In the wildest Championship 4 finish in Truck Series history, the least expected contender took the crown. As the fastest drivers, Corey Heim and Carson Hocevar, crashed and fell out of the trophy run, Ben Rhodes, the 2021 champion, reclaimed his title.

According to Rhodes, it all came down to raw talent versus age-old experience in the final laps at the Phoenix Raceway.

Ben Rhodes wins chaotic Truck championship as “youthful exuberance” becomes his rivals’ downfall

As analysts and experts predicted, their favored driver, track records, past wins, and season consistency were taken into account. But the exhilarating race threw all set notions out of the window as the trophy was awarded to the last man standing after multiple cautions severely extended the race time. Eventually, out of sheer resilience and stroke of luck combined, Ben Rhodes edged past Grant Enfinger in the 4th overtime restart to win his second Truck championship.

In the post-race interview, Rhodes admitted he wasn’t in the fastest car in the race, but perhaps he was the most level-headed of them all. The heated rivalry between Corey Heim and Carson Hocevar worked in the favor of Rhodes and Enfinger as the two got an opportunity to take charge of the front when their first-time Championship 4 competitors relegated themselves to the back of the race.

Speaking to Sirius XM in a post-race interview, Rhodes quipped, “I saw that happening, and I just thought, well, youthful exuberance. I’ve been there, I’ve done that. I was young once and inexperienced, not saying those guys aren’t good, they are very good. Corey Heim had the Truck to beat tonight. He was calm, cool, and collected the whole race until we had to come back through the field.”

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He further admitted, “I didn’t think I’d be sitting here right now, though. I had a lot of issues… I’m glad youthful exuberance exists because they were fast. Had they just played their cards a little bit different, had a little more patience, this would have worked out for them.” While Heim and Hocevar battled each other, Ben Rhodes had Grant Enfinger fast approaching, and a misaligned steering wheel hindering his victorious path.

Ben Rhodes kept Grant Enfinger at bay in a brutally damaged racecar

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The road did not instantly become clear for ThorSport Racing’s #99 Ford driver, Ben Rhodes. His experienced counterpart Grant Enfinger put in just as much effort in the final restart to give a winning send-off to his team GMS Racing. Recalling the tense moments, Rhodes revealed, “So those two get racing hard and I see it happen and all of a sudden I’m just looking around, looking at the scoring pylon, I’m looking behind me, ‘where’s Grant Enfinger’, I’m trying to take in all of the variables and see what’s in effect.”

He continued, “We had 25 laps overtime I think [29], greater than 25 laps, 3-4 restarts where we’re basically in the championship position. But I had to hold on to it because Grant Enfinger had new tires and I had damage because Zane Smith missed a shift on restart, knocked the whole nose part, the wheel got knocked out of my hand, the toe was knocked out.”

In these perilous circumstances, the #99 driver somehow retained his focus, and that made all the difference in the world. Rhodes reflected, “Basically the steering wheel was knocked to a different position so it’s not going to turn us good. My transmission, I was having trouble getting it from 3rd to 4th. So I missed 3, maybe 4 shifts and I didn’t miss them it just would not synchronize, would not get into 4th gear. So that was a problem but somehow we overcame all the problems the night.”

The race served as a timely warning for the matured Xfinity and Cup Series contenders and provided a disordered visual reminder to keep the mammoth stakes in mind in their upcoming championship races.

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