Daniel Hemric / No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Supra Preview
Dead On Tools 250 at Martinsville Speedway
HEMRIC AT MARTINSVILLE: Daniel Hemric started fourth, claimed a stage victory and finished third in his lone NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Martinsville Speedway earlier this season. Hemric also has experience at Martinsville in the NASCAR Cup Series (two starts) and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (five starts).
KANSAS RECAP: Hemric finished 15th in last Saturday’s race at Kansas Speedway after being involved in a mid-race accident. The No. 18 team earned 17 stage points in the first two segments that helped put Hemric seven points above the current playoff cutoff.
NASCAR DEBUT: Martinsville Speedway played host to Hemric’s NASCAR national series debut on October 26, 2013. That day, the Kannapolis, North Carolina native started 16th and finished 32nd in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race.
ROGERS’ RESUME: Crew chief Dave Rogers has established an impressive resume at Martinsville Speedway. He led Denny Hamlin to a Cup Series victory at the track in 2015 and his teams posted six top-five finishes, eight top-10s and 461 laps led in 16 Cup Series starts. In three Xfinity Series starts at Martinsville, Rogers’ teams have a pair of third-place finishes and a sixth-place result.
POPPY BANK: Poppy Bank will be featured as the primary sponsor of the No. 18 Supra in Saturday’s race at Martinsville Speedway. Poppy Bank is a 5-star rated organization and is recognized as one of the strongest financial institutions in the country. Since opening its first branch in 2005, Poppy Bank has grown to over $3 Billion in assets with branches across the San Francisco Bay Area, Roseville, and Southern California.
JGR AT MARTINSVILLE: Joe Gibbs Racing owns one victory and five top-five finishes in nine combined NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Martinsville Speedway. In fact, the team has never finished worse than ninth in those nine starts. Harrison Burton took JGR to victory lane last fall. Earlier this season, Hemric, Ty Gibbs and Brandon Jones all finished in the top five for JGR.
TUNE IN: Coverage of this weekend’s Xfinity Series race at Martinsville Speedway is scheduled for Saturday, October 30, at 6 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Daniel Hemric, Driver of the No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Supra
What is your approach going into this weekend at Martinsville?
“We need to go there, run up front and get stage points, and execute all night. If we can do that, I feel like we’ll have a great chance. Our team is capable of it. Looking back at how we ran at Martinsville earlier this year, I have a ton of confidence going into this weekend. Dave Rogers (crew chief) is unbelievable at that place. At the start of the year, I would have said Martinsville is not one of my better tracks personally, but Dave and my Poppy Bank team brought an incredibly fast Toyota Supra the first time and I felt like we had a car capable of winning. There is no reason we can’t go in there Saturday night and do the same thing and hopefully finish it off and get ourselves locked in for Phoenix.”
About Poppy Bank Since opening their first branch in January 2005, Poppy Bank has grown to over $3 billion in assets and is recognized as one of the strongest financial institutions in the country. Poppy has branches throughout California and provides loan services throughout the nation including commercial and multi-family, small business and PACE (green lending) products. Their commitment to providing the best products and services has propelled their success and garnered national recognition of their performance. Poppy Bank is 5-star rated by BauerFinancial, the nation's leading independent bank and credit union rating firm. The Bank is governed by a strong team of Executive Officers and a dedicated Board of Directors formed entirely by accomplished business leaders. Poppy Bank exists to meet the banking needs of their clients and to make a positive difference in the communities they serve. -JGR-