On Friday, Kaulig Racing announced that they have signed Daniel Hemric to stay with the team for the 2023 NASCAR season. However, the North Carolina native will move up the ranks and return to the NASCAR Cup Series with the team.

Hemric will replace Justin Haley in the No. 31 Chevrolet on a full-time basis.

The 32-year-old has taken the same approach as others recently in going from the Cup Series to back down the ranks to forge a path back up.

See, he first went from two years in the Truck Series (2015, 2016) before moving up to the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2017 and 2018 with Richard Childress Racing. For 2019, he moved up to the Cup Series. Unfortunately for him, despite winning Rookie of the Year honors, Tyler Reddick was tearing it up in the Xfinity Series for RCR too and basically gave them an ultimatum. Bring me up or I’m looking for a Cup ride elsewhere.

See, Reddick was a two-time defending NXS champion. He won in 2018 for JR Motorsports and 2019 for RCR. It made no sense for him to go back in 2020. With only two cars, RCR had to let Hemric go in favor of Reddick.

As a result, Hemric went part-time with JR Motorsports in 2020. That led to a full-time opportunity in the Xfinity Series with Joe Gibbs Racing a year later. Despite having no career wins in any NASCAR division prior, he won the championship that Fall in Phoenix in a last lap pass to score his first win and first championship in the process.

That led to an opportunity to join Kaulig Racing for the last two seasons. Some may wonder why switch teams again when you just won a championship? Well, for Hemric, he was thinking bigger picture.

He’d not likely get a Cup seat with JGR or Toyota. That 2021 opportunity was a good one with a good team to show that he can thrive. Now that he did, why not go to Kaulig who was in the early years of their Cup program and wait in the wings with their very respectable Xfinity Series operation.

He’d do just that and with Justin Haley moving onto Rick Ware Racing for 2024, Haley got the nod to get back to a Cup seat.

Similar path for John Hunter Nemechek.

In 2018, Nemechek signed on to drive in the Xfinity Series for Chip Ganassi Racing and then with GMS Racing in 2019 for their Xfinity program. He competed in Trucks and Xfinity until 2019 and was called up to the Cup Series to compete full-time in 2020. After a year where he saw only three top-10 finishes, Nemechek made the tough decision to return to the Truck Series full-time, where he knew he could be competitive and had the chance to win each weekend and signed on with Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM).

“Going back to the Truck Series was humbling in a way, but it was the best thing I ever did for myself and my career,” said Nemechek. “I was able to compete for wins and two championships for KBM where we won races and were consistently one of the teams to beat week in and week out.”

Nemechek indeed became mentally and physically stronger by going back to the truck series and continued to share success in his craft. After two top-five finishes in the championship points in 2021 and 2022, Nemechek was signed by Joe Gibbs Racing for the 2023 season to compete full-time for the team’s Xfinity program. He currently has six wins, 13 top-five, and 19 top-10 finishes to date.

From a career standpoint, in the Truck Series, Nemechek has 13 career wins, nine pole positions, 51 top-five, and 82 top-10s in 149 starts. In the Xfinity Series, he has achieved eight wins, three pole positions, 30 top-five, and 56 top-10 finishes in 93 starts and counting.

These two join Ryan Preece and Ross Chastain who both did the same in recent seasons too. Both were teammates at JD Motorsports in the Xfinity Series. Both had talent. Both instead of coming back full-time to their rides there, took their money to bigger teams for less opportunities to shine. Preece got a handful of starts with JGR. Chastain three with Ganassi.

Excel and you’re on a path to make it. Flop and you’ll never get this chance again if you can’t cut it with top equipment. There was a lot riding on it.

Both worked out. Preece is with Stewart-Haas Racing and Chastain in his second season with Trackhouse.

Now, when you add Josh Berry and his path to the top level of NASCAR and you can see a new set of Cup Series doors are opening up. It’s no longer rich kids with a hefty paycheck taking these seats.

That’s a good thing.