One NASCAR Ford Truck Avoids Elimination At Homestead 2023: Video

Ben Rhodes, driver of the No. 99 NASCAR Ford F-150, will the the sole Blue Oval racer eligible for the Truck Series championship, eking his way into the final four competitors thanks to his performance at Homestead-Miami Speedway on October 21^st, 2023.

Rhodes was credited with a second place finish, behind the No. 42 Chevy Silverado RST of Carson Hocevar, having pitted with 53 laps left on the board. He was able to finish ahead of the No. 2 Silverado of Nick Sanchez, who was also trying to avoid elimination, thereby winning out in the tiebreaker than ultimately decided the position.

“Our truck was so bad all day long, we had nothing else to do,” Rich Lushes, crew chief for the No. 99 NASCAR Ford team, said. “Like we had to do something different from everybody else so it was the only call I really had. It worked.”

Rhodes echoed his crew chief’s sentiment about the poor handling of his race truck.

“I was so terrible the whole race, I didn’t think it was going to work out,” Rhodes said. “So I mean, that’s just plain and honest. Right? I’m never gonna hide that. But I had faith in the call. Every time we’re down, Rich does a really good job of making some call off-strategy nobody else is doing. And he pulls it out and we end up winning something. Right now, it’s advancing.”

Meanwhile, the No. 38 NASCAR Ford F-150 of Zane Smith crossed the line in second, but he was disqualified in postrace inspection and credited with a last-place finish instead. This was due to an infraction found in the race truck’s windshield support.

# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
P – Playoffs eligible

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