NASCAR’s next big thing may just be Louisville’s own Ben Rhodes.
The 18-year-old recent Holy Cross High School graduate is one of the fastest-rising stars in NASCAR, already drawing the attention of, among others, the sport’s biggest name - Dale Earnhardt Jr.
On Saturday night Rhodes will make his second start driving JR Motorsports’ No. 88 car in the NASCAR XFinity Series’ Owens Corning Atticat 300 at Chicagoland Speedway.
Rhodes made his debut in the Xfinity (formerly Nationwide) Series, which is only one step below the top-tier Sprint Cup Series, last month. Driving the No. 88 he finished seventh (after starting 14th) in the 3M 250 at the Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa on May 17. Rhodes missed his high school graduation for the race - Holy Cross President Tim Weihe was there to present him with his diploma during driver introductions.
Rhodes grew up racing go-karts before graduating to more high-powered machines.
Last year, he won five of 16 races to earn the championship in NASCAR’s K&N Pro Series East, a regional developmental circuit, as well as finishing in the top 10 in three of his four races in the Camping World Truck Series, all while attending Holy Cross. And although Rhodes admits he may have missed out on some parts of the high school experience, he believes it was all for good reason.
“I feel like racing is my life and it’s what I want to do, but at the same time it would’ve been cool to experience some of the stuff in my life from the time I was 7,” Rhodes, who graduated with a 3.98 grade-point average, told nascar.com last month. “I never played any other sports. I came home and worked on go-karts every single day after school and did my homework and prepared for the next race.
“It’s what I know, but it would’ve been cool to experience that and maybe make a few more friends, but I wouldn’t trade it for what I’m doing.”
And what Rhodes did in his first Xfinity start was pretty impressive. After starting 14th he quickly moved into the Top 10 before a pit road speeding penalty dropped him back to 24th. Rhodes, though, fought through some handling issues with his car and moved from 12th to seventh after a late restart.
“I was learning a lot early on and as the race went on, I was able to get a little more aggressive in the Alpha Energy Solutions Chevy, maybe a little too aggressive at times as I hit the wall a little bit,” said Rhodes, whose sponsor is his father’s company, Alpha Energy Solutions, Inc., a commercial and industrial mechanical service provider with multiple specialities (HVAC, boilers, electrical, plumbing, etc.). “I was trying to find as much grip as I could, changing my lines and moving around. We had a pretty decent setup. Our car worked well on longer runs as other cars slowed down; I think we were able to stay with them then. On the restarts was where we made up all our ground. I was praying for restarts. Every time there was a restart and I could be on the high side, or even the low side on that last restart, it worked out really well for us and we were able to pick up some spots.”
Rhodes will try to pick up where he left off this weekend in Chicagoland. Practice begins at 3:30 p.m. Friday with qualifying set for 5:15 p.m. Saturday afternoon before the 300-mile, 200-lap race begins at 9:30 p.m.
“Chicagoland Speedway is the fastest track that I have been to thus far,” Rhodes said. “We tested there earlier this season, mainly so that I could get seat time in an Xfinity car before my debut at Iowa. However, the experience from the test combined with my Iowa Speedway start will help me to be more comfortable in the car this weekend, which will, in turn, give us more speed. Testing at Chicagoland also helped me learn some of its particular characteristics - it has bumps in both corners and you need to carry a wide arch on entry.”
Rhodes is scheduled to make eight more races for Earnhardt’s JR Motorsports over the rest of the season, as he splits “seat time” with team owner Dale Junior, Kasey Kahne and Kevin Harvick (the reigning SCS champ), after Saturday night’s race.
“I would be satisfied with another top-10 finish in my Alpha Chevrolet this weekend,” he said. “This race is all about experience. The more laps that I make, the more comfortable I will become. Comfort leads to speed!”
Photo courtesy Ben Rhodes' Facebook Page
