Hemric beats Larson to pole for Daytona Xfinity race

Hemric scored his second career-pole in the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevy with a lap of 47.541-seconds.

“It’s incredible to kick the year off like this,” Hemric said. “I’m just proud of our guys and proud of our company. The only thing I’ve ever won at Daytona was a go-kart race so it’s nice to put a notch in my belt at this level.”

Kyle Larson was second followed by Matt Tifft, Joey Logano, Spencer Gallagher, Justin Allgaier, Ryan Truex, Michael Annett, Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Austin Cindric and Elliott Sadler.

Allgaier set the quick pace of 188.115mph, but was bumped Gallagher who was the eighth driver on the track. Gallagher’s dominance was short-lived as Larson bumped his with a speed of 188.980mph.

Logano moved up to second with a lap of 188.253mph but was quickly knocked off by Tifft’s run of 188.917mph. But it was Hemric who topped both session’s and did so as the last driver out in second round with a lap of 189.310mph.

The pole was the sixth for RCR at Daytona in the Xfinity Series and the fourth-consecutive overall.

Round 1

Hemric also set the quick pace for Round 1 of Xfinity Series qualifying with a lap of 186.790mph. Tifft, Logano, Larson, Gallagher, Annett, Allgaier, Truex, Salder, Reddick, Cindric and Elliott all transfered to the second round.

Vinnie Miller was the ninth car on the track and jumped to the top of the speed chart with a lap of 183.614mph . However, ever posting the fastest lap, the rookie spun on the apron as he started his cool down lap.

After one-third of the field had posted times, Jeremy Clements topped Miller with a speed of 184.328mph. Ryan Sieg bumped Clements with a lap of 184.718mph. Miller remained third followed by Brandon Brown, Ryan Ellis, Caesar Bacarella, Jeff Green and Gray Gaulding.

Joe Nemechek’s lap of 185.759mph sent him to P1. Sieg, Alex Labbe, Clements and Garrett Smithley rounded out the top five after half of the field posted times.

Hemric was the 26th driver to post a time (47.672mph) and put the No. 21 Chevy to the top of the chart. Nemechek dropped to second but was quickly bumped by Elliott Sadler’s lap of 187.328mph. Joey Gase was fourth followed by Sieg. Sadler’s JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier moved into P2 with his lap of 187.770mph.

Joey Logano’s lap (188.328mph) was second quick of the 32 drivers making laps. Allgaier, Ryan Truex and Sadler were the top five cars until Kyle Larson posted the third fastest time—47.839-seconds. Matt Tifft jumped to second-quick (188.648mph) of the 37 cars in his Richard Childress Racing debut.

With five drivers remaining, the top 12 were Hemric, Tifft, Logano, Larson, Annett, Truex, Sadler, Cindric and Aric Almirola. Chase Elliott cracked the top 10 as Spencer Gallagher posted the fifth quick speed (187.837mph).

Following violations by the Nos. 3 and 74 teams, NASCAR suspended both crew chiefs as well as Austin Dillon’s car chief. Neither driver was allowed to qualify for the PowerShares QQQ 300.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Time	Gap	Mph
1	21	Daniel Hemric	Chevrolet	47.541		189.310
2	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	47.624	0.083	188.980
3	2	Matt Tifft	Chevrolet	47.640	0.099	188.917
4	22	Joey Logano	Ford	47.808	0.267	188.253
5	23	Spencer Gallagher	Chevrolet	47.839	0.298	188.131
6	7	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	47.843	0.302	188.115
7	11	Ryan Truex	Chevrolet	47.846	0.305	188.103
8	5	Michael Annett	Chevrolet	47.857	0.316	188.060
9	88	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	48.117	0.576	187.044
10	9	Tyler Reddick	Chevrolet	48.143	0.602	186.943
11	60	Austin Cindric	Ford	48.188	0.647	186.768
12	1	Elliott Sadler	Chevrolet	0.000		0.000
13	98	Aric Almirola	Ford	48.242	0.701	186.559
14	20	Christopher Bell	Toyota	48.294	0.753	186.359
15	00	Cole Custer	Ford	48.328	0.787	186.227
16	16	Ryan Reed	Ford	48.410	0.869	185.912
17	15	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet	48.450	0.909	185.759
18	18	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	48.457	0.916	185.732
19	19	Brandon Jones	Toyota	48.459	0.918	185.724
20	35	Joey Gase	Chevrolet	48.594	1.053	185.208
21	28	Dylan Lupton	Ford	48.710	1.169	184.767
22	93	Ryan Sieg	Chevrolet	48.723	1.182	184.718
23	36	Alex Labbé	Chevrolet	48.738	1.197	184.661
24	4	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	48.799	1.258	184.430
25	51	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	48.826	1.285	184.328
26	0	Garrett Smithley	Chevrolet	48.861	1.320	184.196
27	90	Josh Williams	Chevrolet	48.937	1.396	183.910
28	01	Vinnie Miller	Chevrolet	49.016	1.475	183.614
29	24	Kaz Grala	Ford	49.081	1.540	183.370
30	86	Brandon Brown	Chevrolet	49.108	1.567	183.270
31	78	Ryan Ellis	Toyota	49.116	1.575	183.240
32	8	Caesar Bacarella	Toyota	49.224	1.683	182.838
33	38	Jeff Green	Chevrolet	49.227	1.686	182.826
34	52	David Starr	Chevrolet	49.327	1.786	182.456
35	76	Spencer Boyd	Chevrolet	49.505	1.964	181.800
36	66	Timmy Hill	Toyota	49.511	1.970	181.778
37	55	Stephen Leicht	Toyota	50.192	2.651	179.311
38	40	Chad Finchum	Toyota	51.453	3.912	174.917
39	39	J.J. Yeley	Chevrolet	51.660	4.119	174.216
40	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	0.000		0.000