**********Daniel Hemric, qualified third for the Sunday NASCAR race, at Chicago’s Chicagoland Speedway.**********
Such is the life of 28 year-old Daniel Hemric, with Basketball in his Blood and Gasoline in his tank, and Daniel is ready to go racing this weekend at the Camping World 400, at Chicago’s Chicagoland Speedway…
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race comes up on Sunday, at 3pm, on NBCSN and on MRN radio…
Daniel Hemric drives the #8 Liberty National Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing, but there is a lot more behind the scenes with Daniel Hemric, as he gases up for Sunday’s race.
Hemric got his start racing go karts at five years old down at the Concord Motor Speedway and he had already won 11 races when it was time to move up to the Bandolero car racing series at age 10…Hemric was already sometimes taking home 100-200 dollars for his success on the track and by age 16, Daniel Hemric was racing the Legends Cars, and he continued to show he could handle the wheel(steering wheel)/wheels(tires)….
The big payday, that eclipsed the old days back when Daniel was winning a hundred bucks here, and 200 bucks there, came when he won a very important Legends Cars race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, and it was so important/big that he took home the first place prize money, of $250,000….
They called that race, The Legends Million at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and that ended up sending the Winner(Hemric) home with the biggest paycheck in Legends car history, that $250,000, and it came with a full field of 33 drivers….
That was back in 2010, when Hemric got the big win and then again, he was really just getting started good, in the auto racing industry….
Hemric told us today, from his bus there in Chicago, that his entire family supported his efforts to get in auto racing/truck racing and that goes all the to his parents, both mom and dad were very supportive, to his uncle who had a background on the racing circuit, to his wife, former K&N Pro Series East driver Kenzie Ruston-Hemric…..
Daniel Hemric carries on a tradition that Carl Edwards was known for in his racing career, and that is Daniel Hemric does a backflip off his car after he wins….We told Hemric today that he does the Backflip if he wins and if his wife Kenzie Ruston-Hemric was winning, he would have to cook her a plate full of flapjacks…Backflip if he wins, Flapjacks, if his wife wins…Daniel said that works for him, as long as they both would be winning….It is worth it, to get the wins…
Hemric’s wife is a former racer for now, but she still serves has Daniel’s personal manager, making sure all of his scheduling is correct, and that Hemric is on his way to the right place at the right time, and she makes sure he has the right foods on his plate, at the right time….
The time was right for Daniel Hemric at Talladega back in late April of this NASCAR season…Daniel picked up his best finish of 2019, ending up in the Top Five, at the Talladega 500…Hemric ends up in fifth place back on Sunday April 28, at the Talladega Superspeedway…..
Currently, Hemric is #24 in the Monster Energy Cup Standings….
Daniel Hemric is battling to be the Rookie of the Year in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, and the 28-year old from Kannapolis, is fighting each weekend to get the most he can out of that Liberty National Chevrolet Camaro, for Richard Childress Racing….
I asked Daniel today what do those three letters mean to him???
RCR, Richard Childress Racing…
Hemric said it means everything in the world to him. RCR is the “Pinnacle of the Sport”…”Richard Childress is my personal boss and treats everyone with respect and he really appreciates the effort his drivers put into their game/race”..
Hemric also said his #8 car is very sentimental to him, since the #8 goes back into the Dale Earnhardt family…Dale Earnhardt Sr. sported the #8 when he first began racing, and we are thinking that #8 goes all the way back to Earnhardt Sr.’s dad Ralph Earnhardt, who ran/raced with the #8 on the side of his car….
Daniel Hemric also leaned on the fact that he’s now driving for RCR/Richard Childress Racing and with the Richard Childress racing family, is where Dale Earnhardt Sr. had arguably the most success in his entire auto racing career….Earnhardt Sr. was tops for Childress Racing and that is what Daniel Hemric aspires to do as well.
Hemric would love to be known as the ‘top dog’/”lead dog” in Richard Childress Racing…..
