After qualifying third for his fourth-career Late Model feature with Jamie Yelton and Fat Head Racing, Ben Rhodes fought a tight race car to finish fourth after 50 laps of racing at Hickory Motor Speedway (NC) on Saturday, September 10th.
Rhodes entered Saturday’s race day with some seat time during the weekend already as the team practiced Friday evening.
“The test session was very successful for us,” said Rhodes. “We were able to try out a few things with the car to get it more comfortable. We also wanted to work on our qualifying set-up so that we could have a shot at the pole position Saturday.”
After the afternoon practice Saturday, Rhodes was the first driver to go on the track for qualifying, setting a fast time that wouldn’t be surpassed until close to the end of the qualifying session. He ended up third fastest.
“We were hoping to be on the pole, but our teammate Matt McCall beat us there, and we eventually ended up third,” explained Rhodes. “Even though I wanted to be on the pole, we were happy with third, starting behind our teammate.”
During the 50-lap feature, Rhodes battled a car that got tight, but was able to wrangle it across the line at the end to finish fifth initially. After a post-race inspection where a competitor was disqualified, Rhodes was officially credited with fourth.
“On long runs we were able to move in on the leaders, but a few cautions and the car being a bit too tight hindered us from moving further forward. It was still a great day though for us and we will take a fourth-place finish and build on that for the next race. I want to thank Lee McCall, Jamie Yelton and the entire Fat Head Racing team, and also congratulate my teammate Matt McCall on winning the race. All the guys did a great job today and I cannot wait to get back into the car next month.”
Rhodes and the Fat Head Racing team will enter the Dwight Huffman Memorial race at Hickory Motor Speedway, which takes place Friday – Sunday, October 14th – 16th.
Watch a video of Ben’s day, including interviews with him throughout the event. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXIj4RZs998