On humble ground
- Updated: October 6, 2016
Truck Series contender Hemric rides hard road to success; looking to stay alive in Chase, has full-time Xfinity ride with Childress next year
Truck Series contender Daniel Hemric squeezes into the go-cart that started it all for him at age 5.
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
Life is pretty good for Camping World Truck Series driver Daniel Hemric these days.
He’s one of eight drivers in the hunt for the series championship – in just his second full year in the series — although some bad luck in the first Chase race at New Hampshire has him on the bubble for advancing entering the fred’s 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.
He’s hitching rides across the country in sponsors’ corporate jets.
He’s already got a sweet full-time deal to drive for Richard Childress Racing in the Xfinity Series next year. And he’s getting married.
But it wasn’t always that way for the 25-year-old North Carolinian who has been racing ever since he buckled into a go-cart at age 5. There were times growing up when a bowl of Ramen noodles was the big meal of the day and he raced for the checkered flag some weeks just to pay the bills from the week before.
“Honestly, growing up, I didn’t know any different,” Hemric said Thursday during a promotional appearance in Anniston for the fred’s 250 Oct. 22. “The way we were living, I thought life was normal. I thought everybody was eating Ramen noodles at night.
“As you get older and keep pursuing this, you think a lot of people made a lot of different sacrifices — especially family — to make all this stuff work, especially in the earlier years. So, to be able to reach this point of my career, even if it all ended today, I feel everybody who had a helping hand was instrumental and the only reason I am here today.”
It’s those “trials and tests” of the early years he admits that make it “very easy” to stay focused on the current season and not look ahead to the opportunity he has at Childress next year. When you’re trying to survive week to week looking ahead is a luxury that just can’t be afforded.
“You had to stay current, in the moment of performing now and tomorrow will take care of itself,” he said. “Yeah, my name is on the contract for next year, but I don’t feel like I deserve that ride if I can’t go out and do my job this week, next week and the week after that leading up to next year.”
If Hemric ever needs a reminder of the lean times and all that it took to get where he is, all he has to do is walk into his Mooresville, N.C., garage and look at the Christmas present his dad gave him last year. It was the first golf cart he ever drove. His dad found it and bought it back for about $400 more than he sold it for to a neighbor’s kid who drove it about three times.
The machine looked like it had been parked for 19 years, too. Chassis rusted. Seat soiled and ripped. Engine shot to well. It couldn’t have looked more beautiful.
“To look at that versus the magnitude of what I get to drive now, that’s a really cool deal to be able to reminisce upon and have that to look at every day to remind me where I’ve come from,” he said.
The piece he is driving for Brad Keselowski Racing has been pretty good. He hasn’t taken it to Victory Lane yet, but he’s been close. He finished second in the Truck Series regular-season standings, second (in overtime) in the race that determined the Chase field and second last week at Las Vegas, nosed out for the win by teammate Tyler Reddick who isn’t in the Chase.
He’s currently tied for seventh in the eight-man Chase with John Hunter Nemechek, 43 points behind leader William Byron and 15 out of sixth. Two drivers will be eliminated after Talladega.
A win in the fred’s would guarantee Hemric a shot at the title. A high finish with some help would keep him alive, but it almost becomes a must-win to advance. He fell onto the bubble with a 28th-place finish in the first Chase race after a left-rear tire came apart and got tangled in the wheel assembly.
“We’re definitely not comfortable,” he said. “Winning would make everybody be able to sleep a lot easier afterwards.”
Daniel Hemric is currently tied for seventh in the Camping World Truck Series Chase; a win at Talladega Oct. 22 would guarantee him a shot at the title. On the cover, the go-cart Hemric drove as a 5-year-old fronts his current Truck Series ride; team owner Brad Keselowski’s Cup car is along the back wall.
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