When the #99 team called him in, it seemed like Ben Rhodes still had a chance to get back to racing at the Darlington Raceway. After a very strong start to the Truck Series season, he finally seemed to be targeting the race win. However, his Truck was far beyond damage, and as he exited, he did not look happy at all. There seemed to be no clear reason for what had happened; moreover, there was also the possibility of a few punches landing in the race.

Ben Rhodes’ aggressive exit from the Darlington race

“That mother f***er caught our f***ing tire down!” Safe to say, Rhodes wasn’t very happy with how his race turned out to be.

His race ended just moments after the track had gone green, making it the first caution of the day. While it only seemed to be a puncture, Rhodes detailed in on the issue while speaking to the media:

“As soon as I turned the wheel and that tire moved, all of a sudden it moved it into the fender, and that’s what cut it,” he said. “So, the truck’s destroyed. They wanted me to try to stay in it and work on it, but the motor mounts were bent. It was pinned wide open on the throttle, so if I even push the clutch in, straight to the chip. So, there was nothing we could do to try to fix it to keep going.”

Tyler Ankrum was the #18 driver who made contact with Rhodes. He was attempting to clear himself, but his fender contacted the #99’s tire, sending him into the wall. Understandably, Rhodes was fuming, even during his interaction with the media.

“We worked really hard these last three races to get ourselves to be second in points. And the whole goal coming here was just to manage big picture race, just manage the race and not lose anything to the leader. Now we lose everything.”

He even claimed that he wanted to get into a physical brawl with Ankrum, but the recent fine trend from NASCAR stopped him: “Just sucks because it ruined our race. So yeah, I would love to go get myself a penalty and fight right now, but I thought that $75,000, so we won’t be doing that.”

While physical brawls were not rare back in the day, NASCAR has become rather strict now, with the penalties stacking up closer to the amount he mentioned. This was also the deterrent that stopped Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez from getting into a major fight last week at Las Vegas.

The drivers can be extra furious sometimes. However, NASCAR’s fines seem to be working. After all, a driver who landed such a penalty also feels the same.

Cup Series driver reflects on physical brawls and NASCAR’s penalties

Daniel Suarez claimed that the only reason he did not start a fight with Chastain earlier was to avoid a $50,000 fine from NASCAR. However, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, who himself got into a similar brawl back in 2024 with Kyle Busch, revealed that the fine was even harsher.

“I’m not sure where Daniel got his $50,000 from, but I wish that’s all it was. It’s definitely in your mind, you know? For me going forward, definitely would be in the back of my mind before I pull the trigger on that again,” Stenhouse told Jeff Gluck. “I’m sure everybody is thinking that as well but obviously, you heard Daniel’s words.”

Leaving the fine aside, the main aspect here is that Stenhouse Jr. claimed he would not be making any such mistakes in the future, and that is the main purpose of the fine. Moreover, Ben Rhodes also claimed that the only reason he didn’t get into a fight was to avoid the $75k penalty that he would have to face.

While NASCAR does give the drivers enough space from some drama, physical brawls are now off the list. Sure, the drivers can confront their competitors off the track, but the moment a physical fight is involved, it can get rather tricky. So, for Rhodes, even though he was fuming, he made the right decision to stay calm.