(Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
Daniel Hemric announced Sunday that his “Be The Change” scholarship, which was formed in 2019, will grow in 2023. Hemric’s foundation gives a scholarship to students pursuing motorsports careers in welding and engineering at the Rowan-Cabarrus Community College each year. Starting in 2023, Hemric will now be able to give two scholarships with the help of Kaulig Racing, Matt Kaulig and Kaulig Giving.
Matt Kaulig, Kaulig Racing owner, said the organization started Kaulig Giving in 2018 to support many different causes, just like Hemric’s “Be The Change” scholarship.
“Helping students to further their education and pursue their passion is something many of the organizations we are involved in advocate for,” Kaulig said.
For Hemric, growing this scholarship is something very special and really helps keep him up when racing times are down.
“I can’t say thank you enough to Matt (Kaulig) and Kaulig Racing for their donation to the Be The Change scholarship,” Hemric said. “Kenzie and I started this scholarship to help folks like us.”
Both Daniel and his wife Kenzie have raced, lost rides and wondered what the future would hold.
“If not for racing, pursuing a certification at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College would have been a great career path for me,” Daniel said.
While celebrating the addition of this charitable donation, Chris Rice, team president, talked about how much they’ve enjoyed having Hemric on the team this year and made an announcement on Hemric’s future.
“We might as well go ahead and announce this as well while we are.” Rice said, “We want to share with the media while we’re here that Daniel will once again drive for Kaulig racing in 2023.”
“We don’t think there is a better time to make this announcement, but with all the giving that he does along with Kaulig, we know that this year has been trying for Daniel.”
Hemric missed the 2022 Xfinity Series playoffs after an up-and-down year, but the team already has its eyes set on next season.
“We know that we have to be better, and with AJ (Allmendinger) going to cup next year, we have some work to do to make sure everything is better for Daniel, Landon and Chandler Smith,” Rice said.
Kaulig Racing had already announced Smith will join the team in 2023 after finishing his second season with Kyle Busch Motorsports in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
For Hemric, he has echoed a common sentiment among Kaulig Racing team members and drivers — it’s a family atmosphere.
“Everything starts at the top, right?” said Hemric. “The leadership from Chris and it all flows down from there.”
“Once you’re immersed in this atmosphere, you understand why everyone says what they do about this team, it’s legitimately family.”
Hemric has raced for plenty of teams over the years and each program is run differently.
“I’ve raced for teams that are all business, don’t get me wrong, when we show up to the race track with Kaulig, it’s business…but we have fun doing it,” Hemric said.
Winning is certainly fun, and that is why Kaulig has the motto “trophy hunting.” But, you lose more than you win, and Hemric, he understands that and sees how to take the good with the bad.
“I’ve finally figured out how to prioritize the business with having fun.” Hemric said. “before I came here, I was so uptight about going to the race track and get frustrated with the results. But, I know these guys have my back and everyone is working hard, but having fun and that is really the basis of the Kaulig Companies.”
