LOUISVILLE, Ky. (September 29th, 2013) – On Friday, September 27th, in just his seventh start in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, 16-year-old Louisville, Kentucky, native and NASCAR Next driver Ben Rhodes was looking out the windshield of his No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet with Turner Scott Motorsports, on his way to the front and the victory in the “Drive Sober 150” at Dover International Speedway (DE), even after dropping to the back of the pack due to a fuel pick-up problem. However, a cut tire while running third late in the race chasing down the leaders threw Rhodes into the turn four wall, ending his strong run and bid for his first-career K&N Pro Series East victory.
“I wanted to take Miles the Monster home,” said a dejected Rhodes after the race, referring to the winner’s trophy.
On Thursday, Rhodes made his first-career laps on the track known as the “Monster Mile” during two rounds of practice. Timing in fourth and 10th fastest respectively at the end of the practice sessions, including setting fast time early in the first, he was ready to qualify and race on Friday.
“I was excited to get to Dover this weekend because the track looked like a lot of fun to drive,” said Rhodes. “Lee (McCall, crew chief) told me to take it easy and get up to speed to learn the track, but my Turner Scott Motorsports team had my car great right off the hauler and I was able to learn the line pretty quick. We picked up time pretty fast and I knew we were going to have a great race car for Friday.”
A short video of Rhodes’ first laps on the “Monster Mile” can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQwUIu33qdI
Not known as a top qualifier, Rhodes timed in 10th fast, his best starting position of the year in the series.
“Our focus has always been having a great car for the race, so I haven’t focused as much as I probably should on qualifying,” said Rhodes. “10th was a great starting spot for me and I knew we were going to go forward right away.”
When the green flag dropped for 150-laps of racing on the one-mile high-banked concrete oval, Rhodes immediately worked his way towards the front. At lap 19 he cracked the top five, and by lap 24 he was running third, turning faster times than the leaders. On a lap 42 restart, Rhodes got to second, and after another caution, he was looking to take the lead on a lap 60 restart when a problem with the car cost him a few positions.
“When we came to the restart, I hit the gas and the car started to sputter. I lost some spots, but the car got going right again, so I was able to stay towards the front of the pack. We thought it might have been fuel not getting to the pick-up in the corner prior to the restart.”
A caution flew a few laps later, and when the green flag was displayed once again at lap 68 while he was running fourth, the car completely shut off as the entire field passed by going down the front stretch.
“I am not sure what was going on with the car,” said Rhodes. “I shook it back and forth to make sure the fuel was hitting the pick-up on the high banking prior to the restart, and I cleared out the engine like I usually do. It just shut off, so I had to try and get it re-fired right away and hope to not get run over. It came back to life but I went from fourth to 20th or so.”
A caution just short of the halfway point at lap 71 was used for the official halfway break where all teams came down pit road for tires and fuel. During the break, Rhodes and his crew chief came up with a plan to keep the car going on restarts.
“Since we didn’t know what the problem was, on restarts I ended up pushing in the clutch and revving the engine until a couple seconds prior to the green flag. That helped and we didn’t have a problem for the rest of the race getting going.”
On lap 72, Rhodes restarted in 16th, and quickly worked his way back towards the front. By lap 77 he was back to 10th, and at lap 118 he moved his way into fifth, chasing down the top four. After working over the next few positions, Rhodes was running third with 25 laps to go, running down the top-two drivers while turning lap times about four tenths faster than the leader. Unfortunately Rhodes ran over debris on the track which cut his tire and sent him into the turn four wall. He was able to limp to pit road, but his race was over.
“A lot of cars were having trouble keeping their right front tire from blowing out maybe because of their set-up or abusing the tire, but our tire wear was fine,” explained Rhodes. “The right front had a huge gash in it from running over something. I had no time to react and went into the wall. There was nothing I could do.
“It was very disappointing. My Turner Scott Motorsports team always gives me a great car, but this thing was amazing. We were going to take the lead on the lap 60 restart but we had that fuel pick-up problem. We recovered from that and the car was even better during the second half. I thought I was going to drive the No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet to my first victory in the K&N Pro Series East.”
Despite the disappointment, Rhodes is optimistic with the performance of the team this year in his part-time season prior to racing full time in 2014.
“I really wanted to end this year with a victory in the series, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be. The good thing is that I have a great group of guys that worked hard this year and we have had race runs within the top 10 in all seven races. We will use the off season to test and prepare for the 2014 season, and shoot for the Rookie of the Year and championship.”
In 2013, Rhodes is sponsored by Alpha Energy Solutions, Kentucky National Guard, Park Community Federal Credit Union, Alliance Comfort Systems and Refrigerant Rescue.
Rhodes will now switch focus back to his NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model Stock with Hawk-McCall Motorsports to try to qualify and race the No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions Ford into the “Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300” event at Martinsville Speedway (VA), which takes place Saturday and Sunday, October 5th and 6th.
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.
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