The early stages of the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season have not commenced with an ideal start for Daniel Hemric and the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing (MHR) Chevrolet Silverado RST team.
A year ago at this time, Hemric, who returned to full-time Truck competition with MHR before the 2025 season, was third in the driver’s standings. He also had a victory at Martinsville Speedway, four top-five results, six top-10 results, an average-finishing result of 7.78 and a guaranteed berth to the Playoffs all but solidified.
Flashforward to this season, Hemric, who remained at MHR for a second Truck campaign, had notched three top-10 results through seven scheduled events. However, he was mired in 13th place in the standings. In addition, his average finishing result was 17.1. He had three results of 24th or worse entering this past weekend’s event at Watkins Glen International.
During The Glen, Hemric maximized an opportunity that commenced with a strong third-place qualifying result towards a strong performance during the main event. After winning the first stage period and navigating his way back towards the front after pitting before the second stage’s conclusion, Hemric then took advantage of pitting under caution with 13 laps remaining to have enough fuel to reach the event’s conclusion. The late decision to pit paid off for Hemric and the No. 19 MHR Chevrolet team, with the driver persevering through four restarts, including an overtime shootout, and three ensuing cautions for on-track chaos to settle in fourth place for his first top-five result of the 2026 season.
Hemric’s fourth-place result boosted the 2021 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion from Kannapolis, North Carolina, up three spots from 13th to 10th in the standings. As a result, he is seven points above the top-10 cutline to be Chase eligible as the series’ season is down to its final 10-race stretch before the Chase commences. He also improved his average-finishing result to 15.5, tallied his top-10 total results to four and led his first five laps of this season en route to the first stage victory at The Glen.
Despite falling three spots shy of notching his second series victory at The Glen, Hemric took the positives, which included the points and result, gained from this past weekend, as he strives to regain momentum throughout the remainder of this year’s Truck season.
“It was good to just have a good day,” Hemric said after The Glen on FS1. “I feel like we maximized our day in all forms. [I] Just appreciate everyone sticking with us in this No. 19 group. Appreciate [crew chief] Kevin Bellicourt and his leadership. We’ve had a tough go at it here for the No. 19 group since kicking this season off. Just really proud to have a good day and look forward to continuing this forward.”
Daniel Hemric’s 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season continues with the upcoming ECOSAVE 200 at Dover Motor Speedway in Dover, Delaware. While the Truck Series has not competed at Dover in nearly six seasons, Hemric previously competed there in the Truck circuit in 2015 and 2016, finishing fourth and ninth, respectively. He has also made six O’Reilly starts and three Cup starts at Dover, where he has notched a combined five top-10 results between the latter two series.
The 2026 ECOSAVE 200 at Dover Motor Speedway is scheduled to occur on Friday, May 15, at 5 p.m. ET on FS1, NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM.
