Southern Super Series

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Daniel Hemric Completes Weekend Sweep in Mobile Thriller

Hemric and John Hunter Nemechek Swap Lead Numerous Times in Closing Laps

Just a night after inheriting his first-ever Southern Super Series presented by Sunoco victory in the tech shed, Daniel Hemric earned one the hard way Saturday night.

Hemric, of Kannapolis, North Carolina, swapped the lead with 15-year-old John Hunter Nemechek numerous times in the closing laps of Saturday night's The Great Race 125 presented by Five Star Race Car Bodies at Alabama's Mobile International Speedway. Nemechek and Hemric dueled side-by-side, both racing hard and clean, before Hemric pulled away on the final lap to score his second Southern Super Series victory of the weekend.

Friday night, Hemric inherited his first series win at Florida's Five Flags Speedway when Augie Grill was disqualified in post-race technical inspection. He left Five Flags hungry to win one on the track, one that came just a night later at Mobile.

"Yesterday, we may not have deserved it, but today I can promise you we did," said Hemric. "That's all I had. The whole team never gave up. I cannot thank (team owners) Jake and Deanna Carswell enough for believing in me and the whole team for having faith. That's the team motto. Never give up."

Bubba Pollard was the class of the field for much of the 125-lap event, but blew an engine while leading with 16 laps remaining. Nemechek inherited the lead, but lost it to Hemric on a late restart. From there, Nemechek and Hemric swapped the lead and ran side-by-side for the final 10 laps until Hemric pulled away on the last circuit.

"It's really emotional," added Hemric. "It's one of the biggest wins of my career. These are the best people to race against, these guys in the deep south. They don't mess around. They've been doing this a long time. It took us a couple races to get into the habits of what it took and what the tires like and what the series liked. Nobody ever gave up. It feels good to be in victory lane, holding the checkered flag and to do a back flip (Hemric's trademark victory lane celebration) down here in the deep south."

Hemric and Nemechek left the crowd at Mobile amazed with the art of hard, yet clean, racing for a win.

"I can't speak for it, but I know the fans had a great show," said Hemric. "I don't think I ever got to take a breath. I'm pretty sure the brain cells went out the window, driving our hearts out. It was awesome racing with him, racing clean. We barely touched maybe once or twice and we changed the lead at least 10 times. He's an awesome racer and he has a really bright future."

Nemechek finished second to Hemric a night after placing third at Five Flags.

"It was fun, it was frustrating and it was intense all at the same time," said Nemechek. I messed up on that last restart and (Hemric) got out in front of us. I got back up to him, but I used up my tires trying to get back by him. It seemed like he had a little bit better tires than I did at the end. We raced hard, we raced clean and we earned respect for each other, and that's what matters."

Chris Davidson crossed beneath the checkered flag in third, but was disqualified in post-race technical inspection for unapproved fuel. That moved Hunter Robbins up to third in the official finish. Texan Casey Smith was fourth and Oklahoman Donnie Wilson was fifth.

The next race for the Southern Super Series presented by Sunoco comes on Thursday, July 4 with the running of the Slack Auto Parts World Crown 300 at Jefferson, Georgia's Gresham Motorsports Park. For more details on this event, visit www.southernsuperseries.com and www.racegmp.com.

For more information on the Southern Super Series, visit SouthernSuperSeries.com. The Facebook page for the Southern Super Series is located at www.facebook.com/southernsuperseries and on Twitter it’s @SoSuperSeries. For advertising or sponsorship questions, please contact the track representatives. For media inquiries, please contact Matt Kentfield at 51 Sports via matt@51sports.net.

June 22, 2013

SOUTHERN SUPER SERIES PRESENTED BY SUNOCO

THE GREAT RACE 125 PRESENTED BY FIVE STAR RACE CAR BODIES

Mobile International Speedway

June 22, 2013

Official Results

Pos

No.

Driver

Daniel Hemric

John Hunter Nemechek

Hunter Robbins

Casey Smith

Donnie Wilson

DJ VanderLey

Mason Massey

Dennis Schoenfeld

Mike Garvey

Chet Morrison

Nathan Davis

Allen Karnes

Roger Reuse

Bubba Pollard

Logan Boyett

Bobby Knox, Jr.

Josh Bragg

Rusty Sanford

Laps

125

124

123

122

109