LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Audio and story by Managing Editor Jacob Seelman for Speed77 Radio and Race Chaser Online — Stix FX Entertainment photo —
In what is arguably the biggest step of his young career, Kentucky hotshoe Ben Rhodes is simply focused on taking his 2015 season “one race at a time”.
Rhodes was announced on Friday as the newest pilot for NASCAR Nationwide Series championship team JR Motorsports — signed to drive ten races in the famed No. 88 Chevrolet during the 2015 NASCAR XFINITY Series season.
The 17-year-old has seemingly skyrocketed from relative obscurity just three years ago to national stardom in 2014 after claiming the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East title in dominating fashion (scoring five wins and clinching the trophy with a race to go) and grabbing the series’ Most Popular Driver award as well.
Though the rise has seemed meteoric, Rhodes has repeatedly stressed that he’s not focused on how big or small his steps up the ladder may be — he just wants to go out and win every chance he gets.
“We’ve always been focused on the next race,” said Rhodes. “As soon as the checkered flag drops on one track we’ve been focused on the next one. There was a lot of pressure that people try to put on you to keep winning but to me, it was always just another race.”
However, that statement doesn’t mean Rhodes doesn’t appreciate how big it is to be driving for a team owner as accomplished as Dale Earnhardt Jr.
“It’s a huge deal for me and I’m just thankful for this opportunity that I’ve been given,” Rhodes said to Race Chaser Online on Saturday following the announcement. “It’s been a long work in progress. [But] I’m ready for it. I feel confident about the jump [and] I have confidence in the team. I don’t think you can ask for a much better team. We’re going to have the reigning Sprint Cup champion, the reigning Sprint Cup Most Popular Driver for the 12th year in a row. We have the reigning Xfinity Series champion, Rookie of the Year and Most Popular Driver and I’m just happy to be a small part of that.”
Rhodes cites his 2014 season — spread across the ARCA Racing Series, NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series — as the reason he feels solidly on his feet going into this new situation.
“Anytime that you’re in the seat of a race car it contributes to your development,” said Rhodes. “Anytime that you’re racing people and getting to work on your race craft, that’s development. I’ve had a lot of seat time this year to try to get better and spending all that time in that K&N car definitely helped me get better.”
“[I feel like] I’m pretty prepared for the Nationwide car,” Rhodes added. “I feel like the K&N Series has prepared me quite well for the tracks I’m going to. I did an ARCA race and that’s prepared me for some of the higher speed tracks that I’ll be going to as well. I feel like I’m prepared. I’ve raced with the Truck Series and it has the splitters, radial tires, more horsepower. I’ve raced in different cars that have prepared me for this next step and I can’t wait to kick it off.”
Rhodes’ first race is slated for May 17 at the Iowa Speedway, meaning he will have about five months to wait before climbing in the seat for the first time — a fact that surprisingly, doesn’t bother the young gun.
“It is a long time until I get back into the race car again,” Rhodes admitted, “[but] we’ll look at filling in with some testing sessions and different stuff to get me acclimated. We never know. Still looking to see what all happens, but we’ll have those 10 races for sure and I’m extremely excited for the opportunity. It’s an amazing opportunity at that.”
However, it was an opportunity that at the start of the summer, Rhodes thought he might not ultimately be able to realize.
“I know during the summer, when we had our stretch of wins, I was feeling really happy about that, but I was really uncertain about the future,” Rhodes said. “I think everybody’s uncertain about the future, but I just had no clue what to expect. Once I started building that relationship, it kind of gave me a boost of confidence and knowing that somebody like JR Motorsports have interest in me. I always looked up to those people…Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Bill Elliott, Regan Smith and Dale Earnhardt Jr. and wanted to be in their footsteps.”
“It’s just amazing they’ve given [me] this opportunity because you look to the future and you’re so uncertain about it all the time. It’s been pretty special for me. It’s been surreal I guess if that’s what to say.”
As surreal as his 2015 plans are, Rhodes will be able to take in one more surreal experience coming up this week — Champion’s Week — where he will finally be able to celebrate his 2014 K&N East title.
“I’ve never been more excited for a trip than I am for Champion’s week,” Rhodes smiled. “This is going to be awesome. This is going to be the time to celebrate — [to] look back over the season and think about everything that we’ve accomplished. We never really did that over the season. We just went it from race-by-race and we never really celebrated what we did, so this is going to be an awesome week for celebration.”
And even despite all of the hype and all of the buzz leading into his 2015 campaign? Rhodes’ strategy remains the same as it always has.
“I want to make realistic goals [and accomplish] stuff…that I can work for small increments. You can’t achieve your dreams of being at the Sprint Cup without small steps [along the way].”
NASCAR Home Tracks Media contributed to the content of this article.
Listen in to our full interview with NASCAR K&N Pro Series champion and 2015 JR Motorsports pilot Ben Rhodes as he talked with us about his upcoming season and his excitement on joining JR Motorsports:
