Ford Performance NASCAR: Rhodes Drives F-150 to Victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway

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In: NASCAR Truck Series News

BEN RHODES DRIVE F-150 TO FIRST TRUCK SERIES WIN AT CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

  • Ben Rhodes gave Ford its first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway with tonight’s win.

  • The victory was the first of the season for Rhodes and third overall for Ford.

  • It also marked the first win for ThorSport Racing since re-joining Ford at the start of this season.

  • The last time Rhodes won with Ford was on Sept. 6, 2020 at Darlington.

  • This marks the third NCTS win for Rhodes in a Ford F-150.

 

Ford Finishing Results:

1st – Ben Rhodes

7th – Ty Majeski

12th – Matt Crafton

23rd – Zane Smith

25th – Mason Maggio

27th – Josh Reaume

33rd – Hailie Deegan

36th – Keith McGee


BEN RHODES, No. 99 Campers Inn RV Ford F-150 – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW – YOU SAID YOU HAD A LOT OF WORK TO DO BEFORE THE RACE.  HOW DID YOU TURN IT AROUND?  “It came to life at night.  I guess I need to give my crew a lot more credit than I did.  They knew what they were doing.  The night time, they planned for it, and even on my last stop, my pit crew was so good.  Every track they pick up spots for us.  Two races ago they got us nine spots on pit road.  They did the magic again tonight and got us to the front.  The truck was good once we got in clean air.  The night time came to us and they made some adjustments.  I was worried at first and they came to us again.  They looked into a crystal ball tonight and they gave me everything I needed.  I had a lot of work to do.  We had to take it slow and methodical from 19th.  It’s not easy to pass in the Truck Series, especially here at Charlotte, but I’m so happy to get a win here.  This is the North Carolina guy’s backyard.  We’re a Sandusky (OH) based team, so it means a lot to myself and the team owners.”


YOUR FIRST WIN OF THE YEAR AND NOW YOU’RE ALL BUT LOCKED INTO THE PLAYOFFS?  “I’m not gonna say I was getting worried, but I was certainly feeling a little bit of the pressure, and it wouldn’t have been like that if it wasn’t for the last three races.  We somehow found ourselves getting wrecked.  We’d run the high side and get wrecked.  We’d run the bottom and get wrecked.  Lo and behold, here we are recovering and I can’t think of a sweeter way to do it.  These guys have worked their absolute butts off.  Again, being up north we have a different set of challenges and my guys work 10 times harder, I think, to fulfill that.  They deserve it.  I’m just so happy for them.  It’s all theirs and I’m happy.”

 

THIS IS THE FIRST TRUCK WIN AT CHARLOTTE FOR FORD.  WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO DO THAT?  “It means a lot.  I spend a lot of time actually in Charlotte even though I live in Kentucky.  I come down here to the Ford Performance Technical Center that is right down the road.  This is their home track as far as that goes.  They’ve got a lot of really hard-working people at Ford and they deserve this as much as anybody, too.  To think that they’ve gone this long and not gotten a win in their backyard in that sense, that’s really cool.  I’m just happy we could do it.  I’m happy for my team, happy for Ford, everybody involved, and, of course, Campers Inn.  They flew up from Florida and they’re here with us now and I don’t think they’ve been to a NASCAR Victory Lane before, so we’re gonna show them how they do it.”

Ford Performance PR

Speedway Digest Staff
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