WATCH: How Ben Rhodes Pulls Off a Masterstroke to Win the NASCAR Truck Race at Darlington

During the NASCAR Truck race at the Darlington Raceway, Ben Rhodes managed to triumph. The driver was running in 4th when the Top-3 pitted before an overtime restart.

However, Rhodes did not follow suit and remained at fourth. Needless to say, he somehow fended off rookie driver Derek Kraus and won the South Carolina Education Lottery 200.

As it happened, this is the 23-year-old’s third NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series win in his career. Owing to this, Rhodes is now the seventh different winner of 2020.

“Gosh, that was such a tough win,” Rhodes said. “We weren’t the best truck all day. I was actually really disappointed when the [final] caution flag came out because I thought the fourth place is a good finish for us, we’ll get in the Playoffs.”

How did everyone else finish behind Ben Rhodes?

Derek Kraus grabbed second place, his career-best finish, and is now within 10 points of the Playoffs cutoff line. This is crucial since one race remains to decide the fate of the 10-driver Playoffs field.

Championship leader Austin Hill rounded out the Top-3, with Grant Enfinger and Christian Eckes tailing him. Raphael Lessard, Todd Gilliland, Stewart Friesen, Timmy Hill, and Brett Moffitt completed the Top-10.

In the process, Rhodes halted GMS Racing’s four-race winning streak. However, he and the team worked together to pull off an excellent strategy and a well-timed pass in the final few laps.

For a while, it seemed that this race would culminate in another GMS win. This was because Moffitt and Creed split the first two-stage wins between them.

In stage three though, Creed found himself in the lead when a caution came out with two laps left. Creed, Hill and Moffitt, all dived into the pits for tires. However, fourth-placed Rhodes abstained along with 11 other drivers.

It is worth noting that Todd Gilliland is still alive in the Playoffs battle, with a 10-point buffer to Kraus. Now, the paddock heads to Richmond for the next race in the Playoffs.

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