Focus, Hard Work Lead Rhodes to Title
Young Driver Remains Focused On Improving
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – What makes a champion? Is it talent, opportunity, coaching or luck?
If you ask 100 people that question you might get 100 different responses, but in the case of NASCAR Next driver Ben Rhodes, the 2014 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East champion, the most appropriate answer might be “focus.”
CHAMPION CAR OWNER: HARRY SCOTT JR. | CHAMPION CREW CHIEF: MARK MCFARLAND
Focus is what helped take a 17-year-old rookie from Louisville, Kentucky, and turn him into the top driver in the series.
“To be honest with you, I saw it in a couple of the races last year,” said car owner Harry Scott Jr. when asked about the moment he saw things click for Rhodes. “Then, once we got to Daytona this year, he really started coming off strong. Then he had that stretch where he won four races in a row and you could tell he was in a good place there. You can tell he is a dedicated student of the sport.”
According to Scott, Rhodes spent the last two summers living with Mike Greci, head of Turner Scott Motorsports’ K&N Series operations, further studying the sport, working in the shop and being around his crew members.
nknps14-east-champ_4c_prt.jpgRhodes, who had previous experience running Late Models before making his K&N Pro Series East debut in 2013 in select events, began 2014 with a new crew chief, Mark McFarland. He finished fourth in the season debut but stumbled to a 15th place finish two nights later at the Battle at the Beach in Daytona.
Rhodes rebounded quickly, scoring his first podium finish of the year the next time out, a third-place effort at Bristol and followed it up with his first career victory at Greenville Pickens just seven days later. After a runner-up finish in his next start, Rhodes headed to Iowa and began an impressive four-race win streak that would see him celebrate at Bowman Gray, Five Flags and Langley.
“It’s just something that we built on all season,” said Rhodes. “We were fast from early on, had good communication, and just got faster and faster as the season went on. I think our communication developed quicker than other teams and that led to early success.”
When things are going your way, as they appeared to be going for Rhodes throughout the majority of the season, it is easy to lost concentration and rest on your laurels. That wasn’t the case for Rhodes. Week in and week out, especially during his win streak, Rhodes was asked about momentum and if he felt comfortable knowing he was coming off a victory or a strong finish and every week he answered in similar fashion.
“We’ve always been focused on the next race,” said Rhodes. “As soon as the checkered flag drops on one track we’ve been focused on the next one. There was a lot of pressure that people try to put on you to keep winning but to me, it was always just another race.”
The youngster finished out the season with three top fives and five top 10s in his last seven starts, clinching the title in the series’ return trip to Greenville Pickens, the penultimate event of the year.
He also made his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut in 2014, picking up two top 10s in his first three races and earning a fifth place finish in his fourth and final truck race of the year, the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway.
“Anytime that you’re in the seat of a race car it contributes to your development,” said Rhodes. “Anytime that you’re racing people and getting to work on your race craft, that’s development. I’ve had a lot of seat time this year to try to get better and spending all that time in that K&N car definitely helped me get better.”
Just two months shy of his 18th birthday, Rhodes already has impressive accolades on his racing resume. That is pretty good for someone who almost quit the sport after his first race.
“It was not a good experience,” said Rhodes of his first karting event at age 7. “I got ran over by the leader, I got lapped by multiple people… I wanted to quit. When I got out, I wanted to tell my parents that I didn’t want this anymore and to sell the go-kart, but I was afraid of what my dad would think since he just bought it for me. I decided to stick with it for a few more weeks and it started to click and we started winning races.”
Rhodes credits his father, Joe, as his biggest inspiration and one of the reasons he is where he is today.
“He motivates me by seeing how much work he puts in,” said Rhodes. “It makes me want to race harder. When I was racing go-karts, he was my crew chief, he was my dad, he was my driving coach, he was everything. We didn’t know anything. My family hadn’t been around racing so we were learning together. He’s still there for me today at every one of my races. It’s really cool to see how we’ve grown together as a family, as my teacher, as my dad.”
Sources: John Tejeda/NASCAR PR