Ben Rhodes on Track Heading to Texas

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Ben Rhodes is our guest on Fan4Racing NASCAR Weekend Preview on Thursday, March 28, 2019, at 9 pm ET. Call 929-477-1790 or tweet @Fan4RacingSite with any questions or comments during our LIVE broadcast.

After a strong second-place finish at Martinsville Speedway last weekend, NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series driver Ben Rhodes with ThorSport Racing is looking forward to racing again this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.

Rhodes’ run at Martinsville Speedway last Saturday was a solid day after starting 16th. He drove his Ford F-150 through the field to a 12th-place finish in the first stage and in the second stage he finished in second. Rhodes stayed in second throughout the final stage of the TruNorth Global 250 bringing his No. 99 Carolina Nut across the finish line in second place, a series track best finish.

Rhodes is making his seventh NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series start at Texas Motor Speedway this Friday in the Vankor 350. In six previous starts, the ThorSport Racing driver has led three laps and tallied two top-five and top-ten finishes. His best start at the 1.5-mile track is seventh in June of 2017 and his best finish is second last November 2018.

Rhodes carries some momentum coming into Texas after finishing second at Martinsville last weekend. That finish is a reason to believe the No. 99 team is back on track for another solid finish in the Lone Star state and with some confidence on improving their performance.

“The fun thing about Texas Motor Speedway is that it is slowly changing every time we go there,” says Rhodes. “The track is losing grip and gaining bumps—things that drivers like. I’m hoping that with the progress that my team has made this year on our intermediate trucks, that we will attack these challenges with no problems. Our Carolina Nut F-150 is always fast in the race but I think we will qualify better at Texas too.”

In four starts this season, Rhodes has led 32 laps on his way to two top-five and top-ten finishes at Atlanta and Martinsville. The Carolina Nut driver has a best start of sixth-place at Atlanta and an average start of 15.8, with an average finish of 11.5.

Rhodes is now sixth in the series point standings. A victory at Texas would not only punch his ticket to the Truck Series playoffs, but would also reinforce the intentions of the No. 99 team to seriously contend for the championship.

The Gander Outdoors Truck Series will begin the Vankor 350 at 9 pm ET at Texas Motor Speedway with television coverage on FS1.