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Veteran NASCAR spotter and media personality Brett Griffin recently shared his admiration for Daniel Hemric on social media after his win at Blue Ridge 200 at Martinsville. This was the first victory for the 34-year-old driver in his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career.
Hemric drove the #19 Chevrolet Silverado RST for McAnally Hilgemann Racing and capitalized on late-race wrecks to win the race. He finished 0.544s ahead of teammate Tyler Ankrum, which saw McAnally Hilgemann Racing end up a 1-2 finish at Martinsville Speedway.
The NASCAR community was quick to laud the performance of the #19 MHR driver, who clinched his maiden truck series win. Griffin is a veteran NASCAR spotter and has worked with drivers like Clint Bowyer and Justin Haley. He is a widely regarded figure in the racing world, and his praise for Daniel Hemric carried special weight as he wrote on X:
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"Congrats to @DanielHemric and his fam. He’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. And he’s still got the backflip."
He posted this with a video of Hemric carrying out his post-race celebrations. He did his iconic backflip from the top of the #19 Silverado, replicating his 2021 Xfinity Series win celebrations before taking the chequered flag around the victory lane.
Daniel Hemric started the race in the third row but stayed behind leader Corey Heim for most of the race. Heim led 149 laps out of the 200 laps in the race, but contact with Kaden Honeycutt on Lap 166 spun him toward the barriers and took him out of contention. Hemric was outside the top ten at the time but restarted at five on the green flag.
Honeycutt maintained his lead for the next ten laps but wrecked with Ty Majeski on Lap 187, which opened up the lead for the McAnally Hilgemann Racing teammates to finish 1-2.
Daniel Hemric's teammate 'happy' despite finishing second
Daniel Hemric and Tyler Ankrum battled hard for the lead in the last 13 laps of the Boys and Girls Club of the Blue Ridge 200. Hemric made a late race comeback and held off his MHR teammate to take the lead with four laps to go. However, the loss to Hemric did not frustrate Ankrum as he said via Frontstretch (0:53 onwards):
"Happy for Daniel, for sure. We raced really hard but relatively clean all night long. It's not like he went down there and dumped me. He did it right, and that's honestly how you make a pass at Martinsville. You got to doink them."
Ankrum also acknowledged the clean driving in his battle for the win during the final stretch of the race. Ankrum was leading after the wreck on Lap 187, but Hemric bumped his rear and went past him on Lap 196. He also praised the team for their performance in the race and remained positive for the next race.
"Proud of the team for working hard all night long. Kept our heads in it the whole time and passed a lot of trucks... So, happy for everyone at MHR. I think this is our very first 1-2 finish for our organization, so we are going to go try and win Bristol," he added. (0:42 onwards)
Hemric currently stands fourth in the 2025 Truck Series standings with 175 points, two places ahead of Ankrum with 164 points. The win also came with a bonus of $50,000 for the Triple Truck Challenge that added to Daniel Hemric's determination in his long NASCAR career.
