Ben Rhodes rolled into Daytona riding high on the wave of last year’s victory, with two wins in the last three races fueling his drive. Up until stage 2, he was on fire, nimbly dodging the chaos that unfolded in his wake as he gunned for the lead. But fate dealt him a cruel hand at lap 73 when disaster struck—a blown tire sent him spinning, handing over the reins to Corey LaJoie.

In a heart-to-heart with Matt Weaver, Ben Rhodes couldn’t hide the sting of that moment, saying the real kicker was being at the front of the pack when the wreck clipped his wings.

Ben Rhodes says fate couldn’t have picked a worse time for a wreck to hit

During the 70th lap, Rhodes pulled into the pit from third place due to a tire snafu. No sooner had he dealt with that than chaos ensued, likely sparked by the very same tire trouble. Taking the fall squarely on his shoulders, not blaming Goodyear for the tire issue, Rhodes admitted he did everything he could to steer clear of trouble, but it wasn’t enough. “It went down at the absolute worst time. I fell to go down to turn 3,” he recounted.

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Ben Rhodes further explained that he was too deep into the corner to safely dip onto the apron without the support of the bank. Doing so would’ve risked sliding right into the path of the oncoming pack. In a split-second decision, he opted against diving to the bottom to avoid triggering a pile-up, choosing instead to veer towards the outer edge. But it was a case of too little, too late. He got sandwiched, and from there, he was just a passenger in the ensuing mayhem. “So it just worse timing for that to happen. But I feel bad for everybody else that I’m racing against that got involved in that. I’m sorry for that,” he expressed.

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Being concerned about the track turmoil, Ben Rhodes stressed that causing such havoc was the last thing he wanted. “We were upfront; we were leading when the damage happened, right? I mean, that’s what sucks most. This is to be taken out while leading. You don’t hear about that a whole lot of this waste,” he lamented.