Daniel Hemric

The soon-to-be 28-year-old driver is not such a tender rookie driver as the norm. Hemric has well over 100 starts between the Xfinity Series and Gander Outdoors Truck Series the last four years. That experience culminated in his best season ever last year with 23 Top-10 finishes and a third-place points finish in the Xfinity Series for boss Richard Childress. While his experience in the lower touring divisions of NASCAR is conspicuously missing the victories that seem to earmark drivers for success at the Cup level, Hemric does possess the consistency and performance that indicate strong driving skill. He will take over the No. 31 Chevrolet of the departed Ryan Newman and it will be rebranded the No. 8 Chevrolet in honor of RCR's 50th anniversary this year. A lot of eyes and pressure will be on Hemric, but expectations should be reasonable. He will likely win the 2019 Rookie of the Year, but successes will be measured on a small scale and struggles will be plenty.

Hemric will be back with this race team for a second season of action. He piloted this Chevrolet to seven Top-5 and 16 Top-10 finishes last year, but no victories. The team returns completely intact to help Hemric improve in 2018. The lack of consistency last season is what kept Hemric from challenging for wins. Hopefully, he and crew chief Danny Stockman can solve that puzzle in the upcoming season. The sponsorship, support and funding are rock solid, so Hemric has Richard Childress' vote of confidence to keep racing. We expect some minor improvement from Hemric and this team, but it may be a stretch to expect seeing him in victory lane anytime soon.

The young talent is a defector from the Ford and Brad Keselowski Racing camp of the Camping World Truck Series. Hemric spent the past four seasons (two full-time) in that division of NASCAR sharpening his skills. He signed a contract to drive for Childress in 2017 and compete for Rookie of the Year honors in the Xfinity Series. Hemric takes over the strong No. 21 Chevrolet and will be paired with crew chief, Danny Stockman. The talent this driver has is without question. Hemric nabbed 15 Top-5 and 30 Top-10 finishes over his last 46 starts in the truck series. That was good enough for seventh- and sixth-place finishes in the driver standings the last two years. Even though Hemric has no seat time in the Xfinity car, he should quickly adapt and begin to translate his past success to this division of NASCAR.

Hemric joins Brad Keselowski Racing for 2016. He’ll pilot the strong No. 19 Ford for his second full-time season in the Camping World Truck Series. Last year the young driver raced the No. 14 Chevrolet to four Top-5 and 13 Top-10 finishes, but he joins a much stronger team this season. After finishing an impressive seventh in the final driver standings, he’ll aim much higher this year. Under the guidance of crew chief Doug Randolph, Hemric will look to win his first race in this division of NASCAR and push the Top 5 of the driver standings. While those may be lofty goals, the excellence of the BKR No. 19 team can get him there. What Hemric lacks in experience in these trucks, he’ll make up for with the strength of this team. We look for the 24-year-old driver to make some major steps this season.