Louisville, Kentucky, native Ben Rhodes and the #9 Stanley / Alpha Energy Solutions Ford Fusion team with Marcos Ambrose Motorsport headed back to Kingsport Speedway (TN) for the UARA-STARS Late Model Stock event on Saturday, September 15th. Battling through adversity, including feeling under the weather and dealing with an ill-handling car, Rhodes was able to push through for 150 laps, crossing the finish line in the fourth position.
Throughout the weekend, Rhodes and his team, lead by crew chief Billy Smith, thrashed hard on the handling of the race car. While it wasn’t perfect, Rhodes was able to time in seventh fastest during the qualifying session Saturday. Meanwhile, Rhodes entered the weekend with what he thought was allergies, but turned into something more.
“I wasn’t feeling well when I got to the track Thursday,” said Rhodes. “I was able to push through practice day, but overnight it got worse. I even had a nose bleed after qualifying. I really wasn’t feeling well right before the start of the race, but Billy Smith and the team worked hard all weekend trying different things with the #9 Stanley / Alpha Energy Solutions Ford. They did not give up and I wasn’t going to give up on them.”
Starting from the seventh position, Rhodes floated around the backend of the top 10 for most of the race, making a push towards the end of the event up to the sixth position with eight laps to go. In a wild dash to the checkered flag, he was able to pick up a few more positions, finishing fourth.
“We couldn’t get the car to roll through the center like we wanted it to,” explained Rhodes. “I ended up moving to the high side to compensate and it started moving forward late in the race. We avoided a few spins in front of us and kept it between the walls to finish fourth.
“This was a total team effort. No matter what the issue, we are not quitters and do not give up. I wasn’t 100-percent and the car wasn’t 100-percent, but we all dug deep and got a top-five finish out of the day. Entering the weekend we were hoping for more, but with what we were faced with, we will take it and go on to the next event.”
For more information on Ben Rhodes, please contact Jason “Stix” Buckley of STIX FX Entertainment at (704) 519-5528 or [email protected], and make sure to keep up to date on Ben Rhodes’ racing career at www.benrhodesinc.com, and follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/benrhodesinc and Twitter at www.twitter.com/benrhodesinc.