Daniel Hemric got the bad news on Monday. Richard Childress Racing declined to pick up his option for the 2020 season.
After one year in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, Hemric is looking for a new ride—and he hopes he can find one with a proven record of winning races.
“I just want to race. I said to one of my social posts on the way here that the best thing for the soul is to get back into a race car.”
Given the level of support and the interest of potential owners after the announcement of his release, Hemric should be able to do just that.
“I’m just thankful that I’ve had opportunities already come up and people reach out to contact me about driving their race cars,” said Hemric, who was third fastest in final practice for Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “It makes you know that you’re desired. That’s from Trucks, to Xfinity, to Cup. I don’t care what it is, I’m going to do it and do it at a high level and put myself in a position to win races.
“People always talk about not winning races, hasn’t won a NASCAR race. On the flip side of that, I’ve said time and time again, you can go back to any interview I’ve ever done, I feel like I’ve always been a part of a build process. I’ve always been coming into race teams that need the work and as a driver, I’ve always had to work on myself as well. I kind of thrive under that.”
But at this point in his career, the 27-year-old from Kannapolis, N.C., hopes he can catch on with a team that has an established recent track record. He has nine more races in the No. 8 RCR Chevrolet to state his case.
“There’s no better way to go out and change the way you feel then to perform,” Hemric said. “We’re coming back here for the second time and all of us know – I’m no different than anybody else. We’re all out here fighting every single week for your job.
“It just so happens that everybody knows I’m out of mine.”
He starts 22nd Saturday night.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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