Its always nice when you can roll into town and pick up your first NASCAR victory. That victory is a little sweater when at the same time you are also winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship.
After 207 career starts in NASCAR without a win, Daniel Hemric made sure to get his first when it counted most, in the championship race at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday night.
On the final lap, heading into the final turn, Hemric took advantage of his last opportunity in the #18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to pull aside of Austin Cindric and after some beating and banging. move ahead of Cindric to take the win and the championship. This was the first of both for Hemric.
“I blacked out, just knew I had to be the first one to the line," Hemric said about the final two laps. “We were not going to be denied.”
“Unbelievable,” Hemric told NBC Sports’ Rutledge Wood. “These guys right here have asked me all year, ‘How bad do you want it?’ We gave away one here in the spring. I felt like we had to give one up last week to get here. We were not going to be denied. … People doubted me. I would do it all over again for a night like this.“
This was the last ride in the Joe Gibbs Toyota for Hemric before moving to Kaulig Racing's Chevrolet in 2022.
Final Results:
1. Daniel Hemric
2. Austin Cindric
3. Harrison Burton
4. Riley Herbst
5. Justin Haley
6. John Hunter Nemechek
7. Brandon Jones
8. Brett Moffitt
9. Justin Allgaier
10. Sheldon Creed
11. Michael Annett
12. Noah Gragson
13. Sam Mayer
14. AJ Allmendinger
15. Dylan Lupton
16. Blaine Perkins
17. Ryan Sieg
18. Jeremy Clements
19. Myatt Snider
20. Brandon Brown
21. David Starr
22. JJ Yeley
23. Jeb Burton
24. Tommy Joe Martins
25. Sage Karam
26. Kyle Weatherman
27. Kyle Sieg
28. Ryan Vargas
29. Matt Mills
30. Alex Labbe
31. Bayley Currey
32. Josh Williams
33. Jade Buford
34. Stefan Parsons
35. Joe Graf Jr
36. Jeffrey Earnhardt
Justin Nguyen from the checkered flag shares his take:
The Centre Daily Times Shares Jenna Fryer's recap for the AP:
NASCAR.com has a recap:
Dustin Long from NBC Sports shares his recap of the night:
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