Rhodes celebrates his first career victory in the K&N Pro Series East at Greenville Pickens Speedway on Saturday, March 22, 2014.
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17-year-old Ben Rhodes notches his first K&N Pro Series East Victory at Greenville
The win is a week late from Ben Rhodes perspective, but Saturday at Greenville Pickens Speedway Ben Rhodes notched his first career and series’ victory.
Last week at Bristol Motor Speedway, Rhodes led all but the last two laps, keeping him from his first career win. This weekend Rhodes led the last 26 laps en route to victory lane in the Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 150.
This is Rhodes 11th start for the season, with his best finish at the track before Saturday of sixth – earned in September of last year. Rhodes best series career finish coming into the event was a pair of third-place finishes.
Crossing the finish line behind Rhodes was Ronnie Bassett Jr – his first top-five finish in six series outings. The 18-year-old rookie from Winston-Salem, NC held off a late charge from Daniel Suarez to hang on the second-place. Suarez fell back to fifth place, for his third top-five finish of the season. Finishing in third place was Cameron Hayley, with Jesse Little finishing in fourth.
Rounding out the top-ten are Ryan Gifford, Kaz Grala, Brodie Kostecki, Sergio Pena and Eddie MacDonald.
With this victory, Rhodes takes over the lead in the championship standings by seven points over Suarez and nine points over Gray Gaulding. Rhodes and Gaulding are both NASCAR Next drivers.
NASCAR Next is a program, spotlighting talented drivers, who shape the future of the sport.
The Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 150 replay broadcast is by Fox Sports 1 on Friday, March 28th at 11 am ET.
The K&N Pro Series East drivers are back on the track on April 25th for Blue Ox 100 at Richmond International Raceway.