Ben Rhodes at 9 pm ET on Tuesday, July 5, 2016 Photo – Getty Images
Ben Rhodes is our guest on Fan4Racing NASCAR Weekend Preview, Tuesday, July 5, 2016 at 9 pm ET. Call 929-477-1790 or tweet @Fan4RacingSite or @beberly18 with any questions or comments during our LIVE broadcast.
This season has been one of ups and downs for NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver, Ben Rhodes who is in his first full season with ThorSport Racing. But after his best showing yet at Gateway a couple of weeks ago, the Louisville, Kentucky native now heads to his home state looking for a breakthrough victory with his No. 41 team.
At Gateway, 19-year-old Rhodes earned his second pole, along with his second top-five, with a career-best second-place finish. With a victory in sight, there’s some frustration at not getting the win, but Rhodes knows, it’s just a matter of time as he and his team push forward to the next race at Kentucky Speedway this weekend.
“A career-best finish of second is great,’ says Rhodes in his post race interview at Gateway, “But after tasting it (victory) four times now, and not being able to go home and get it – that’s been tough, but hopefully here soon. We’re just going to keep pushing forward.”
Getting two of his four top-ten finishes in the first two races of the year, Rhodes finished seventh at Daytona, then sixth at Atlanta. The low point came at Dover with a 28th-place finish. Since then Rhodes’ results have been on the rise, leading to two career-best finishes of fourth at Iowa, followed by his Gateway run, leading four laps, an average running position of 5.5 and his second-place finish.
The race at Kentucky is a big opportunity for Rhodes and his No. 41 team with just seven races left before the seven race Camping World Truck Series Chase begins in September at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Now tenth in the series’ point standings, Rhodes is just ten points away from the eighth-place cut off. A win would give him a virtual lock into the first Chase for the Camping World Truck Series.
A victory for Rhodes could also move him up the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings, where he’s now third, just five points out of second.
A NASCAR K&N Pro Series East champion and Most Popular driver, as well as an alumnus of the NASCAR Next initiative, Rhodes is now ready to make a breakthrough in the Camping World Truck Series this weekend at Kentucky.
Watch the Camping World Truck Series teams in the Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 at Kentucky Speedway on Thursday, July 7 at 8:30 pm ET on FOX Sports 1 with radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.