MARTINSVILLE, Va. — It had been 1,239 days since Daniel Hemric backflipped off his 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship-winning car, but he still stuck the landing Friday night (March 28) at Martinsville Speedway after scoring his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win in his 55th start.
It was a popular, popular win in the garage area, as congratulations quickly began pouring in online from fellow drivers, former teammates and life-long friends.
LETS GOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! @DanielHemric
— Bubba Wallace (@BubbaWallace) March 29, 2025
Let's gooooo @DanielHemric !!!! So pumped and happy for you brother!!!! Hell yes!
— AJ Allmendinger (@AJDinger) March 29, 2025
Lets go @DanielHemric!!!! So proud of you and happy to see Ruston get to you on the frontstretch!
— Chris Rice (@C_Rice1) March 29, 2025
Let’s gooooooooo @DanielHemric heck yea
— Josh Williams (@Josh6williams) March 29, 2025
In Saturday afternoon’s (March 29) NASCAR Cup Series bullpen sessions, arguably no one was more pumped than AJ Allmendinger, Hemric’s former Xfinity and Cup Series teammate at Kaulig Racing.
“I wish I was [there] because I would have come and tackled him in victory lane,” Allmendinger said. “Daniel’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever had in all of my life.
“… I was jacked up all night honestly, I was so happy I could barely fall asleep. That’s how happy I was for him. There might have been a chance I was almost happier for him than he probably was for himself.”
Two-time Martinsville winner and 2023 Cup champion Ryan Blaney was there to congratulate Hemric on the frontstretch following his celebratory backflip. The two of them go way back, all the way to Legend cars on their journeys up the racing ladder.
“Daniel is a good friend of mine,” Blaney explained in his Saturday press conference. “He and I grew up racing a lot with each other on the Legend car side. We got to spend a lot of weekends on the NASCAR side together in different series and I was happy for him to get the win last night. I was happy his family was there.
“… He’s had a lot of adversity thrown his way during his career, but he’s never given up. He’s always been a gritty guy and always done what he needed to do to be successful, so it’s always refreshing when you see really good guys who have maybe not gotten great chances and have kind of jumped around series go win races and be successful. … He’s fought through a lot, and it’s nice to see it all paid off last night.”
Bubba Wallace, like Blaney, is another long-time friend of Hemric. Like Allmendinger and Blaney, he also praised Hemric for his grit, demeanor and positive attitude in the midst of his congratulations.
“Hemric and I got close when we both got to Cup and we remained close, and so to see all that he’s gone through his journey, it’s incredible how he keeps a demeanor about him that is so positive and so uplifting,” Wallace remarked. “It’s motivation for me because I honestly don’t know if you could meet a nicer guy in the garage.
“I called him at 8:30 a.m. this morning to just talk to for a second, and you can hear it in his voice — the lack of voice that he has — but he was just pumped. So proud for him, proud of him.”
In his winning post-race press conference, Hemric told Frontstretch’s Trey Lyle what it meant to command that level of support and respect from the garage in his return to victory lane. For Hemric, that encouragement doesn’t go unnoticed.
“When it’s all said and done, to have the respect from all your peers when the dust settles, I think that’s all you can ask for.”
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf