LOUISVILLE, Ky. (June 8th, 2013) – Just hours after being announced by NASCAR as one of the elite 13 drivers selected in the 2013 – 2014 NASCAR Next program, an industry initiative to help spotlight NASCAR’s rising stars, 16-year-old Louisville, Kentucky, native Ben Rhodes raced his No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet with Turner Scott Motorsports to a fifth-place finish at Iowa Speedway (IA) in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series “Casey’s General Store 150” East-West combination event on Friday, June 7th. The result was his career-best finish in three starts in the series, and he was also third among the East drivers in the field.
During the two practice sessions on Friday, Rhodes used the time to get acclimated to the Iowa track and also make adjustments to the car. Going into qualifying, he knew he was going to be a bit further back in the field. Rhodes timed in 23rd.
“Lee McCall (crew chief) and I discussed our car before qualifying and decided to not worry too much about where we were going to start,” said Rhodes. “We wanted to focus more on the race set-up since this was our first time here.”
When the green flag dropped for 150 laps of competition, Rhodes slowly worked his way forward. By the halfway break he was 12th. After a few adjustments and four new tires, Rhodes broke into the top 10, and on a green-white-checker finish, was able to work his way from eighth to cross the finish line fifth.
“We had the Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet really free at the start of the race because we felt the track was going to tighten up,” explained Rhodes. “It was almost too free early, especially in the upper groove. It was a handful up there, but the car came in and by the halfway point we felt we were in a good position for the second half.
“Iowa Speedway is a big momentum track and during the second half I lost some time to the leaders battling side by side for many laps. A few cautions helped tighten up the field and my car was pretty good on short runs which helped at the end of the race. It did get pretty tight on the final restart, but I was able to pick up a few positions and finish fifth.”
Racing a part-time schedule in 2013 with a full season on tap for 2014, Rhodes’ next NASCAR K&N Pro Series East event will be August 2nd right back at Iowa Speedway.
“We learned a lot this weekend that will help us for when we come back in August. We filled up our race notebook with great data so we can unload in practice and try a few new things to make the car better in qualifying and right away when we start the race.
“I have to thank my entire Turner Scott Motorsports team for their hard work this weekend. When we come back we feel we will have the Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet contending for the win.”
In 2013, Rhodes is also sponsored by Alliance Comfort Systems, Kentucky National Guard, Refrigerant Rescue, and Park Community Federal Credit Union.
The next race for Rhodes is the UARA-STARS event on Friday, June 14th, at Anderson Motor Speedway (SC). He will pilot the No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions Late Model Stock with Hawk-McCall Motorsports.
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.
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