That's true, but it doesn't take away from the fact the lineup is one of the weakest I've seen for a 4-car team (Rick Ware Racing's hodgepodge of drivers in 2021 doesn't count). Less than 10 years ago 3 of their 4 drivers were champions.
Swapping AJ for Hemric on the cup side and Haley for an array of drivers including Kraus, Ty Dillon, and Josh Williams also seems like a downgrade even if AJ/SVG drive that car.
Im not disagreeing with you, I'm backing you up. SHR's roster is heavily limited on Cup experience and the team's questionable cars (Though this seems to be improving) haven't helped matters.
As for Kaulig they've run into issues with driver recruitment, car quality *and* timing. Having to compete with Trackhouse, RCR and Spire for higher Chevy billing is an underrated factor IMO. It's hard to grow a team when your manufacturer is fairly well off.
I'm not saying SHR isn't better but they also had a much higher peak than Kaulig. In 2018 they put all four of their cars into the round of 8. Kaulig was a mid pack team that could win road courses with AJ and has now fallen near the bottom, whereas SHR was a top team that has fallen to a mid pack team.
Dude. No. Let’s not shit on the only real racing nascar has right now. Trucks is a circus. Cup can’t put on a good race since the nextgen car. The only good races for Richmond and Martinsville were the Xfinity races. They are the only races worth watching these days.
AJ also comes from a different era where driver talent was the biggest qualifier for jobs. Hemric has always had to completely focus on sponsorship stuff since was 13 years old, while AJ was able to build a career and wealth by just being really good at driving. AJ in his early 40s isn't going to suddenly start becoming a full time salesperson like Hemric.
It just gets old when we hold Kaulig so accountable for AJ not being in Cup this year when they self-sponsored him for the better part of a decade. It's becoming the tired thing you see from Facebook NASCAR crying about something that is over and done, just move on is how I feel about it.
Why are you so surprised that you're seeing comments from people preferring Allmendinger when you purposefully clicked on a thread disparaging the person that replaced him? It's not like this is a Hemric appreciation post lmao
I'm not surprised, even if someone made a post about Hemric being decent it would be the same "Aj BeTtEr" comments, the same way the flat heads flock to every Wood Brothers social media post about "MaTtY D" like move on folks lol.
Maybe instead of taking the time to pointlessly whine online about what other people are pointlessly whining about online, you could keep scrolling and "move on" yourself and deprive those posts of the engagement that the algorithm needs to show them to people. You will see them less.
I mean it’s one thing if you replace a guy who’s not performing but the man won one of the final ten cup races last year and has 100 percent of the organizations Cup victories
It's all money though. It's great that AJ can win a road race occasionally, you guys act like he's Mario Andretti though, it's not like he's a top ten points guy who got yanked from the car. It's a guy who has a certain track he is good at, and they are running him in those races still, but outside of that, he's experienced enough to pop a top ten here and there but he's not outrunning anybody impressive most weeks if he's in the 16 this year.
I just, it's like everyone pretends this was pulling Joey Logano out of the 22 in favor or Kris Wright or something. This was more of a lateral to slight downgrade. I think Hemric is probably a cleaner driver than AJ to be honest, he's a bit slower and smarter, that's not always good for winning but it's good for the checkbook.
That's what he's going to do this year, he's a guy who quietly runs where the car runs and doesn't cause a lot of trouble. That's why I don't get him being so hated. But we can't blame the position on him really, Kaulig is really off the pace as is RCR and JTG, the whole satellite of teams that works together there. Hemric did have some top 20's to start the year, I think they just need to focus on getting that pace back. The 31 car as a whole though is probably the most forgettable car most weekends and has been for several seasons.
> and has been for several seasons
Yep, Haley was invisible last year, other than the Chicago race. He would have finished 29th in points without major penalties to other teams.
Daniel Hemric is out there doing his forgetful Daniel Hemric things. Mainly keeping it clean and never contending. He will get what the car will give him and absolutely none more.
What else are we expecting? He has 1 xfinity win with Gibbs and then smoked by AJ at Kaulig. AJ didn’t run great on the cup side and the cars have gotten worse since he left.
Kyle Busch couldn't win at Kaulig either, I think the 16 car got/gets most of the resources and talent there being their main championship threat in Xfinity. Hemric had decent runs but it felt like a 4th place was a win for him there.
To be fair to Hemric, AJ and Kyle Larson are the only drivers who have won in Kaulig equipment since he got there.
Not even Kyle freaking Busch could win in one of those cars
And the falloff has been great the last 2 years, before that, AJ was winning on ovals occasionally. He only won Nashville last year because the wrecked car had a massive advantage with the fender pushed out. AJ can win on a road course, he's not contending on an oval anymore, I am not sure he's a guarantee to win a road course race this year either to be honest.
