NASCAR: Second straight ‘winless’ championship run?
By Asher Fair
Daniel Hemric won only the Championship 4 race en route to his 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship. Can he do it again in 2022?
In his final race with Joe Gibbs Racing last November, Daniel Hemric earned his first career NASCAR victory at any level. It just so happened that this win came in the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway, and because he was one of the four title-eligible drivers, career win number one also netted him career title number one.
The 31-year-old Kannapolis, North Carolina native moved to Kaulig Racing for the 2022 season, giving him a chance to do what only one driver has done before and win the championship in back-to-back seasons for two different teams.
Hemric still sits at one career victory, though he did manage to qualify for the playoffs in his first season behind the wheel of the #11 Chevrolet, giving him a shot to perhaps perfect a second consecutive “winless” run to the Championship 4.
In fact, in all three of his prior full-time Xfinity Series seasons (2017, 2018, and 2021), Hemric has qualified for the Championship 4 without winning. He finished in fourth place in 2017 and third in 2018 with Richard Childress Racing before winning the 2021 title with Joe Gibbs Racing.
But entering this Saturday afternoon’s Sparks 300 at Talladega Superspeedway, which is the second of three races in the Xfinity Series opening round of the playoffs (round of 12), Hemric sits in 10th place in the standings, eight points below the round of 8 cut line.
While he feels that he can again get to the round of 8 on points, he thinks he’ll probably need to win to get to the Championship 4.
“Selfishly, I want to win to get there, to be honest with you,” Hemric told Beyond the Flag. “But in reality, I think that’s kind of the situation we’re in. I think you can point your way through the first round, but once you get to the second round, with the not-so-stellar regular season we had within this #11 team, I see us having to win, maybe more so than the others.”
But he isn’t ruling out a fourth straight run to the Championship 4 on points alone.
“But man, these races and whatnot can change so quickly, and guys can take 40 and 50-point losses,” he added. “Really all their pre-postseason point buildup, they can lose that in the blink of an eye. I’ve obviously been on the receiving end of that many times, and that’s what got me to the Championship 4 my other three full-time years; all three years, that’s what got me there.
“In the grand scheme of things, you gotta go show up, try to maximize your days and your points and let the cards fall where they are. But I promise you, getting out of that round of 8 and making it to the Championship 4 is an incredible feat that, no matter who makes it, all race teams should be proud that they made it to that point, because once you’re there, you gotta have your best day at the best time.
“One guy is going to do that, that’s it. I was fortunate enough to have that last year, but I think having the opportunity, having to win, and having that momentum is great to lead you into the Championship 4.”
Next. NASCAR makes obvious decision at Talladega. dark
Tune in to USA Network at 3:00 p.m. ET this Saturday, October 1 for the live broadcast of the Sparks 300 from Talladega Superspeedway. Begin a free trial of FuboTV if you haven’t already done so!