ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — A well-timed restart carried Daniel Hemric to his second NASCAR XFINITY Series stage win of the season during the second stint of Sunday’s Johnsonville 180 at Road America.
Hemric led the final four laps of Stage 2 after passing Elliott Sadler on a restart, scoring his first stage win since Bristol Motor Speedway in April.
Following pit stops and a speeding penalty for Stage 1 winner James Davison, racing resumed with eight laps to go in the second stint, with Sadler and Brennan Poole leading the field back to full song after making their pit stops midway through the first stage.
As Daniel Hemric tried to take Turn 1 three-wide inside of Poole, Sadler soared around Poole’s outside in the right-hander to assume the lead, leaving Poole to deal with both Hemric and Ben Kennedy before he established himself firmly in the runner-up spot.
Full green conditions would only last until lap 14, when the right-rear tire carcass from Ryan Sieg’s No. 39 landed on course and forced a full-course yellow for debris. That slowdown saw former Road America winner Brendan Gaughan hit the pit lane, while Sadler was the control car for a restart with four to go before the stage break.
Just after the restart, Hemric made his stage-winning move, while a hornet’s nest behind him resulted in two separate incidents to end the stage.
Ryan Reed overcooked the entrance to Turn 1 in a four-car scramble for second with two to go in the stage, and then Ross Chastain hooked Justin Marks just before Turn 6, collecting James Davison and Austin Cindric in the process.
None of that was of any consequence to Hemric, however, who cruised to the stage win over Kennedy, Sadler, Justin Allgaier and J.J. Yeley.
Matt Tifft, Jeremy Clements, Brendan Gaughan, Casey Mears and Blake Koch completed the points scoring drivers in the top 10.
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network.
Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.
The 23-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
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