After starting 10th in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series 50-lap Late Model Stock race at Hickory Motor Speedway (NC) on Saturday, March 24th, Ben Rhodes drove the Marcos Ambrose Motorsport #9 Stanley Ford Fusion with Fat Head Racing up to fourth and was ready to make a charge in the final laps to get in the top three when he made contact with the wall, changing the handling. He was still able to hold on to finish fifth.
At the start of the day, Rhodes was quick off the hauler. The team made some adjustments to get the car better during the two practice sessions, preparing for qualifying.
“We practiced the #9 Stanley Ford Fusion on Friday, shaking it down after that car sat for a few weeks,” said Rhodes. “It was really good Friday, so we went into Saturday having a great baseline for what we needed to do.”
In qualifying, with new tires on the Ford Fusion, the car didn’t hook up, forcing him to start the feature 10th out of the 17 cars.
“The tires didn’t come in during qualifying,” explained Rhodes. “The car was really loose and felt like it was on top of the track instead of in it. We wanted to qualify a little better since it was just a 50-lap race, but we were confident with our race set-up, so we were anxious for the green flag to drop.”
During the opening laps of the race, Rhodes’ Ford Fusion held its own while the tires warmed up. After a yellow flag at lap 10, Rhodes slowly made his way around traffic towards the front. Within 10 laps to go, he was in fourth, battling for a top-three position.
“Once the car came in, it was real fast. I was faster than the cars in front of me, but I didn’t want to rough them up trying to get by them, so I was really patient. It is hard to be patient in a short race, but wrecking someone for a position isn’t the right thing to do.
“At the end of the race there were a lot of cautions and restarts, which kept putting me on the outside lane. On one of the restarts I got too high off turn two and hit the wall. It caused a lot of damage to the car and changed how it was handling. I was able to hang on and finish fifth. I wanted more, but with the damage, I was just hanging on.”
In his first-three Late Model Stock events of the year, Rhodes has three top-five finishes, including a fourth, third and fifth respectively.
“The Marcos Ambrose Motorsport and Fat Head Racing team has been real solid starting off the year,” said Rhodes. “I have to thank Jamie Yelton, Lee McCall and the entire team for their effort each week.”
The next race for Ben Rhodes and the #9 Stanley Ford Fusion will take place at Dillon Motor Speedway (SC) on Saturday, April 7th, in the UARA-STARS Late Model Stock Series.
Make sure to follow Rhodes on Facebook and Twitter for updates during the week and race day updates at www.facebook.com/benrhodesinc and www.twitter.com/benrhodesinc.