On Sunday at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, Daniel Hemric kept his nose out of trouble throughout the entire race, coming home for a fourth place finish.
Going into the race, he admitted that the weekend thus far had been a battle with this year’s event being his first on a road course.
“You may have one good section of the race track, and clearly mess up the other side,” he told SpeedwayMedia.com pre-race. “It’s about putting it together and coming out in one piece. Everybody at NTS Motorsports on the California Clean Power Chevy has given me a great opportunity with a great truck to drive. I just have to do my part to put it all together, and get to the front during the race.”
For Hemric, it marks his second straight top-five, and fifth straight top-10 as he looks to close out his rookie campaign in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
“It’s been up and down, but we’ve definitely hit our stride and taken advantage of situations where we weren’t on our game, and the days we were had some off moments,” he commented of his season. “We’ve been trying to take all that in, and put ourselves in a decent position for the rest of the year.”
The season hasn’t gone this smooth all year, as in the first five events, Hemric only posted one top-10 finish, a 10th at Kansas Speedway. Though since Charlotte in May, it seems he has found his groove with only one finish outside of the top-10 in the last 10 races.
He says the success has come in learning to how to take advantage of the opportunities out there to make the most of a day where they may be off a little bit.
“Earlier in the year when we were having an off-day, we’d get ourselves in trouble and have a DNF or bad finish,” he commented. “Later in the year, just make the most situations that aren’t great and maximize your points to put yourself in a better position down the road.”
With the string of success, it’d certainly be huge for the rookie to close out his 2015 campaign with a win, especially since he isn’t sure whether he will be back next season. Though turning the solid finishes into a win is something Hemric says is all about making their program better.
“We’re really trying to take our program to the next level and thanks to everybody at California Clean Power and NTS for giving us everything to build our team,” he commented. “We just have to put it all together. It’s tough to win races in the series – it’s really tough. These guys – (Matt) Crafton, (Johnny) Sauter – they’ve been doing it a long time. Everything has to go right, but in the same sense, we just have to put ourselves in the right position and have it fall our way.”
