LOUISVILLE, Ky. (August 18th, 2013) – One week after going to victory lane at Kingsport Speedway in Tennessee and Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina for his first-two career NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model Stock wins, 16-year-old Louisville, Kentucky, native Ben Rhodes headed back to Kingsport Speedway to race in twin 50-lap features on Friday, August 16th. At the conclusion of the evening, the NASCAR Next racer was able to drive the No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions ride with Hawk-McCall Motorsports to victory lane, earning his third-career NWAAS win, all within a week’s time.
Rhodes and the team initially had Greenville Pickens Speedway in South Carolina on their schedule during the weekend, but changed plans due to weather.
“We had a great test earlier in the week and I was looking forward to my first race at Greenville Pickens Speedway on Saturday, but the forecast was for rain the entire weekend there, so we made the decision Thursday to go up to Kingsport Speedway Friday. Lee (McCall, crew chief) and the Hawk-McCall Motorsports guys worked hard in the shop Thursday getting the car’s set-up switched over and we all headed to Tennessee on Friday morning.”
With a practice session under their belt at Kingsport Speedway Friday afternoon, Rhodes and the Hawk-McCall Motorsports team headed into qualifying confident. Rhodes ended up timing in third fast of the 27 cars at the track.
“The car had more in it, but I just messed up my qualifying lap a little,” said Rhodes. “We were happy with that effort though and went into the first twin 50 with a great car.”
When the green flag flew for the first of two 50-lap features, Rhodes was able to hold the third position behind the front-two cars. However, due to a handling issue on his car and respect for the two drivers in front of him racing for a track championship on championship night, he didn’t push the issue, finishing third.
“We were just a little too tight for the first race,” said Rhodes. “I was able to keep up with them, and when I lost some track position passing lapped cars I was able to pull right back to their bumper, but to get by I would have had to move them and I wasn’t going to do that. Those two guys were battling hard for the championship and I didn’t want to rough anyone up to make a pass. I decided to take the third in the first race and work on the handling of the car for the second so we could get to the lead and check out and not be an issue with the points leaders.”
Rhodes started second after a top-four invert from the first race and immediately got to the lead in the second 50-lap feature. Numerous cautions kept the field bunched up though, not allowing him to get out too far. Late in the race, despite contact from the second place car, he was able to gap himself from the field, driving to the checkered flag and earning his third victory in the last seven days.
“Since we couldn’t change tires after the first race, once we got out to a few car-length lead, Lee and my spotter Lloyd (Garner) told me to back it down and save on my tires,” explained Rhodes. “Every time we got into save mode a caution would come out. After a restart with about 20 laps to go, we finally had a long green flag run and I was able to get back out to a comfortable lead like last week and get the victory.”
Even though Rhodes would have liked to have earned both victories, he was satisfied with a third-place finish and a victory.
“We came here to win both races, but we didn’t want to cause any issues with the two trying to win the track championship tonight. Zeke Shell (one of the two racing for the championship) came up to me after the first race and thanked me for racing him clean. He has raced me clean here and if I was in his position I would want people to race me clean too. Sometimes racing with respect is more valuable than a victory. The second race the car handled a lot better and we got to the lead on the first lap, so except for one car getting into me after that last restart, we were able to get away from them guys and let them battle it out for the championship behind us.
“I really have to thank Lee and the entire Hawk-McCall Motorsports team for their hard work this weekend getting the car changed over to race here at Kingsport Speedway. I also have to thank my sponsors Alpha Energy Solutions, Kentucky National Guard, Park Community Federal Credit Union, Alliance Comfort Systems, Refrigerant Rescue, and everyone else that has helped us this year. It was another great weekend for us and we are hoping to keep the momentum going the rest of the year.”
For a video recap with Rhodes and McCall after the race, click the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1MvZs8i0hs
Next up for Rhodes is the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model Stock event at Greenville Pickens Speedway on Friday, August 23rd.
For more information on Ben Rhodes, including media availability, contact Jason “Stix” Buckley of STIX FX Entertainment at (704) 519-5528 or [email protected], and make sure to keep up to date on his racing career at www.benrhodesinc.com, like him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/benrhodesinc, and follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/benrhodesinc as well as Instagram at www.instagram.com/benrhodesinc.
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