LOUISVILLE, KY :: With three races under his belt this season in three different touring series and states, Louisville, Kentucky, native Ben Rhodes will head back to the Carolinas to race his No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions Late Model Stock with Hawk-McCall Motorsports in two events this weekend. On Friday, March 22nd, he will compete in the Myrtle Beach 400 make-up event from November, 2012, at Myrtle Beach Speedway (SC), and on Saturday, March 23rd, he will race in the second season event for the UARA-STARS at Hickory Motor Speedway (NC).
In November, Rhodes timed in seventh of the 40 cars during qualifying for the Myrtle Beach 400. With three drivers guaranteed to start within the top five inserted into the field ahead of Rhodes, he was to roll off the grid for the feature from the 10th position, but rains forced postponement of the race. The track decided to wait until their 2013 opening weekend to make up the event.
Rhodes will be driving the same chassis he qualified in, which is nicknamed “Smoke.” It is the same chassis he drove at the NASCAR UNOH Battle At The Beach Daytona International Speedway (FL) event in February. In that car, he timed in fourth overall, won his heat, started on the pole, and drove to a second-place finish.
“We had a really good car here in November,” said Rhodes. “Unfortunately mother nature didn’t quite work with us that weekend, so we had to come back this weekend to complete out the weekend. The Alpha Energy Solutions Late Model is a really good car, so we are expecting to do well at Myrtle Beach Speedway.”
After the race concludes Friday night, Rhodes and the Hawk-McCall Motorsports team will ride up the road to race in the second event of the UARA-STARS 2013 tour Saturday night in Hickory, North Carolina. Rhodes will be driving the chassis nicknamed “Princess,” which he drove to a third-place finish earlier this month in the UARA season opener at Southern National Motorsports Park.
“With the Myrtle Beach race, we are missing the Friday practice session at Hickory, but we have a great baseline set-up for Hickory and we will dial it in during the race day practice before qualifying.”
The weekend double comes on the heels on Rhodes’ debut in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East at Bristol Motor Speedway (TN) with Turner Scott Motorsports where the young racer finished ninth after starting 21st in a back-up car due to a practice crash when a competitor lost their oil tank, creating a massive oil slick and sending multiple cars into the wall.
“We had a great weekend at Bristol, despite having to use a back-up car,” said Rhodes. “Lee (McCall, crew chief for both operations) and the entire Turner Scott Motorsports crew worked their tails off last week and it showed in the results. We are using that momentum for this weekend in the Late Model.
“It is going to be a busy weekend for the Hawk-McCall Motorsports team, but we are ready for the challenge of racing at two tracks in two states in two days.”
In 2013, Rhodes is sponsored by Alpha Energy Solutions as well as Alliance Comfort Systems, Kentucky National Guard, Refrigerant Rescue, and Park Community Federal Credit Union.
Qualifying for the Myrtle Beach 400 was set last November, but those that did not enter last year will be allowed to try and race their way in via a last-chance race to start at the tail of the field. This will occur on race day Friday with the green flag for the feature to take place around 7:30pm Eastern.
The UARA-STARS qualifying for the 150-lap event on Saturday will take place at 5:00pm Eastern with the green flag for the features at 7:30pm. Local races will also be a part of the race night.
Updates on Rhodes during the weekend can be followed at www.twitter.com/benrhodesinc.
For more information on Ben Rhodes, including media availability, contact Jason “Stix” Buckley of STIX FX Entertainment at (704) 519-5528 or [email protected], and make sure to keep up to date on his racing career at www.benrhodesinc.com, like him on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/benrhodesinc, and follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/benrhodesinc.