Daniel Hemric has raced the Go Karts, the Bandolero Cars, the Legends Cars, in 2015 he was on the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, then in 2016, Daniel Hemric hit the NASCAR Truck Series….I asked Daniel today, from his bus in Chicago, if he and William Byron battled back in the Truck Series….
He said they sure did and that in fact, Daniel helped William Byron get into the business…Daniel’s family lent William support and they also helped him find and get a team started and provided any kind of financial assistance and moral support that they could offer to William Byron…”We had some great battles back there on the Truck Circuit and we are still fighting it out today, as we both carry on, in the Monster Energy Series”…
Daniel Hemric, very supportive of William Byron.
Another big question for Daniel Hemric today was, “Who is the toughest competitor you’ve faced since you been racing? Who stands out?”
Without much hesitation, Hemric responded, “Kyle Busch”….”Busch is a hard racer/driver, but he is a fair racer/driver….He makes you work for everything you get out there, on the track.”
Other than driving a race car, Daniel Hemric has a couple of other favorite sports and those would be Golf, and Snowboarding…Hemric said his favorite golf course is at Eagle Point, in Wilmington, N.C. Excellent golf course and he reminded us that they moved Charlotte’s Wells Fargo Championship to Eagle Point, for one year, back in 2017….
(When I asked Daniel why so many NASCAR drivers enjoy playing golf, his response was immediate. “It is the fact that we love to compete, we love the competition, and golf brings out the best of that competitive nature, in all of us….Love golf, and love to compete.”)
I told Hemric from what I have been seeing and observing, there is not too much Snowboarding to be done down in Kannapolis and Concord, so where does he go, to board in the snow??? We just want to know…
Durango, Colorado, that is where you will find the Daniel Hemric Family, when it is time to take to the Snowboarding Trails…..
I also dug into more with Daniel Hemric about the history of NASCAR and asked him if I gave him a Mount Rushmore of Racing, and we had these four on that Mount Rushmore, Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Richard Childress, who would be his #1 of all-time, and Daniel said for what it means to him, it would have to be a tie, with Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Richard Childress, “they mean that much to me”, said Hemric.
The final part of our discussion with Daniel Hemric, as he sat on his bus today just outside the Chicagoland Speedway, in Chicago, Illinois, takes us back to the title of our post/article here….
When contacted by Daniel Hemric’s advance people, I had this strange idea that I had heard this Hemric name before, but it was not from the World of Racing. It was from the World of Basketball.
Hemric, let me see here, Hemric….
That is a name from ACC Basketball History….Hemric, yes Dickie Hemric.
Dickie Hemric was, “The Best There Was, The Best There Is, and The Best There Ever Will Be”, long before Bret Hart came along…..
Dickie Hemric was the ACC Basketball leader in points scored for a career and most rebounds in a career, almost forever….J.J. Redick, from Duke, broke Dickie Hemric’s most points scored for a career record a few years back, and most say that Dickie Hemric’s Most Rebounds in a Career, will never be broken….Tim Duncan, in second place, is 300 behind Dickie Hemric in most rebounds and with all of the One-and Dones, and players leaving early for the NBA, Dickie Hemric’s rebound record could stand for a lifetime.
Dickie Hemric played college basketball for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons and he was Daniel Hemric’s uncle….Dickie Hemric passed away just two years ago, August 3, 2017.
Dickie Hemric, Daniel Hemric’s uncle, and now you have to believe just like me that, Daniel Hemric, he’s got Basketball in his blood….And we know he has gasoline in his tank….
One thing that might have kept Uncle Dickie Hemric moving around in his grave to this day, is the fact that Daniel Hemric, is an admitted basketball fan of the North Carolina Tar Heels….Daniel has some tar on his heels, but he better not let that slow him down, come Sunday at the Chicagoland Speedway, where NASCAR will be running, the Camping World 400.
Daniel Hemric, with Basketball in his blood and Gasoline in his Tank……Best of Luck to Daniel when they drop the Green Flag, on Sunday, in Chicago.
(Also thanks to James Hallas and the team, that got us connected/hooked up with Daniel Hemric, for our interview today, from Chicago.)