Daniel Hemric Rookie of the Year

Rookie of the Year DANIEL HEMRIC

By Alex Apple

The record book will tell you that Daniel Hemric was the Cup Series Rookie of the Year in 2019, and he had enough high-water marks to earn that recognition. However, Hemric and his team will also tell you that they could have done more.

Moving from the No. 31 to No. 8 car in 2019, Hemric ran well in the season opening Daytona 500 as he sported a gold paint scheme, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Richard Childress Racing.

Despite finishing 25th in the points standings, Hemric won ROY and tallied one pole on the Busch Pole in the Series.

“It’s pretty special,” Hemric said after qualifying. “I kinda got out of the car. I thought I was going to be fifth or eighth, but these guys on the Caterpillar crew have done a great job all year. Hopefully there’s many more years of [Cup racing] in my future down the road.”

In 2020, Hemric will drop down a rung on the NASCAR Series ladder, but he has an opportunity to infuse energy g

into his career while running on the xfinity Series. He stood on the cusp of winning his most recent xfinity Series campaign in 2018 which earned him the promotion with Richard Childress Racing.

Moreover, Hemric will bring some consistency and continuity to a JR Motorsports team that had nine drivers operate that No. 8 car in 2019. Still, that care logged 23 top-10 finishes.

Hemric will team up again with Justin Allgaier, one of the xfinity Series’ most consistent drivers. Allgaier was unable to hide his excitement after finding out that Hemric would add some consistency to JR Motorsports No. 8 car.

“I think his talent alone is what’s really going to be the big difference-maker,” Allgaier told NASCAR.com. “The understanding of how to be fast week in and week out, how to optimize the race car. He’s very good at that. He’s probably one of the best I’ve been around.”

There is an opening on the xfinity Series for Hemric or Allgaier because three Championship 4 drivers are gone. Tyler Roddick, Cole Custer and Christopher Bell (who will drive the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Toyota) are all moving up to the Cup Series.

The next step for Hemric on the xfinity circuit is to get to Victory Lane. From 2017 to 2018, Hemric was a top four finisher both years, even without a single win. His consistency though earned him enough points for a top finish as he mustered 23 top-fives and 39 top-10s in 66 starts between those two years.

Hemric, one of the nicest guys in racing, finished in 25th place in the Cup Series, but that included just two top-10s in 2019, one of the primary reasons he lost his full-time Cup Series ride.

While that is a disappointing step down for Hemric, he has again found a team that believes in his abilities, a sentiment he echoed in JR Motorsports’ team release announcing his arrival.

“I want to thank Dale, Kelley (Earnhardt Miller) and everyone at JR Motorsports for believing in me,” Hemric said in a team g

release. “For a Kannapolis (N.C.) boy like me, driving for the Earnhardt family is pretty awesome. My goal here is simple — to go win races for JR Motorsports and to help their program any way that I can. I’ve raced against their cars before and I know how they’re capable of running. My focus is on finishing the Cup season out strong, but once the checkered flag flies at Homestead, we’ll set our sights on getting the No. 8 car to Victory Lane early and often next season.”

He continued on Twitter, saying, “Fascinating where this journey called life takes you.”

The 28-year-old, North Carolina native began his racing career at the ripe age of five when he rode go-karts and won 11 races at the 1/5 mile Concord Speedway. Years later, he would take home the largest paycheck in Legends car history when he won at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2010.

Hemric is now married to Pro Series East driver, Kenzie Ruston, who ran from 2013-2015. Together, they established the Daniel Hemric Be the Change Scholarship at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College which gives an annual grant to a student in the field of motorsports, welding or mechanical engineering.

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