Ben Rhodes at 9 pm ET on Thursday, April 2, 2015 Photo – Getty Images
Ben Rhodes is our guest on Fan4Racing with Catchfence NASCAR Weekend Preview on Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 9 pm ET. During the LIVE broadcast call 714-202-9918 or tweet @Fan4RacingSite @Knighter01 or @ZRoethlisberger with any questions or comments.
NASCAR K&N East, Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 150 is coming up this weekend, and it seems a good time to catch up with NASCAR Next member Ben Rhodes.
On his way to winning the 2014 K&N Pro Series East championship, Ben Rhodes garnered a lot of attention early in the season when he took the pole at the UNOH Battle at the Beach in Daytona and finished fourth. He then went on to the next race at Bristol, took the pole and finished third. Next on the schedule at Greenville Pickens gave the K&N East rookie not only his third consecutive pole, but Rhodes came home with his first series victory too. Two races later Rhodes again went to victory lane and three races later, he earned his second double, a pole and a win at Bowman Gray. He went on to the next two events at Five Flags, then Langley Speedways, with wins for four consecutive victories.
Ben Rhodes’ gave his Louisville, Kentucky hometown plenty of reasons to celebrate their young up and coming NASCAR protegé. In addition to his 2014 championship title, Rhodes is a member of the NASCAR Next program of rising stars. Rhodes lived up to those expectations by also winning Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors and voted by fans as the Most Popular Driver in the Series. In his first season of 16 races, Rhodes earned six poles, five wins, 11 top-five and 13 top-ten finishes. He also competed four times in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, earning one top-five and three top-ten finishes.
So where has the champ been since completing such a banner year?
At Holy Cross High School, Rhodes is completing his Senior year maintaining his 4.0 GPA and is in the process of deciding where he’ll go to college. In December, JR Motorsports announced Rhodes will race ten Xfinity Series races in the No. 88 sharing driving duties this season with NASCAR stars, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kevin Harvick and Kasey Kahne. His first race is coming up next month, May 17th at Iowa Speedway, the track of his second K&N East win on May 17, 2014.
The remaining nine races for Rhodes include,
Chicagoland Speedway (June 20),
New Hampshire Motor Speedway (July 18), (Pole 2014)
a second event at Iowa Speedway (Aug. 1), (7th 2014)
Watkins Glen International (Aug. 8), (3rd 2014)
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (Aug. 15),
Road America (Aug. 29),
Kentucky Speedway (Sept. 26),
Dover International Speedway(Oct. 3) (15th 2014 K&N East Finale)
Homestead-Miami Speedway (Nov 21)
In February last year, Rhodes began a series of 30 minute television broadcasts with WHAS-TV Sports Anchor Kent Spencer from Louisville, KY and they are continuing with more episodes this season.
In this March 2014 video, Rhodes talks about testing at Greenville Pickens for the race there later in the month, his emotions about racing at Bristol that weekend, how he earned his nickname and gives fans a behind-the-scenes look his High School.
Coming up this weekend is the second race of the season for the K&N East series at Greenville Pickens, the Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 150 on Saturday, April 4th.
The NBCSN broadcast of the Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 150 is Tuesday, April 7th at 6:30 pm ET.