No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Supra News and Notes
HEMRIC AT DARLINGTON: Daniel Hemric has one top-five finish and two top-10s in five career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Darlington Raceway. He earned his best finish at the track (fifth) earlier this season after leading 38 laps. Hemric also made one NASCAR Cup Series start at Darlington in 2019.
DAYTONA RECAP: Hemric finished fifth in last weekend’s race at Daytona International Speedway despite being involved in a multi-car accident during stage one and falling off the lead lap at one point. The No. 18 team made multiple pit stops throughout the event to repair the Poppy Bank Toyota Supra and Hemric methodically worked his way through the pack late in the race to claim his ninth top-five finish of the season.
PLAYOFF BOUND: Hemric secured his place in the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs with his top-five finish at Daytona International Speedway. This season marks the third time Hemric has qualified for the Playoffs. In his two previous Playoff appearances, Hemric advanced to the Championship 4 both times.
LOOP DATA: Hemric’s strong season is evident in the Loop Data provided by NASCAR. The 30-year-old driver leads the Xfinity Series in fastest drivers late in a run and ranks in the top five in numerous categories, including top-five finishes, laps led, average finishing position, average running position, driver rating, fastest drivers early in a run, fastest laps run, green flag speed, laps in the top 15, laps run on the lead lap, and speed by segment.
ROGERS’ RESUME: Dave Rogers has enjoyed success at Darlington Raceway in the Cup Series and the Xfinity Series. He guided his teams to three consecutive Xfinity Series wins at the track from 2006-2008. In seven Xfinity Series starts at Darlington, Rogers’ teams have earned five top-five finishes and led 245 laps. Despite never reaching victory lane in Cup Series competition at Darlington, Rogers’ teams claimed a pair of top-five finishes, five top-10s and 473 laps led in eight races.
POPPY BANK: Poppy Bank will be featured as the primary sponsor of the No. 18 Supra in Saturday’s race at Darlington Raceway. Poppy Bank is a 5-star rated organization and is recognized as one of the strongest financial institutions in the country. Since opening its first branch in 2005, Poppy Bank has grown to over $3 Billion in assets with branches across the San Francisco Bay Area, Roseville, and Southern California.
JGR AT DARLINGTON: Joe Gibbs Racing owns 11 Xfinity Series victories at Darlington Raceway. Overall, the organization has racked up 35 top-five finishes, 47 top-10s and 1,242 laps led in 70 combined starts at the Track Too Tough to Tame. Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Brandon Jones, Bobby Labonte, Joey Logano and Tony Stewart have all driven JGR entries to victory lane at the track.
FIRST FOR JGR: Bobby Labonte picked up Joe Gibbs Racing’s first Xfinity Series win at Darlington Raceway in 1998. That day, Labonte started ninth and led the final 14 laps to earn the first of team’s 182 wins.
TUNE IN: Coverage of this weekend’s Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway is scheduled for Saturday, September 4, at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Daniel Hemric, Driver of the No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Supra
Talk about going back to Darlington where you ran so well earlier this season…
“Darlington is a place that I love and thought we had a really good shot to win at and then we had a flat left-rear tire in stage two in the spring race. I’m pumped up to get back down there. Obviously, it’s going to be a good bit hotter and slicker this time and they’ve repaved that section of turn two, so that will be different. Regardless, I have all the confidence in the world in Dave (Rogers, crew chief) and my team that we’ll have another great Poppy Bank Supra.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
