four laps remaining.
In the closing laps and an overtime restart, Hemric rallied to finish 12th.
Additional Notes
Ty Gibbs led Joe Gibbs Racing with a third-place finish in Saturday’s race. Brandon Jones ended the day fourth with Hemric 12th and Harrison Burton 38th.
Next Up: The NASCAR Xfinity Series travels to the Lone Star State next weekend for the first of two races at Texas Motor Speedway this season. The race will be broadcast live Saturday, June 12, at 4 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1, PRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
-JGR-