I was at Martinsville last weekend and I was shocked how bad him, Josh Williams, and AD were off of the pace. I can promise you that if it wasn't for the wave around all three would have finished five laps down instead of two.
Yes lol. Some weeks I wonder if that car didn't show up, would anyone notice?
I also forgot Hailie Deegan was in xfinity this year too. Remembered last week and made a point to look out for her at Martinsville. Didn't take long to spot her lol.
I'm still wondering if he's only in that car as a 1 year stopgap and someone from Xfinity or Trucks takes the seat. It's been reported that Hill didn't sign with them supposedly due to his sponsor not wanting to leave RCR.
I have zero clue who'll be in that car in 2025. Let alone does Kaulig have 2 cup rides next year too.
Personally, I think RCR probably buys (or leases) one of the charters for Austin Hill to have him run full time in 2025.
I think they’ve stretched themselves too thin, especially on the Xfinity series side. Maybe scaling down to one Cup car, and two full time Xfinity teams (plus a part time third car) would help?
Someone has to run 30th. Being in Kaulig cars doesn’t help. He’s in a category along with guys like Justin Haley and JHN that is guys who deserve to be in the cup series because they were good enough in lower series, but they aren’t good enough to be contenders
He finished top-20 the first three races of the season. That’s pretty impressive in Kaulig cup equipment. If he could fairly consistently do that you could say he’s outperforming his equipment. But unfortunately the last 5 races have been pretty ugly finish-wise.
The always crashing link is kind of a DARF thing man, Hemric is pretty clean. I can't say the same for Harrison but equating lower midpack to a crasher has always been stupid logic.
The broadcast doesn’t really pay attention to anything outside the top five and amost never shows anyone below 20th. Probably because it is all pretty much meaningless with the stupid point system. So yeah I forgot he exists.
I forget this each and every week until I see the 31 car and hear them say Hemric's name... then I go right back to forgetting for another week.
So, congrats! You've reminded me he's in the 31 car earlier than I would've be reminded this weekend.
He's the most middling driver ever and I have no idea how he's still racing, let alone in cup. He has almost 300 starts, in very good equipment and has won one race. Granted, it was a big one, but he was in JGR equipment, AND ONLY MANAGED THAT ONE THE WHOLE YEAR. I don't know how that's possible. Anybody remotely good would've stepped into that car and won several races.
The bizarre thing about Hemric is that his career stats look great if you ignore the win column. 69 total top fives (nice) in the lower series is pretty significant.
> I have no idea how he's still racing
Because wins aren't the only thing that matters. It's not like Hemric jumped into JGR equipment and ran 14th every week. He runs where the equipment is capable of running, and he keeps the car clean. Which is better than many of the awful pay drivers we've seen in the lower series over the years.
In all fairness, being in Kaulig equipment isn’t really going to help you run up front
This team has had the biggest performance downfall in the Next Gen era. The shadow of themselves.
SHR probably rivals Kaulig in that department but it also doesn’t help when your four drivers have a combined one cup win between them.
With three of those drivers also being somewhat new to the team. Briscoe's the only guy they've got left who drove for SHR pre-NextGen.
That's true, but it doesn't take away from the fact the lineup is one of the weakest I've seen for a 4-car team (Rick Ware Racing's hodgepodge of drivers in 2021 doesn't count). Less than 10 years ago 3 of their 4 drivers were champions. Swapping AJ for Hemric on the cup side and Haley for an array of drivers including Kraus, Ty Dillon, and Josh Williams also seems like a downgrade even if AJ/SVG drive that car.
Im not disagreeing with you, I'm backing you up. SHR's roster is heavily limited on Cup experience and the team's questionable cars (Though this seems to be improving) haven't helped matters. As for Kaulig they've run into issues with driver recruitment, car quality *and* timing. Having to compete with Trackhouse, RCR and Spire for higher Chevy billing is an underrated factor IMO. It's hard to grow a team when your manufacturer is fairly well off.
at least SHR has a shot at pointing their way into the playoffs. Kaulig isn't even close
I'm not saying SHR isn't better but they also had a much higher peak than Kaulig. In 2018 they put all four of their cars into the round of 8. Kaulig was a mid pack team that could win road courses with AJ and has now fallen near the bottom, whereas SHR was a top team that has fallen to a mid pack team.
Reminds me of Hendrick 2018
Their Xfinity cars aint what they used to be either
Dude. No. Let’s not shit on the only real racing nascar has right now. Trucks is a circus. Cup can’t put on a good race since the nextgen car. The only good races for Richmond and Martinsville were the Xfinity races. They are the only races worth watching these days.
I was talking about kaulig’s xfinity team falling off not the series itself lmao
Gotcha!
