NASCAR Trucks: Rhodes hopes home race brings dream first win

It wasn’t that long ago that the 20-year-old Louisville native was on the other side of the table. 

Yet, in his second-full season in the Camping World Truck Series with ThorSport Racing, Rhodes has broken through as a weekly contender on the tour. Now he’s just looking for his first career win.

“I feel like 2017 has definitely been our year,” Rhodes said. “We’ve had decent performances at different tracks, we just haven’t had the results. In the past we had to struggle to put that together. Even this year we’ve struggled at times to get results because of certain obstacles in the races.

“We have a lot of great performances, but just haven’t had the results.”

Rhodes’ most biting obstacle was the loss of his engine at Kansas. He had led 25 laps and was holding Kyle Busch off at the point when his engine failed with eight laps remaining in the race.  He finished 23rd. 

Two races later, Rhodes led a record-high 71 laps at Dover International Speedway before finishing fourth. He acknowledged after the race the team just didn’t adjust to the changing track.  

“We’re right on the cusp of getting the win,” Rhodes said. “It’s just a matter of time. Everybody at Thorsport Racing is working their butts off. They’re trying to build speed and taking care of anything we think could be hindering us from getting us the win. 

“We’re giving it our best shot. I think it comes down to our time together as a team. We’re building all the trucks ourselves and learning what I want as a driver, what my crew chief (Eddie Troconis) thinks I need as a driver. It’s our first year working together and only his second season as a crew chief. It’s been a big learning curve for us, but it’s been good.”

Rhodes alignment with Troconis to start the season has been a turning point for the No. 27 team. In the first nine races of the 2017, Rhodes has scored more top-five finishes than he had in his previous 27 starts. He’s already matched his top-10 finishes from last season. His average finish of 10.9 is a career-best. 

“Drivers, especially young drivers, rely on their crew chiefs more than people think,” Rhodes said. “Not only to make the changes that they need but to mentor us in the right direction. They kind of become your coach in a way.

“While we have (veteran/champion) Matt Crafton at ThorSport Racing, during the race weekend, he’s not available because he’s in his truck at the same time. You don’t have that one-on-one time that you would really need to get better as a driver. You don’t have someone talking to you on the radio the whole time like you do a crew chief. 

"So having an experience crew chief, having somebody that understands you and can communicate with and can also coach you is a huge benefit particularly since he’s been to these tracks so many times and can predict what is going to happen. He does a really good job of painting the full picture for me.”

Last year, Rhodes qualified ninth and finished 13th at Kentucky Speedway. But nothing could be bigger for the driver than to score his first career truck victory in front of his home crowd. Friday also marks ThorSports 21st anniversary in the truck series with Terry Cook at the Milwaukee Mile. A win for the team would be a huge accomplishment and lock Rhodes into the Playoffs.

“I don’t think words could describe what it would mean to win at Kentucky,” Rhodes said. “I grew up driving past this race track on the way to every race I went to — just dreaming of being there one day. I’ve raced there three or four times there and still haven’t been able to get the win but friends, family, people that I’ve met and have helped me over the years are coming out to watch.

“Between Safelite Auto Glass and Alpha Energy, they’re bringing 4,000 people out together. It’s absolutely insane the amount of support we’re getting from my community, my area. That speaks volumes for the amount of support we have here. I really don’t think I can put into words what it would mean to me. I haven’t been able to deliver for them yet, but if I pull this off, I’ve told Kentucky Speedway they will need new grandstands.”