HAMPTON, Ga.: Entering Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Daniel Hemric approached the RAPTOR King of Tough 250 with optimism, especially since he knew that the fifth race of the season would entail no practice for his Kaulig Racing team.
After back-to-back top-10 finishes at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway and Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway, Hemric eyed mounting his first top-five of the season aboard his No. 11 Chevrolet Camaro.
The lone track time of the weekend – two rounds of qualifying was washed out on Friday afternoon – setting the field by the metrics provided by NASCAR and lining up the No. 11 Chevrolet Accessories Chevrolet Camaro in the 11th starting position.
Eyeing his second career Xfinity Series victory, Hemric fought through a caution-filled Stage 1 to earn stage points with an eighth—place result.
During the routine pit stop, Hemric was flagged for having too many crew members over the wall, sending the No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro to the rear of the field.
Methodically, Hemric began to march his way forward but when Connor Mosack spun at Lap 70, Hemric would be collected in the incident – causing damage to his race car.
Diligent work by the Welcome, N.C.-based team allowed them to repair the nose of his automobile and launch another charge from the back of the field to the front.
A caution-happy event continued to briefly stall Hemric’s progress but by the end of Stage 2, Hemric was credited with 17th.
Throwing strategy into the mix, Hemric would stay out at the stage break – and allow him to move up rapidly through the field to fourth for the impending restart.
Despite the damage to his vehicle, Hemric would maintain his space safely inside the top-10 and make his final pit stop of the race for a splash of Sunoco gas following the Lap 118 caution.
A caution in the closing laps of the first of two Xfinity Series races from the 1.5-mile speedway this season would put Hemric in great position to score his first Xfinity win since 2021.
For the green-white-checkered finish, Hemric chose the bottom lane putting him on the front-row alongside Austin Hill. The momentum of the bottom lane briefly stalled sliding Hemric back to third place behind Hill and Parker Kligerman.
Taking the white flag in third place, Hemric maintained tucked onto the rear bumper of Kligerman’s Chevrolet until the exit of Turn 4.
Hemric and Kligerman made contact battling for second which ultimately sent Kligerman’s No. 48 Chevrolet spinning on the frontstretch – with Hemric crossing the start – finish line in second.
The performance was Hemric’s first top-five finish since finishing fourth at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway last October.
“We had so much damage once we lost track position with the penalty,” Hemric said after the race. “After that it was a grind all night long with the Chevy accessories Kaulig Racing Camaro.”
Hemric credited the strategy call by crew chief Jason Trinchere for putting him back into contention.
“Great job on pit road, took fuel only, gave us track position back,” Hemric added. “It wasn’t quite as fast the Xfinity 10XG but close. This sucks. Nobody wants to be second.”
With his third consecutive top-10 finish in a row, Hemric exits Atlanta 10th in the Xfinity Series championship standings, 103 markers in the arrears to points leader Hill.
The Xfinity Series returns to action on March 25, 2023, for their first road course of the season at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas for the Pit Boss 250 presented by USA Today.
Follow Grace Krenrich on Twitter @grace3140 or email [email protected]
