Special from 51sports.com

CONCORD, NC (January 30, 2012) – Daniel Hemric’s 21^st birthday weekend ended on a strong note with a third-place finish in the SpeedFest Rheem 150 JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour event at Watermelon Capital Speedway on January 29^th. Hemric, driving Richard Clarke’s number-54 machine out of the Jeff Fultz Racing stable, started on the outside pole and never fell far from the top-five before making a bold last-lap pass for third as the checkered flag waved.

"It was a real exciting race," said Hemric, of Kannapolis, North Carolina. "All in all I have to thank Scott Neal for all his hard work. He’s a very talented crew chief. Big thanks to Richard Clarke for letting me run his car and to Hoyt Demis, Darren Ruston and everyone else for all their help this weekend. I wouldn’t have been out here without them."

Hemric, who celebrated his 21^st birthday on Friday, battled with 19-time Late Model winner in 2011 Bubba Pollard, defending Snowball Derby winner and Hendrick Motorsports development driver Chase Elliott and more short track talents from across the country in the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour portion of Speedfest 2012 weekend. While Hemric put himself in position for a strong finish towards the end of the race, a wild finish to the Rheem 150 opened the door for a podium spot at the checkered flag.

After Hemric and the other leaders started the final lap of the race, several cars near the back of the pack spun in turn four of the Cordele, Georgia track. Series rules indicate that once the leaders have taken the white flag, they are to race back to the checkered flag. Without a stoppage in the action due to the spin, Hemric and the other frontrunners had to dodge the spun cars as they came to the finish. It was in that wild end to the race that Hemric was able to gain an additional spot in the finishing order.

"I know all the fans here in Cordele really enjoyed the finish of that one," said Hemric. "It got pretty hectic there on the white flag lap. I heard, ‘Spin on the front stretch…race back to the checkers.’ It got a little hairy there off of turn four, but I was able to get by Bubba (Pollard) coming to the checkers. Third is a pretty good run for us. I’m happy with it."

With a podium finish under his belt in his first short track race of the 2012 season, Hemric is now setting his sights on his NASCAR Modified efforts with Hillbilly Racing. Hemric will kick off the new season in the number-79 Modified during the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway. The nine-night short track event kicks off on Friday, February 17^th.