NASCAR: 6 drivers to buy into for the 2021 season
By James Dunn
NASCAR Xfinity Series buy: Daniel Hemric
First up for the Xfinity Series is Daniel Hemric. Hemric is finally coming back to full-time racing in 2021 after doing some part-time driving with JR Motorsports, and boy did he deliver.
He finished the season with 12 top 10 finishes, including four top five finishes in a row, in just 21 starts. Seven DNFs is nothing to look the other way at, but just look at what he did when he did finish.
It’s staggering that Hemric was unable to find a full-time ride in the Xfinity Series for 2020, despite finishing in third place in the championship standings in 2018. But even with part-time hours, he finished in 17th place in points last year as the highest part-timer, even beating full-timers Jesse Little and Joe Graf Jr.
This amazing effort got Hemric the opportunity to come to the now disdained #18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, left open by Riley Herbst moving to Stewart-Haas Racing.
I’m not going to put Hemric in the championship conversation just yet; he has yet to find victory lane in the Xfinity Series and even the Truck Series. But if the 2020 season is anything to go by and if his momentum carries forward, you will be looking at one of the greatest comeback stories in the last decade.