Sounding Off – Ben Rhodes:
Your coming off a season-best finish of second at Pocono, where you made tremendous gains in the points. Currently seeded seventh in the Playoffs, with only four races remaining until the cutoff, do you play it safe and conservative on the race track, or do you still feel the pressure to win to secure your spot?
“The pressure to win is there, but I am past that. I went into the Pocono race with a clear mind, and a relaxed, conservative mindset, and it paid off. Several times during that race we were put in bad situations, and had I not played it safe, we would have wrecked. I will be doing the same thing for the next 4 races. I will get everything out of my Safelite Tundra that I can, but I will not push it. I will let the opportunity come to me, and my Safelite AutoGlass team.”
You had a solid run in your track debut at MIS in 2016 – leading laps and finishing sixth. What are the keys to getting around the 2-mile D-shaped oval?
“I think Michigan is a great track for ThorSport, but a huge key to their success is teamwork. Drafting is a big part of the racing there, so having three awesome teammates to work with is a big plus.”
Team Stats:
Driver Point Standings: 6th
Owner Point Standings: 6th
Stage Wins:
2017 Stage Points: 100
2017 Playoff Points: 1 (Kentucky)
News & Notes:
- Chassis Information…The No. 27 ThorSport Racing (TSR) team will utilize chassis No. 37 for Saturday’s LTi Printing 200 at Michigan International Speedway (MIS). This is the same chassis Ben Rhodes piloted to a fourth-place finish earlier this season at Dover International Speedway.
- Playoff Status… Ben Rhodes has four races remaining on the 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) schedule to lock his No. 27 Safelite Tundra into NASCAR’s first round of the Playoffs, which kicks-off at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September. With the top-8 drivers moving on, the ThorSport Racing driver is currently in, on points. Rhodes is currently sixth in the NCWTS driver standings, but seeded seventh in the Chase standings.
- Take Me Back – Michigan, 2016… Making his track debut at MIS in the NCWTS, Rhodes started 19th, led the 32-truck field once, for four laps, and finished sixth.
- Rearview Mirror – Pocono… Rhodes earned his second career NCWTS pole for the Overton’s 150 at Pocono Raceway. Starting from the pole position, Rhodes finished third in Stage 1, fourth in Stage 2, and earned a track-best second-place finish at the “Tricky Triangle.”
Rhodes 2017 NCWTS Stats:
- Starts: 12
- Poles: 1 (Pocono)
- Laps Completed: 1636 OF 1868 (87.6%)
- Laps Led: 121
- Best Start: 5th (Charlotte & Kentucky)
- Best Finish: 2nd (Pocono)
- Top-5 Finishes: 4
- Top-10 Finishes: 6
- Average Start: 8.1
- Average Finish: 13.1
Rhodes Career NCWTS Stats:
- Starts: 39 since 2014
- First Full-time Season: 2016
- First Start: Martinsville-1, 2014 (8th)
- Poles: 2 (Martinsville-1, 2016 and Pocono, 2017)
- Top-5 Finishes: 7
- Top-10 Finishes: 14
- Laps Completed: 5549
- Laps Led: 176
- Best Finish: 2nd; (Gateway, 2016 and Pocono, 2017)
- Start: 9.1
- Finish: 14.5
Michigan Stages:
- Stage 1 – 30 laps (concludes at lap 30)
- Stage 2 – 30 laps (concludes at lap 60)
- Stage 3 – 40 laps (concludes at lap 100)
Broadcast Schedule – Michigan:
LTI Printing 200: Saturday, August 12 at 1 p.m. ET on FS1, SiriusXM, MRN
Keystone Light Pole Qualifying: Saturday, August 12 at 9:30 a.m. ET on FS1, SiriusXM, MRN 1:00 p.m. ET – LTi Printing 200
Race Information:
Date: Saturday, August 12. 2017
Time: 1:00 p.m. ET on FOX and MRN
Track: 2-mile D-shaped oval
Distance: 100 Laps, 2000 miles
Social: @MISpeedway #LTI200