LOUISVILLE, Ky. (September 18th, 2013) – In his first season of a limited schedule in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East before going full time in 2014, 16-year-old Louisville, Kentucky, native and NASCAR Next driver Ben Rhodes has raced at four different tracks, earning four top-10 finishes in five starts, including finishing third among the East drivers in an East-West combo race at Iowa Speedway in June. On Saturday, September 21st, Rhodes will enter his sixth series event at another new track for the young racer as he will drive the No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet for Turner Scott Motorsports in the “North American Power 100” event at the one-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NH).
Rhodes did not plan on racing this weekend as he was only able to enter seven races in 2013 to keep his Rookie of the Year status for 2014. However, when Rockingham Speedway (NC) was taken off the series schedule a few weeks ago, it opened it up the opportunity to race.
“At the beginning of the year I wanted to race Loudon as one of my seven races this year, but we had a schedule conflict and couldn’t,” said Rhodes. “When we realigned our schedule mid-year it allowed us to, but we already had our seven races set. So while I was disappointed Rockingham was removed from the schedule a few weeks ago since it was one of the seven races I was going to run, I am very happy we have the opportunity to race Loudon.”
With just a few weeks to get his ride ready, his Turner Scott Motorsports team went into high gear preparing his primary car and changing over his back-up car, which was already set for their first trip to Dover International Speedway (DE) the following weekend.
“My Turner Scott Motorsports team has worked hard on short notice to get the No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet ready. We are using the same chassis we used at Greenville Pickens too, so we are going to New Hampshire looking to race strong and hopefully battle for the victory.”
In August, Rhodes went on a winning streak in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series with his Hawk-McCall Motorsports team, winning five races in the span of a few weeks. He hopes he can keep the momentum going into this weekend’s race at New Hampshire.
“We finished sixth in our last K&N Pro Series East race at Greenville and we have had a great second half of the year in our Late Model Stock. Momentum is a big thing in this sport, and after finishing third and fourth at Southern National Motorsports Park last weekend in twin races I am ready for Loudon this weekend.”
In 2013, Rhodes is sponsored by Alpha Energy Solutions, Kentucky National Guard, Park Community Federal Credit Union, Alliance Comfort Systems and Refrigerant Rescue.
Practice and qualifying for the “North American Power 100” NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NH) will take place on Friday, September 20th, with the 100-lap race taking place on Saturday, September 21st, at 2:30pm Eastern. For ticket information, visit the track website at www.nhms.com. For live event updates throughout the weekend, visit www.nascarhometracks.com, and for race updates on Rhodes, follow his Twitter at www.twitter.com/benrhodes.
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 the new website location benrhodes.com, like him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/benrhodesinc, and follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/benrhodes as well as Instagram at www.instagram.com/benrhodes.
# # # #