Third year Camping World Truck Series driver Ben Rhodes has yet to lead a lap in three races so far this season, but he’s still come away with two fourth and one seventh place finish. While he’s struggled at Martinsville in the past, finishing in the top 10 just once in five races, he’s hoping to continue his strong season in Saturday’s Alpha Energy Solutions 250.
“I think it’ll be a good show, we just have to keep our truck in one piece,” he said during a press conference Friday. “That’s kind of been a problem of mine in the past, either brake failures or something happening. We just need to be in one piece at the end and I think we’ll be fast enough for a top 5.”
Rhodes admitted he’s had some hiccups so far this season. After qualifying 24th at Daytona, he said his team went into the race not worried about leading laps or picking up stage points, but rather just finishing well.
The number 41 truck also struggled to a fourth place finish at Atlanta, despite finishing with what he called “severe motor issues.”
Rhodes said avoiding more hiccups will be his focus Saturday. He compared Martinsville to a track like Talladega and Daytona where issues can arise with other drivers and suck outsiders in when it isn’t really their fault.
Survival will be the name of the game for Rhodes.
“We have had some success here in the past and we’ve had really good speed. We’re kind of going back to what we know and the basics,” he said. “And I feel like between all the momentum this season, all the people that are here to support us… I feel like there’s a lot of good things that can happen for us this weekend. But like I said we have to survive. We’ve had a couple bad races here in the past.”
Martinsville is the final race before a five week break in the CWTS schedule, so Rhodes hopes to get some momentum before the extended layover. He said, though, his team is looking forward to the down time to do some more research and development on their new motor package.
“It’s tough, I mean you go from Atlanta to Vegas and that was nice compared to years past. You used to just go to Atlanta and then wait until Martinsville. But now we have that five week break… it’s just absolutely crazy,” he said. “I wish we had some more races to kind of fill the schedule or the schedule was at least spread out a little bit more because once May hits it’s tough. But I know myself and my team, we need that time. Even though we’re not at the racetrack we can use this time for every ounce that it’s worth.”
Benjamin experiencing Martinsville for the first time
Kyle Benjamin will be making his Camping World Truck Series debut Saturday, after running five times in the XFinity Series last season, and once this year. No only will Saturday will be his first time racing at Martinsville, this weekend is his first time ever coming to the track.
“It means a lot to me, especially coming here to a racetrack I’ve wanted to race at my entire life,” he said. “I’ve actually never even seen it in person so this is going to be a whole new experience for me. Short track racing is what I’m used to so I’m excited to do that again.”
Benjamin said his hope is to make it to the end of the race with his truck intact and not get caught up in anyone else’s wrecks.
He said if he can do that, anything can happen.
“The main thing is trying to make it to the end. If you make it to the end you’ve got a shot to win,” he said. “I haven’t been in a seat in a while so just trying to… come in here and do the best I can. Like I said just doing the best you can, you don’t have to worry about things that can happen, just trying to think about the things you can control and perform to the best of your abilities and if you do that you’ll be happy. Or I’ll be happy at least.”
Benjamin is still working towards a full-time ride in either a Trucks or Xfinity Series car. He’s running a partial schedule with Joe Gibbs Racing on the XFinity Series, and will race Saturday for DGR-Crosley in the No. 54.
He’s hoping this weekend will be a good chance for him to put on a show for the future.
“It just means everything to get the opportunity,” he said. “You work your whole life to get here. You’re kind of fighting tooth and nail to try to make it to the top ultimately, and it gets difficult around the Truck Series and just getting all the opportunities to stay in the season as much as possible and trying to get there at the right time. A lot of it is timing too. You’ve got to do the right things on the track and time it. We just try to stay optimistic and do the best you can behind the wheel, that’s all you can do.
“It just means everything to me to get these opportunities… I’ve been really fortunate so far and thankful for what I’ve had already and hopefully there’s more.”