Ben Rhodes goes back-to-back at Daytona road course

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returned to Daytona International Speedway, this time on the road course. Ben Rhodes looked to make it two in a row after winning last week’s race and taking the pole for this race. It had rained all day at Daytona until the race started, with all teams starting the race on rain tires.

GREEN GREEN GREEN The field makes it through Turn 1 relatively unscathed in rainy conditions at @DAYTONA 📺: FS1 📱: https://t.co/kd5eqlatOc pic.twitter.com/3U4gH09AF0 — NASCAR Camping World Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) February 20, 2021

It didn’t take long for the action to get started; just as the green flag was waved, Zane Smith hit Raphael Lessard, causing a traffic jam at turn one; however, the race remained green. The race stayed green until four laps to go when the No. 04 truck of Cory Roper spun at the horseshoe, escaping with no damage. The race resumed with one lap to go in stage one, which went to John Hunter Nemechek.

All of the teams except for Nemechek went to pit road during the caution. When stage two began at lap twelve, Nemechek and Ben Rhodes were on the front row. Things were looking good for Nemechek until his truck lost oil pressure, and he came to a stop at the backstretch. After a push to get him to pit road, Nemechek continued the race once the oil pressure problems were fixed. Before the yellow came out for Nemechek, teams were scrambling to make it to pit road. The caution finally came out with three laps to go. Raphael Lessard would win stage two.

Most of the trucks that didn’t pit before the caution came out went to pit road. All those who did pit before the caution stayed out. Once the pit stops were complete, Matt Crafton was the new leader as the final stage was underway on lap 28.

Three laps into the final stage, Carson Hocevar hit several barriers on pit road before Ryan Truex hit him from behind to bring out the fourth caution. In a separate incident, Spencer Boyd’s truck blew a tire exiting the bus stop. It took the NASCAR officials several minutes to replace the barriers. During the caution, eight drivers, including Matt Crafton, went to pit road. Sheldon Creed had to restart in the back after failing to maintain the speed limit when he shut his truck off, saving fuel.

Riley Herbst and Stewart Friesen were upfront when the race resumed on lap 36. Ben Rhodes was able to get the lead within the first two turns on the restart. This restart only lasted a lap when Brett Moffitt hit Zane Smith, who then turned in front of Johnny Sauter to bring out the caution for the fifth time.

No one went to pit road during the caution as drivers were shutting their trucks off to save fuel. Rhodes remained the leader when the race resumed on lap 38. Just as the race was getting back underway, the sixth caution would come out for Austin Hill when his truck blew a right rear tire on lap 39. With all the caution laps, some of the teams had saved enough fuel to make it through the race. The race resumed with three laps to go. Not long after that, another caution came when Sam Mayer got loose at the dogleg and hit Tanner Gray, taking Mayer out of the race while Gray continued.

The race was now heading into the first overtime. Sheldon Creed was now the new leader, with Rhodes next to him for the restart. Rhodes had regained the lead and was pulling away from Creed. Just as he was about to take the white flag, the ninth caution came out for two separate incidents. One was a spin by Raphael Lessard; the other was Austin Wayne Self hitting the wall on the backstretch. Hailie Deegan hit Jett Nolan, sending him into the wet grass, and he could not get the truck to move. NASCAR officials had to pull Nolan’s truck out.

Ben Rhodes was visibly frustrated on the radio, telling his crew chief, “UN-F**KING-BELIEVABLE. This is embarrassing.” By that point, the race went longer than the scheduled distance, which was 44 laps. The third overtime was underway on lap 48. Just as quickly as the green flag waved, the ninth caution was out for a stalled truck driven by Jennifer Jo Cobb. The race promptly resumed on lap 50. There was a pileup on the backstretch when Tyler Ankrum and Chandler Smith both spun, but the race stayed green. Rhodes was able to make it to the white flag. The caution would come out for another stalled truck by Jett Nolan, ending the race, giving Ben Rhodes his second win of the season and the 200th win for Toyota.

The rest of the top-ten finishers were Sheldon Creed second, John Hunter Nemechek third, Todd Gilliland fourth, Riley Herbst fifth, Matt Crafton sixth, Derek Kraus seventh, Kaz Grala eighth, Timmy Hill ninth, and Christian Eckes tenth. There was a total of ten cautions for twenty laps. The race went two-hours and forty-four minutes for a 44-lap race. There were nine lead changes, with John Hunter Nemechek leading the most laps with fourteen followed by Ben Rhodes with thirteen.

The Truck Series will have two weeks off before heading to Las Vegas on Friday, March 5th, at 9 pm on FS1.

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