JR Motorsports Race Report

Sunday, June 21, 2015

 

Race 14 of 33: Owens Corning AttiCat 300 at Chicagoland Speedway

Track Specs: 1.5-mile oval / 200 laps

Weather: Mostly sunny; 82 deg.

Race Winner: Erik Jones

Rhodes’ finish: 21st

 

JRM rookie Ben Rhodes put forth a solid effort in Sunday’s Owens Corning AttiCat 300 at Chicagoland Speedway, bringing the No. 88 Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet home in the 21st position and learning a lot in the process. The rain-delayed race marked Rhodes’ second NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) start and his first NXS start on a 1.5-mile track.

 

Rhodes rebounded from several brushes with the wall and contact with another competitor on lap 183, during which he made a fantastic save to keep the No. 88 from spinning, and looked to have at least a top-15 finish when an aggressive late-race restart cost him several positions. The driver of the No. 88 Chevy was running 14th, three spots better than his starting position, before the final restart on lap 188. Unfortunately, he was already battling a tight condition and couldn’t get a good run in the outside lane and several competitors were able to get underneath of him. Rhodes was never able to regain those positions as the tight handling issue continued to persist over the last 10 laps, and he ended the race in the 21st position.

 

In the early going, Rhodes radioed that his Alpha Chevy was very loose on corner exit and the No. 88 crew made a wedge adjustment on the first pit stop to help remedy the problem. The adjustment, combined with the 18-year-old driver learning the effect that aerodynamics would have on his racecar, helped Rhodes to gain forward momentum and he worked his way into the top 15 before the next pit cycle. Spotter Eddie D’Hondt helped coach the young driver as he searched for different lines on the racetrack, adjusted to running in traffic with an aero-dependent car and focused on improving his entry to his pit stall.

 

By lap 142, the No. 88 Chevy had gone from loose to tight, and the tight condition would remain throughout the final 58 laps. Rhodes pitted for tires and another round of adjustments on lap 151, but received a penalty, along with 22 other cars, for pitting before pit road was open, as NASCAR had radioed that the pits were open even though the red lights, signaling a closed pit, were flashing. Once the field was sorted for the restart, the Alpha Chevy lined up 15th. Within two laps, Rhodes jumped up to 11th, but even with the recent adjustments, the No. 88 was still too tight and Rhodes fell back to 14th, where he would run until the final restart. Overall, the 21st-place finish didn’t diminish what was a great learning day for the rookie driver.

 

Erik Jones earned his second NXS victory of 2015. He was followed to the stripe by Ryan Blaney, Austin Dillon, Brendan Gaughan and Chris Buescher.

 

Ben Rhodes, driver No. 88 Alpha Energy Solutions team

“We had a pretty decent Alpha Energy Solutions Chevy to start the race. Pretty much the entire race was about me learning. A 21st-place finish is not where we should be with the speed that we had, but I definitely put us in the hole by making a couple of mistakes. I’ve got to do a better job of saving the car and staying calmer on the restarts. I got aggressive and made up a lot of spots, but then I got too aggressive on some of them and once I made up the spots I would fall back from overdriving the corner. But, I learned a lot. I learned how to race around these guys, how to use the aero to my advantage, how to use the aero to their disadvantage and just how to drive these cars.

 

“It was really fast out there today, but it just comes down to me learning. I don’t even think I could write down everything I learned – it was probably 200 different things. I want to thank all of the guys on this No. 88 team for their hard work today and I look forward to getting back in the car at Loudon.”