Ben Rhodes passed Carson Hocevar with four laps to go and ran away to win Saturday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Rhodes, the defending Truck Series champion, was on fresher tires than most of the field due to a fluke in pit strategy and quickly overtook Hocevar following a restart with five laps to go.
It is Rhodes’ first win of the season.
“I thought we gave it away for a moment,” Rhodes told Fox Sports. “Driving back through the pack like that was really, really tough and not something we wanted to do.”
Rhodes swept the first two stages of the race, but only because he accidentally didn’t pit after the first stage when he missed the turn onto pit road. When he finally pit after Stage 2, he had to restart at the back of the field.
“I wasn’t going to let (his team) down,” Rhodes said. “I had to go up there and earn the spot back.”
Hocevar, who led a career-best 55 laps, came home second tying his career-best result.
“(I should have) ripped the top or crashed (Rhodes),” Hocevar said. “I hate to say that. But it’s part of this racing. I couldn’t really compete with him. He had better tires and was fastest truck all day. … Second, it just sucks.”
The top five was completed by John Hunter Nemechek, Parker Kligerman and Christian Eckes.
Four NASCAR Cup drivers were in the field. Polesitter Joey Logano finished sixth, Chase Elliott was seventh, Austin Dillon 14th and Harrison Burton 20th.
The final caution of the night came with 12 laps to go when Ty Majeski, Buddy Kofoid and Derek Kraus were involved in a wreck.
The wreck began when Kofoid spun while trying to execute a crossover move on Rhodes, who had just passed him for position.
Kofoid, making his Truck Series debut with Kyle Busch Motorsports, had worked his way into the top five after starting the race near the back of the field. He finished 27th.
The final restart came with five laps to go as Hocevar led over Nemechek, Kligerman and Rhodes.
First Stage
While Joey Logano started from the pole, Ben Rhodes took the lead on the first lap.
He kept the lead until the first caution waved for Andrew Gordon spinning and stalling on the track with 17 laps to go.
Ty Majeski, making his first ever start on dirt, had moved up to fourth from eighth by the time of the caution.
The race resumed with nine laps let in the stage as Majeski overtook Logano for second.
Rhodes kept the lead until the end of the stage.q
The top 10 after 40 laps: Rhodes, Majeski, Friesen, Logano, Chandler Smith, Parker Kligerman, Chase Elliott, Matt Crafton, Carson Hocevar and Matt DiBenedetto.
During the the stage break, Rhodes intended to pit but missed the turn in to pit road. Majeski, his teammate, was told to do whatever Rhodes did, so he didn’t pit either.
Second Stage
Four laps after the restart, Kligerman briefly took fourth place from Logano as Rhodes continued to lead over Majeski and Austin Wayne Self.
Kofoid, who started the race near the back, was in 11th by Lap 51.
Lap 56 saw the second caution for incident as Kris Wright spun from a flat left-rear tire.
The race resumed on Lap 62. Nemechek moved into the top five as Self dropped out. Meanwhile, Kofoid cracked the top 10.
Despite not pitting and being on old tires, Rhodes won the stage while Majeski finished second.
The top 10 after 90 laps: Rhodes, Majeski, Nemechek, Kligerman, Logano, Chase Elliott, Kofoid, Hocevar, Chandler Smith and Derek Kraus.
Nemechek assumed the lead after Rhodes and Majeski finally pit. Logano and Elliott were among those who pit.
Kofoid would restart third behind Nemechek and Kligerman
Final Stage
On the restart on Lap 93, Hocevar took the lead from Nemechek after restarting fourth.
The caution cam on Lap 96 for a bizarre reason.
While racing for position, Self’s front bumper became attached to the rear bumper of Matt DiBenedetto’s No. 25 truck, linking them together and forcing them to come to a stop.
The red flag had to be displayed with 50 laps to go as track workers attempted to get the trucks unstuck.
No. 25 of Matt DiBendetto and No. 22 of Austin Wayne Self became stuck together #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/cqLvJh3UGs
— Brett Winningham (@NASCAR_BRETT) April 17, 2022
The race resumed with 45 laps to go as Grant Enfinger briefly moved into second and Kofoid cracked the top five.
Meanwhile, Rhodes was up to sixth on fresher tires.
The caution returned with 38 laps to go for an incident involving Keith McGee.
The race restart with 32 laps to go as Hocevar led Nemechek and Kligerman.