LOUISVILLE, Ky. (January 20th, 2014) – After running a part-time schedule during the 2013 racing season in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East with Turner Scott Motorsports, 16-year-old Louisville, Kentucky, native and NASCAR Next driver Ben Rhodes announced today he will compete full time in the series in 2014, driving the No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet Impala with TSM, competing for the Rookie of the Year and Championship honors.
“I am excited to enter my first full season of racing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East with Turner Scott Motorsports,” said Rhodes. “We had a lot of great runs last year and we are hoping to carry the momentum of those runs into this season.”
Rhodes began his racing career at the age of seven, starting in Karts and winning several championship titles before moving up the ranks running Bandoleros, Legend Cars and NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model Stock Cars. In 2013 he ran a partial K&N Pro Series East schedule for TSM, where he made seven starts with two top fives and five top 10s to his credit.
Returning to support Rhodes in 2014 is his primary sponsor Alpha Energy Solutions as well as Alliance Comfort Systems, Park Community Credit Union, Kentucky National Guard, and Refrigerant Rescue.
“I really have to thank Alpha Energy Solutions and their associates for their continued support of my racing career,” said Rhodes. “They have been very good to me as well as my other sponsors Alliance Comfort Systems, Park Community Credit Union, Kentucky National Guard, and Refrigerant Rescue. Having them back our effort again this year is great, and I am looking forward to representing them on the track.”
For 2014, Rhodes will benefit from the addition of a new crew chief, accomplished short track racing and crew chief veteran Mark McFarland.
“Mark is like a combination of my two-best crew chiefs I have had, Dennis Lambert in Legends and Lee McCall last year in Late Models and K&N Pro Series East. In the short time we have spent together so far this year we have already learned what each other likes. He is going to be a great crew chief for me and I am very fortunate to have him this year.”
Rhodes will be one of five full-time drivers racing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East this season with Turner Scott Motorsports. Brandon Jones returns to the team with newcomers Cameron Hayley, Scott Heckert, and Kaz Grala rounding out the driver roster.
“I am very pleased to announce our 2014 NASCAR K&N Series East lineup,” said team co-owner Harry Scott Jr. “We take great pride in our K&N program, and I believe we’ve shown what an effective platform it is for up-and-coming drivers in the success we had last year and the fact that we’ve already seen some of our drivers’ potential to advance to the next level. The drivers in our stable have shown a lot of promise and I’m hoping that we can follow up last year’s championship with another great season.”
The first-two points events in the 2014 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East season will take place in Florida at New Smyrna Speedway on February 16th and Daytona International Speedway on February 18th.
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 benrhodes.com, like him on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/benrhodesinc, and follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/benrhodes as well as Instagram atwww.instagram.com/benrhodes.
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