Ben Rhodes roars to top-10 Xfinity Series debut in Iowa
Ben Rhodes made it his goal to complete every lap of his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut and finish in the top 10.
Well, check and check.
The 18-year-old from Louisville wound up seventh in Sunday's 3M 250 — Rhodes' first start in one of NASCAR's top two national series — after an up-and-down race at the Iowa Speedway won by Chris Buescher.
Rhodes rallied from an early pit road speeding penalty, at one point running a lap down, to sit 11th before a final restart with two laps to go. The Holy Cross High School graduate picked up four spots on fresh tires to impress in his No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.
"It was pretty crazy," Rhodes said. "I thought that last restart was a blessing."
Yes, by the way, Rhodes is officially a graduate. A national TV audience saw Holy Cross president Tim Weihe present the 3.98 GPA student with his diploma during driver introductions, a story picked up by Fox, NBC and other national media outlets ahead of Sunday's race.
"I was a little stressed out when the weekend began just wanting to do everything I could," Rhodes said. "In racing there are a lot of things you can't control. ... But I really enjoyed my first start."
Rhodes battled a car loose on entry to the corner and tough to turn the rest of the way. But he clawed back into the top 15 after the speeding penalty and received NASCAR's free pass — for the first car not on the lead lap — during a caution at lap 153.
From there, progress mostly leveled off for a driver who last year won five races and a championship in NASCAR's K&N Pro Series East, a regional developmental circuit. A late incident, though, brought out the last of nine cautions and set Rhodes for his late run.
"The track changed so much, and the line was nowhere where we've ever run before," Rhodes said. "The (preferred) line has always been on the bottom side, and that's how we set up our race car. So when everybody moved to the top, and that was where the grip was, it just didn't work. But we know what we need to do next time, and I feel comfortable in the car now."
Even before Sunday's race, Dale Earnhardt Jr., co-owner of JR Motorsports, has been impressed.
"He's an exceptional young man — very well-mannered and well-spoken and has a great opportunity to be successful as a driver but also represent his partners well," Earnhardt Jr. said after a test session at Kentucky Speedway last month. "He seems to really understand the importance of being the whole package. He's really doing a lot when it comes to being accountable at the races, standing around and trying to be a sponge for the information that's available to him while we're practicing."
Rhodes is back in the No. 88 car for the Xfinity Series' June 20 race at Chicagoland Speedway, with the other eight of his 10 scheduled races – including a Sept. 26 stop at Kentucky Speedway — falling in the second half of the season.
Lintner writes for The (Louisville) Courier-Journal