DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A serendipitous start to the 2021 season at Daytona put ThorSport Racing driver Ben Rhodes in position to claim the title he eventually won at Phoenix Raceway in November.
Rhodes won the season opener at Daytona International Speedway by .036 seconds over Jordan Anderson. He followed that a week later with an unlikely win on the Daytona Road Course, guaranteeing the driver of the No. 99 Tundra a spot in the postseason Playoff.
Those were Rhodes’ only two victories of the season, but he secured his first championship with a third-place result in the Championship 4 race at Phoenix, two spots ahead of title runner-up Zane Smith.
Now Rhodes returns to Daytona with hopes of duplicating his victory in Friday night’s NextEra Energy 250 (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“I feel pretty good,” Rhodes said when asked about his prospects for Friday’s race. “Practice will make me feel better. “I have my own mental metric about how I think the truck is going to race aerodynamically and for stability.
“I try to get around people and try certain moves that allow me to get a baseline.”
Rhodes is a proven superspeedway racer, but he’ll have plenty of competition for the Daytona trophy this year. John Hunter Nemechek, the 2021 regular-season champion, is back in the No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota, chasing the title that eluded him last year.
“Starting off the season on the right foot is super important,” Nemechek said. “We were able to have a great run last year. I feel like I’ve really enjoyed speedway racing. I feel like we’ve gotten our trucks better at superspeedway racing as of recent (races), had a shot to win Talladega, and we’re taking that same truck to Daytona. So hopefully it has some speed.”
Another superspeedway stalwart, Matt DiBenedetto, has secured a ride with Rackley W.A.R. in the No. 25 Chevrolet and should be a major player in Friday’s race.
Source: Reid Spencer / NASCAR Wire Service