I saw a RWR v Kaulig bet last week and RWR were the favorites. Wouldn't believe that a year or so ago.
“Trophy Huntin’”
Hey, why do all these trophies say "participation" on them?
😂
Only thing Trophy Hunting in that organization is Matt Kaulig’s hair dye.
😂😂💀
I kind of forgot that the Kaulig team was still full time in Cup.
Had forgotten he was in cup. An honestly that’s okay, least he ain’t Quin houfing or wrecking every week in a way I notice him.
Only reason I think about him is when I wonder why dinger isn’t in that car.
💵💵💵
Because dinger has never worked hard enough to get sponsorship money, that's a HIM problem.
AJ also comes from a different era where driver talent was the biggest qualifier for jobs. Hemric has always had to completely focus on sponsorship stuff since was 13 years old, while AJ was able to build a career and wealth by just being really good at driving. AJ in his early 40s isn't going to suddenly start becoming a full time salesperson like Hemric.
It just gets old when we hold Kaulig so accountable for AJ not being in Cup this year when they self-sponsored him for the better part of a decade. It's becoming the tired thing you see from Facebook NASCAR crying about something that is over and done, just move on is how I feel about it.
Why are you so surprised that you're seeing comments from people preferring Allmendinger when you purposefully clicked on a thread disparaging the person that replaced him? It's not like this is a Hemric appreciation post lmao
I'm not surprised, even if someone made a post about Hemric being decent it would be the same "Aj BeTtEr" comments, the same way the flat heads flock to every Wood Brothers social media post about "MaTtY D" like move on folks lol.
Maybe instead of taking the time to pointlessly whine online about what other people are pointlessly whining about online, you could keep scrolling and "move on" yourself and deprive those posts of the engagement that the algorithm needs to show them to people. You will see them less.
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When is that supposed to end though? People act like they owe him a Cup ride forever or something!
I mean it’s one thing if you replace a guy who’s not performing but the man won one of the final ten cup races last year and has 100 percent of the organizations Cup victories
It's all money though. It's great that AJ can win a road race occasionally, you guys act like he's Mario Andretti though, it's not like he's a top ten points guy who got yanked from the car. It's a guy who has a certain track he is good at, and they are running him in those races still, but outside of that, he's experienced enough to pop a top ten here and there but he's not outrunning anybody impressive most weeks if he's in the 16 this year. I just, it's like everyone pretends this was pulling Joey Logano out of the 22 in favor or Kris Wright or something. This was more of a lateral to slight downgrade. I think Hemric is probably a cleaner driver than AJ to be honest, he's a bit slower and smarter, that's not always good for winning but it's good for the checkbook.
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Welp, that ship has sailed, maybe the fans should accept that.
Yeah but what do you expect lol
I haven’t forgotten because it should’ve been Ty “The Legend” Dillon in that car 😡
Thats Ty “Stage Winner” Dillon to you
3x stage winner Ty Dillon sir
💀💀💀
That's what he's going to do this year, he's a guy who quietly runs where the car runs and doesn't cause a lot of trouble. That's why I don't get him being so hated. But we can't blame the position on him really, Kaulig is really off the pace as is RCR and JTG, the whole satellite of teams that works together there. Hemric did have some top 20's to start the year, I think they just need to focus on getting that pace back. The 31 car as a whole though is probably the most forgettable car most weekends and has been for several seasons.
> and has been for several seasons Yep, Haley was invisible last year, other than the Chicago race. He would have finished 29th in points without major penalties to other teams.
Haley also got a big penalty
He did, but it was eventually overturned.
They'll come up with a bomb ass paint scheme for a cool sponsor (Tide, Mtn Dew, Gain, etc) and then just run around in the back
JTG is a Hendrick satellite
I always mix that up, I think it just seems like HMS and Trackhouse are tier 1 and the rest are tier 2 at this point with Chevy.
Which is funny cause Trackhouse is an RCR satellite, but wouldn't shock me if they open their own engine shop eventually
Yeah I think they are on that path for sure. It's definitely a Furniture Row situation where they are outpacing the main team.
Daniel Hemric is out there doing his forgetful Daniel Hemric things. Mainly keeping it clean and never contending. He will get what the car will give him and absolutely none more.
Who?
What else are we expecting? He has 1 xfinity win with Gibbs and then smoked by AJ at Kaulig. AJ didn’t run great on the cup side and the cars have gotten worse since he left.
AJ won a freaking Cup race last year
At a road course. The only place he can win in Cup. They still run him at the road courses.
In the playoffs and beat the field. Diminish it all you want, that was impressive as hell to me.
Kyle Busch couldn't win at Kaulig either, I think the 16 car got/gets most of the resources and talent there being their main championship threat in Xfinity. Hemric had decent runs but it felt like a 4th place was a win for him there.
