Toyota Racing – Ben Rhodes
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Quotes
DAYTONA BEACH (February 17, 2022) – ThorSport Racing driver Ben Rhodes was made available to media prior to the Daytona race this Thursday:
BEN RHODES, No. 99 EXT Extreme Hair Therapy Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, ThorSport Racing
How do you feel going into Daytona as the reigning, defending champion?
“Pretty good you know; practice will make me feel better. I kind of have like a metric that I do my own mental metric on how I think the truck is going to race aerodynamically and for stability, trying to get around a few people and try certain moves that, you know, allow me to kind of get a baseline so my crew chief (Rich Lushes) wants me to kind of follow his plan, but I’m gonna maybe do a little bit of my own thing sprinkled in there. Hopefully he doesn’t hear this but yeah, I mean, that’ll tell me right away. Last year, we qualified 23rd, I think. There was a lot of like, historically slow trucks in front of us. So, I don’t think it’s necessarily an indicator of how you qualify here. So yeah, I you know, I feel great. There’s an answer. That was a long-winded short answer.”
I got to visit the Toyota Performance Center last week. Is that a program that you are a part of?
“It is a good program. I would like to be, but I live eight hours away from that point. So that makes it tough for me, but if I move there, I would for sure be a part of it. But if they would invite me. If I get the invite, I would for sure be a part of it, but I had to move there first. It seems like an excellent program. I probably get in the best shape of my life. Definitely better than where I am now. But I’m still living in Louisville, Kentucky and the race shop still in Ohio. So, there’s some travel involved. But it is a thought. I did go house hunting this winter in North Carolina. I just didn’t never did it.”
What is biggest thing that you’ve done since becoming the champion?
“I had a pretty laid-back winter to be honest with you. I didn’t go to any Hollywood premieres, like Ryan Blaney. I just kind of chilled out and went to Florida Keys a little bit – went to the race shop. The coolest event was probably the Sandusky parade, where we did burnouts throughout like the whole town for like five miles. Then they had the Toyota-mobile, which was the new 2022 Tundra with the glass case in the back with the trophy. It’s just like ginormous parade. It was awesome. The truck was pretty much destroyed afterwards, but I got the, you know, the green line to do it. I didn’t get pulled over. The cops gave me a fake ticket. So, it is fun. I enjoy the heck out of that. But other than that, it’s pretty laid back. I mean, you had all the NASCAR banquets and all that stuff leading up to it but laid back on my side. We went to on the Chili Bowl. He watched literally like every lap of the shootout. And he says, ‘did you go on vacation yet?’ And I said no. He says you want to go on vacation with me to the to the Chili Bowl. So that sounds like a good vacation. So anyway, we had a good time. I would like to be a part of that event. Next year somehow. I’d like to do some midget races. I’d like to maybe get into some micros. I just looks like a really fun side sport that I have zero experience with, but I think it could help me I mean, for sure it would help develop some skills. I think back to my first race here at Daytona and like what I know now it’s like night and day. And even though last year when we won, I learned a lot of stuff at Talladega last year that I’m really excited to try out tomorrow.”
How do you look back at the night? You won the championship heading into a new season.
“I look back on about half of it up to up to most of the press conference. I was a little fuzzy. Speaking of which, that was the last time I was with you beautiful people. How about them apples? So yeah, I would say that. Honestly, I remember up to the press conference. They got a little fuzzy in there and then they give me a bunch of water and like snacks and then I diluted the beverages in the system and then it became memorable again. So, like there’s a couple TV spots that were running like some interviews as I sort of remember that, but I was definitely still buzzed. So great interviews, good memories, good times.”
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