Daniel Hemric, who drove Super Late Models before getting his shot in NASCAR, has the opportunity to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship due to his experience in racing and Kyle Busch believing in him.

During NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Media Day, Hemric spoke to the media about how important experience and consistency are going to be for these next seven weeks.

“Racing experience is going to play off for anybody and everyone who’s been a part of having to race under similar circumstances as this throughout parts of their career,” Hemric said. “You’re trying to stack your best couple of weeks together, week after week. I feel like it’s going to be crucial for everybody who’s experienced stuff like that.”

Hemric, who is one of three Bill McAnally Racing drivers to make the Chase, enters Bristol eighth in points, 60 points behind leader Layne Riggs.
Looking ahead to Bristol Motor Speedway, Hemric thinks that survival will be the name of the game. “I think I expect you to see a lot of intensity, but a lot of, hopefully, the experienced racers understand the outcome of live to fight the next corner, the next lap, the next race kind of mentality. Bristol is tough to manage on its own with what we’ve already seen.”

During the Chase run, Hemric will sport a special paint scheme at Charlotte Motor Speedway honoring Kyle Busch. Hemric was teammates with Busch in 2021 in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.

Hemric recalled how important Busch was for his career. “Kyle specifically went out of his way for me, time and time again. There was not a time that I texted Kyle, called Kyle, battled with Kyle, had conversations post-race, that he was there for me.”

“I was a short track guy, Super Late Model racing. I was probably going to do that the rest of my racing career, to be honest with y’all,” Hemric said. “I was no young buck. I was in my mid-20s, 23-24 years old. Kyle would come in the Super Late Model race … and get to know him on some level at that point when I had opportunities, investors and partners start to come into my life and want to give me opportunities, but really not understand how or where to go. Kyle was a guy who I could call and get direction from, and next thing you know, he was picking the phone up year after year, calling and vouching for partners and people and teams to help and continue to give me shots.”

These early opportunities that Busch gave could pay off for Hemric with a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title.