It’s one of the first things you learn in NASCAR: never, ever underestimate a rival, especially a guy who has won six races already this year, as well as another six last year.
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That was the mistake Daniel Hemric made in Friday’s NASCAR Truck Series Mission 176 at The Glen race at Watkins Glen International. Even though Corey Heim has been winning practically everything in sight, Hemric still thought he was the better road course racer coming into the event.
Technically, Hemric was right, as he earned a Trucks road course career-best runner-up finish in Friday’s race at WGI. But guess who won? Yep, it was Heim, that’s who.
And what’s more, it was Heim’s fourth road course win, and sixth overall, thus far this year. However, it wasn’t easy. Heim needed not one overtime, not two overtimes, but three overtime sessions to grab the checkered flag.
“(Heim) did a real good job and I didn’t…I undervalued his potential,” a disappointed Hemric said afterward. “I just thought we were still going to be in the mix there.
“I just thought he had a bad angle into (turn) 11 and thought I’d be able to turn underneath him with the tire management and I was just completely blown away with the amount of potential he still had. Congrats to him and those guys.”
It was Hemric’s best finish ever on a road course in his Trucks career and adds to the win he had earlier this year at Martinsville.
“When you’re that close and you feel like you’ve got that much of an advantage, you want to seal the deal,” Hemric said. “So, we’re disappointed that we didn’t, but in the moment, I made the best decision we could.”
Hemric Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda Done Something Different
The best decision was how Hemric raced Heim on the final lap.
“I thought we were going to race it out through (turn) 11, and I honestly just felt like I undervalued how much potential he still had left in his truck with his oldest tires. He had the amount of speed he carried on entry to 11, he just cleared me and drove off to the checkered flag.
“In a perfect world, I probably would have raced him to his door there just to see if I could have (raced) him to the flag stand. But we came a long way throughout the day.”
Still, Friday’s finish is something that’s going to stick with Hemric.
“I’m going to replay that last couple (laps) for a while,” he said. “I’ve got six days until the next race, so this one is going to be on my mind until then.”
