Daniel Hemric celebrates with a backflip as he earns…

Daniel Hemric's NASCAR career has taken him in several different directions across all three National divisions. He originally made it to the Cup Series in 2019 before moving back down to the Xfinity Series where he became a champion in 2021. In 2024, he was back full time in the Cup Series with a different team, but a difficult season saw him lose his ride in NASCAR's top division once more. He then found a new home in the Truck Series for 2025, making his first appearance driving a NASCAR Truck in nearly seven years.

And, it didn't take him long to find some success, reaching Victory Lane in the fifth race of the year at Martinsville Speedway. And like Carl Edwards famously did after every win, the 34-year-old celebrated by doing a backflip off the roof of his winning machine.

Daniel Hemric, McAnally-Hilgemann Racing (Photo by: Logan Riely / Getty Images)

"I wanted to race Tyler [Ankrum, teammate] -- obviously we got a long season ahead, so I wanted to race him as clean as I could," said Hemric. "I've walked out of here twice thinking there's a missing spot in my dining room for a clock so it's really cool to finally get one here ... Huge congrats and thanks to everyone at MHR and [team owners] Bill McAnally and Bill Hilgemann for this opportunity. I said I wanted to come back here, not to get back anywhere, but just come back here to win. Stay humble. Just enjoy this journey. I'm so thankful for the path I'm on."

Hemric also takes home an extra $50,000 for winning one of the races that fall under the 'Triple Truck Challenge' program.

A war of attrition

Like his career, Hemric's path to victory was unconventional. With 35 laps to go, he was running back in sixth place while Corey Heim dominated the event. However, after leading a race-high 149 laps, Heim was about to be removed from the picture after contact with Kaden Honeycutt cut down his left-rear tire, sending him spinning.

Honeycutt inherited the lead, searching for his first victory in the Truck Series while Hemric inched up into fourth. Reigning Truck Series champion Ty Majeski was trying to snatch the lead away from Honeycutt when he entered Turn 1 a bit too hot, wheel-hopping and taken out both of the race leaders.

The leaders make contact and go around!! 😱 pic.twitter.com/o0G20JR19y
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) March 29, 2025

That put Tyler Ankrum into the lead with Hemric -- his teammate -- directly behind him. The McAnally-Hilgemann Racing proceeded to battle it out for the race win with Hemric nudging his teammate up the track with five laps to go, taking the lead and ultimately the race win.

Hemric's first Truck Series victory comes in his 55th start, and this is also his first win in any NASCAR division since winning the 2021 Xfinity Series championship by winning the finale at Phoenix over three years ago.

Ankrum ended up finishing second, Jake Garcia third, Chandler Smith fourth, and Ben Rhodes fifth. Heim rebounded to sixth, Andres Perez seventh, Rajah Caruth eighth, Stewart Friesen ninth, and Lawless Alan tenth.