Team Information:
Started: 1st
Finished: 16th
Laps: 255/255
Status: Running
Driver Points: 10th
Owner Points: 10th
Ben Rhodes Race Recap:
Ben Rhodes, driver of the No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions Toyota Tundra, finished 16th in Saturday’s Alpha Energy Solutions 250 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The ThorSport Racing driver grabbed his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series pole Saturday morning, and was able to maintain the top spot until the first caution flag flew on lap 42. Unfortunately, the No. 41 Toyota Tundra lost several spots on pit road while the over-wall-crew fixed front fender damage on the No. 41 machine. Rhodes restarted ninth on lap 50 but worked his way up to fifth by lap 124. On lap 150, the Louisville, Ky., native was listed second and remained in the top five until hitting pit road on lap 187 for a schedule pit stop. With fresh tires, the Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender was listed 14th by lap 198, 10th on lap 224, and sixth when the first red flag flew on lap 237 for a multi-truck accident on the backstretch. The 19-year-old driver looked poised for a top five finish until Justin Haley made contact with Rhodes, sending him spinning into on coming traffic. Rhodes was able to avoid major damage to his Toyota Tundra and restarted 10th as the race entered overtime. On the final restart, Rhodes was unable to make up ground and crossed the stripe in the 16th position behind race winner, Kyle Busch.
Quote:
“Overall, there were highs and lows for the Alpha Energy Solutions Toyota Tundra team, but I feel like we had an awesome truck going into the race. The guys did everything right. I got us in a little bit of a bad spot early on – right front fender was knocked in, and I should have given a little bit more time on pit road to help assist the guys with how much repairs they had to do from the initial start, but overall it’s a 16th place finish – kind of disappointing with the truck that we had, but the good news going forward is, we know that we have really good notes from the practice sessions, qualifying sessions, and we can take that going forward to Kansas. We didn’t get the win here, but we’ll get it at Kansas.”
Notes:
- The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series had three practice sessions on Friday afternoon in preparation for Saturday’s Alpha Energy Solutions 250. Ben Rhodes was 9th, 1st, and 3rd
- Rhodes earned his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series pole for Saturday’s event, and finished 16th
- The ThorSport Racing driver led one time for 42 laps in the 255-lap event, his first laps led in the NCWTS
- In two starts at the paperclip, Rhodes has one pole and one top-10 finish
- In seven NCWTS starts, Rhodes has one top-five and six top-10 finishes
- Rhodes’ ThorSport Racing teammates finished seventh (Crafton), ninth (Hayley), and 10th (Abreu)
- Up next: The Toyota Tundra 250 at Kansas Speedway on Friday, May 6