Photo credit: Nigel Kinrade Photography

Daniel Hemric scores career-first Truck Series win


For the first time since the 2021 season finale, Daniel Hemric was able to do a backflip after a national NASCAR series race.

The veteran driver finally returned to victory lane by scoring his first-ever Truck Series win at Martinsville Speedway in what was his 55th career start.

MORE: Hemric wins, full results

This was also his first win since the 2021 Xfinity Series race at Phoenix Raceway that secured his championship. As a bonus, the McAnally-Hilgemann Racing driver won the Triple Truck Challenge, which secured $50,000.

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Hemric was not the dominant driver on Friday night. That designation belonged to Corey Heim, who started from the pole and swept the first two stages. Heim led a career-high 149 laps but ultimately spun and brought out the caution after contact with Kaden Honeycutt cut his tire.

Heim still managed to deliver a sixth-place finish after heading down pit road for fresh tires, which showed the speed of his No. 11 Toyota Tundra.

Honeycutt and Ty Majeski began to battle for the win after the subsequent restart, but they both crashed after Majeski wheel-hopped and lost control. This moved Tyler Ankrum into the lead for what would be the final restart.

The McAnally-Hilgemann Racing driver took the inside row for the restart while Hemric, his teammate, lined up just behind. Once the green flag waved, Ankrum took off and tried to build up enough of a lead to secure his first win since 2019.

These efforts were unsuccessful as Hemric chased his teammate down and got on his bumper. He took the lead cleanly and then built up a half-second advantage.

The race remained green long enough for Hemric to take both the white and checkered flags. He then celebrated by climbing onto the roof of his No. 19 Chevrolet Silverado and doing his backflip.

A fitting time for his win, considering that he told Fox Sports he had recently practiced this move in his backyard to see if he could still pull it off.

"I guess the old guy's still got it," Hemric joked after the race.