In just his second start in a Late Model, Ben Rhodes drove his #4 machine from the ninth position to finish fourth in the 100-lap Late Model feature at Hickory Motor Speedway (NC) on Saturday, August 6th, driving for Jamie Yelton’s Fat Head Racing.
Rhodes and the Fat Head Racing team unloaded their car at the track just two weeks after his Late Model debut at the same facility. With 14 drivers on hand, Rhodes went into qualifying as one of the fastest drivers in practice. He timed in ninth.
“The car was pretty good during qualifying,” said Rhodes. “I am still adjusting to how to drive the car in qualifying on the new tires. I entered the corner a bit off from where I believe I should have been, but that will just take some experience to get better with. It was an improvement over our first qualifying attempt so we were happy and ready to race the feature.”
Most Late Model events at Hickory during the season are less than 50 laps, but Rhodes tackled two big events in his first two starts. The first event was 60 laps, while Saturday he strapped in his car for 100 laps of competition.
At the start of the race, Rhodes got comfortable behind the wheel of his #4 machine. An incident ahead of him moved him from ninth to eighth, but as the laps continued to click off, Rhodes worked his way by cars one by one.
“We worked our way up to third at one point,” explained Rhodes. “I was rolling along and having a great time from behind the wheel.”
The long race took its toll on the competition, but Rhodes was fresh behind the wheel, eventually crossing the line in fourth.
“It was a long race, but I made sure to stay hydrated in the car, drinking a lot of Aquafina water,” said Rhodes. “There at the end I was behind the top three. We gave up a little there at the end, but that will take experience from behind the wheel to get a better understanding of how to keep the tires under me for 100 laps. Overall though, it was a good day.
“I have to thank Jamie Yelton and the entire Fat Head Racing team, including my crew chief Lee McCall for the strong run. We are really working well together and I cannot wait to get back to the track with them again.”
Watch a video of Ben’s day, including interviews with him throughout the event. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUWjOYkMxW0