The emotion Rhodes showed after climbing out of his truck and celebrating wildly with his crew on the frontstretch after being handed the checkered flag was every bit as powerful as the tears he shed for his near-miss in Kansas.
“It was like, uncontrollable screaming on the radio,” Rhodes laughed. “I don’t even know what to feel … this is the biggest high of my life. This is crazy. I just never thought it would come after so many things went wrong and now it did and we’re here in victory lane. I’m so thankful.”
With his win Saturday night, Rhodes also locked himself into the Round of 6 in the playoffs and can “breathe easy” going to Talladega in two weeks’ time.
“We might not have been the fastest truck, but we pulled it off at the end when it mattered most,” he said. “We’re in the next round now and I’m telling you what, we are going to Homestead. This team just showed that it deserves to be in the playoffs after being so close so many times.”
Bell had one of the fastest trucks all night long, leading a race-high 64 laps, but had to settle for second as opposed to notching his sixth win of the season.
Nevertheless, the points leader paid a respectful nod to Rhodes’ hard work and determination in his post-race interview.
“That was some intense racing right there; that was really tough and Ben put up a heck of a fight,” said Bell. “I’m really bummed for our guys because they did an awesome job preparing this truck and we couldn’t quite close the deal. They gave me a piece to win with and I just didn’t get it done there on the last restart.”
“I’m really happy for Ben, though. He’s been long overdue for that win and he earned it tonight. Congrats to him, because he was really good throughout the whole race and he did a great job. Like I said, I’m bummed for my guys that we finished second because they deserved the win, but we’ve won (already), we’ll move on and we’ll get better.”
The Brad Keselowski Racing Fords of Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric trailed the two leading Toyotas to the line in third and fourth, with Daytona winner Kaz Grala completing the top five.
Cody Coughlin scored a career-best sixth place finish, ahead of Matt Crafton, Nemechek and Enfinger among the trucks on the lead lap at the checkered flag.
Johnny Sauter completed the top 10, the first truck one lap down, after a rally from a flat tire at lap 85 and subsequent speeding penalty that had him as many as four laps in arrears during the final third of the race.
With only Talladega Superspeedway remaining in the first round of the playoffs, Grala (-8) and Nemechek (-14) are the two drivers at risk of elimination, sitting below the cut line after two of the three Round of 8 races.
The first round of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series playoffs concludes Oct. 14 at Talladega, with the running of the Fred’s 250 powered by Coca-Cola (1 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM).
Full race results can be viewed on the next page…