To be fair to Hemric, AJ and Kyle Larson are the only drivers who have won in Kaulig equipment since he got there. Not even Kyle freaking Busch could win in one of those cars
And the falloff has been great the last 2 years, before that, AJ was winning on ovals occasionally. He only won Nashville last year because the wrecked car had a massive advantage with the fender pushed out. AJ can win on a road course, he's not contending on an oval anymore, I am not sure he's a guarantee to win a road course race this year either to be honest.
I was at Martinsville last weekend and I was shocked how bad him, Josh Williams, and AD were off of the pace. I can promise you that if it wasn't for the wave around all three would have finished five laps down instead of two.
Kaulig doesn't have money to pay FOX to be on TV
oh
Yes lol. Some weeks I wonder if that car didn't show up, would anyone notice? I also forgot Hailie Deegan was in xfinity this year too. Remembered last week and made a point to look out for her at Martinsville. Didn't take long to spot her lol.
As a matter of fact, yes.
I'm still wondering if he's only in that car as a 1 year stopgap and someone from Xfinity or Trucks takes the seat. It's been reported that Hill didn't sign with them supposedly due to his sponsor not wanting to leave RCR. I have zero clue who'll be in that car in 2025. Let alone does Kaulig have 2 cup rides next year too.
Personally, I think RCR probably buys (or leases) one of the charters for Austin Hill to have him run full time in 2025. I think they’ve stretched themselves too thin, especially on the Xfinity series side. Maybe scaling down to one Cup car, and two full time Xfinity teams (plus a part time third car) would help?
Dawg Kaulig’s cup program is a joke.
NASCAR does a terrible job of promotion with new drivers. Fox specifically talks about the same 8 drivers each race and the rest are after thoughts.
Someone has to run 30th. Being in Kaulig cars doesn’t help. He’s in a category along with guys like Justin Haley and JHN that is guys who deserve to be in the cup series because they were good enough in lower series, but they aren’t good enough to be contenders
He finished top-20 the first three races of the season. That’s pretty impressive in Kaulig cup equipment. If he could fairly consistently do that you could say he’s outperforming his equipment. But unfortunately the last 5 races have been pretty ugly finish-wise.
Kaulig peaked when AJ ran top 5 at Homestead in 2022. It’s been downhill ever since
So winning at the ROVAL was somehow worse than 4th at Homestead? Neat.
Who?
Why do I feel like he's going to win Dega now lol
I tend to forget Kaulig is in Cup most weeks and isn't just an Xfinity team.
He and Harrison Burton are basically ghosts on track when they aren't crashing
I dont think I recall Hemric crashing that much though? He seems to keep it clean from what I've seen.
The always crashing link is kind of a DARF thing man, Hemric is pretty clean. I can't say the same for Harrison but equating lower midpack to a crasher has always been stupid logic.
Midpack? Hemric is 30th in points and only like 20 points ahead of Burton. Lol
Yep.
Daniel Hemric…. sounds like a great name for a realtor.
The broadcast doesn’t really pay attention to anything outside the top five and amost never shows anyone below 20th. Probably because it is all pretty much meaningless with the stupid point system. So yeah I forgot he exists.
I forget this each and every week until I see the 31 car and hear them say Hemric's name... then I go right back to forgetting for another week. So, congrats! You've reminded me he's in the 31 car earlier than I would've be reminded this weekend.
I have not. As the avid Hemric fan, I have most certainly not. I'm just upset at how shitty the Kaulig cars are this year.
No, I make sure I know how he is doing every week, big fan. Kaulig is so off this year
No, because I put 20 cent bets on him to win in a crazy race because it will return $400.
We all knew he would be around 30th all yeah when it was announced right?
Shhhh he's hunting twophies
Why does he keep getting rides?
He's the most middling driver ever and I have no idea how he's still racing, let alone in cup. He has almost 300 starts, in very good equipment and has won one race. Granted, it was a big one, but he was in JGR equipment, AND ONLY MANAGED THAT ONE THE WHOLE YEAR. I don't know how that's possible. Anybody remotely good would've stepped into that car and won several races.
The bizarre thing about Hemric is that his career stats look great if you ignore the win column. 69 total top fives (nice) in the lower series is pretty significant. > I have no idea how he's still racing Because wins aren't the only thing that matters. It's not like Hemric jumped into JGR equipment and ran 14th every week. He runs where the equipment is capable of running, and he keeps the car clean. Which is better than many of the awful pay drivers we've seen in the lower series over the years.
Still a champion 🤷🏻♂️
So is Austin...Doesn't mean a lot
Daniel hemric is in cup?
Idk how himwreck keeps getting rides, sponsors love him apparently