Ben Rhodes Wins Truck Series Championship, while Chandler Smith Wins at Phoenix Raceway

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AVONDALE, AZ – RIS – With a maniac-like final run, Ben Rhodes won the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Championship by shifting gears and running down Chandler Smith.  Rhodes finished third behind race winner Smith and runner-up Stewart Friesen. It was enough to give him his first Truck Series title over Zane Smith (finished fifth), John Hunter Nemechek (finished seventh) and Matt Crafton (finished 12th).

“I can’t even breathe – that was the hardest last 40 laps I think I’ve ever driven in my life,” Rhodes said after the race. “I was doing things with the race car I probably shouldn’t have been doing. It was dumb. But I had everything to lose.

“We brought it home and we won it. I don’t even know what to say. This is crazy. … I’m so proud, so proud of my ThorSport Racing group. We went to Daytona (at the start of the season) – this wasn’t like a vision that we had. Everybody wants to win (a championship), but you just don’t know. It’s so hard.”

Rhodes gave ThorSport its fourth Truck title after Crafton’s three in 2013, 2014 and 2019. He earned two wins, eight top-five finishes and 16 top-10 finishes this season.

Smith, who was leading with 30 laps to go, looked to be the winner and the champion before Rhodes drove his Toyota Tundra around him in the final laps.  Zande Smith blamed a truck that was  less than perfect.

“We struggled with that since we unloaded,” he said in an interview after the race. “Still, an insane year, really. We were, I don’t know, eight laps away from winning the championship. … I tried using all my tools from my side of things but could not get the (truck) to turn. We just fought that all night.”

Zane Smith reached Phoenix with a shot at the title after winning last week’s elimination race at Martinsville Speedway. The last two races saw him earn two of his three top five finishes in 2021, the win at Martinsville being almost a gift and leaders crashed and Smith avoided it for that win

As for the “other” Smith, Chandler Smith notched his second win of the season. He earned his first career Truck victory earlier in the playoffs at Bristol Motor Speedway  .ironically, Chandler Smith and Stewart Friesen finished 1-2 after being eliminated from the playoffs last week at Martinsville Speedway.

who was also eliminated last week, led a race-high 106 laps before finishing fourth in his final full-time start for GMS Racing. He now heads to the Xfinity Series with Richard Childress Racing in 2022.

Maybe the favorite to win, John Hunter Nemechek, had bad luck early.  On Lap 7, a brush with the wall and a resulting trip to the pits left him two laps down at the beginning. He got one lap with a caution in the first stage, but never recovered.  He did end up on the lead lap and moving forward, but there weren’t enough laps for him to catch up to Zane Smith, Chandler Smith, and eventual winner Rhodes.

The 2022 Truck Series season begins Feb. 18 at Daytona International Speedway.

Unofficial Results: 27th Annual Lucas Oil 150, November 5, 2021, Phoenix Raceway: 1 Mile Paved

Fin, St, Driver, Truck, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status

1) 1, Chandler Smith #, No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota, 150, 1, 1, 5, 39, 7, 60, Running

2) 7, Stewart Friesen, No. 52 Halmar International Toyota, 150, 4, 4, 1, 5, , 49, Running

3) 4, Ben Rhodes (P), No. 99 Bombardier LearJet 75 Toyota, 150, 5, 3, , , , 34, Running

4) 2, Sheldon Creed, No. 2 Liftkits4less.com Chevrolet, 150, 2, 2, 6, 106, , 51, Running

5) 13, Zane Smith (P), No. 21 MRC Construction Chevrolet, 150, 9, 6, , , , 32, Running

6) 9, Christian Eckes, No. 98 Curb Records Toyota, 150, 8, 10, , , , 35, Running

7) 16, John Hunter Nemechek (P), No. 4 Pye-Barker Fire & Safety Toyota, 150, , , , , , 30, Running

8) 3, Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Frontline Enterprises Inc Ford, 150, 3, 5, , , , 43, Running

9) 6, Carson Hocevar #, No. 42 Premier Security/GM Parts Now Chevrolet, 150, 6, 7, , , , 37, Running

10) 11, Austin Hill, No. 16 United Rentals Toyota, 150, , , , , , 27, Running

11) 17, Johnny Sauter, No. 13 Tenda Toyota, 150, , , , , , 26, Running

12) 5, Matt Crafton (P), No. 88 Ideal Door/Menards Toyota, 150, 7, 8, , , , 25, Running

13) 27, Grant Enfinger, No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet, 150, , 9, , , , 26, Running

14) 14, Tyler Ankrum, No. 26 LiUNA! Chevrolet, 150, , , , , , 23, Running

15) 8, Derek Kraus, No. 19 NAPA AutoCare Toyota, 150, 10, , , , , 23, Running

16) 12, Chase Purdy #, No. 23 BamaBuggies.com Chevrolet, 150, , , , , , 21, Running

17) 10, Hailie Deegan #, No. 1 Toter Ford, 150, , , , , , 20, Running

18) 23, Drew Dollar, No. 51 Sunbelt Rentals Toyota, 150, , , , , , 19, Running

19) 18, Ryan Truex, No. 40 Marquis Spas Chevrolet, 150, , , , , , 18, Running

20) 15, Jack Wood, No. 24 Quick Quack Car Wash Chevrolet, 150, , , , , , 17, Running

21) 25, Dean Thompson, No. 44 Thompson Pipe Group Chevrolet, 149, , , , , , 16, Running

22) 30, Will Rodgers, No. 34 Race To End Hep C Toyota, 149, , , , , , 15, Running

23) 29, Jordan Anderson, No. 3 Lucas Oil/Bommarito.com Chevrolet, 149, , , , , , 14, Running

24) 32, Willie Allen, No. 25 Rackley Roofing Chevrolet, 149, , , , , , 13, Running

25) 19, Ty Dillon, No. 32 Southern States Bank Chevrolet, 149, , , , , , 12, Running

26) 24, Austin Wayne Self, No. 22 GOTEXAN/AM Technical Solutions Chevrolet, 147, , , , , , 11, Running

27) 31, Chris Hacker, No. 33 Dropout Kings Toyota, 147, , , , , , 10, Running

28) 28, Danny Bohn, No. 30 North American Motor Car Toyota, 147, , , , , , 9, Running

29) 26, Taylor Gray, No. 17 FORD Ford, 146, , , , , , 8, Running

30) 35, Cory Roper, No. 04 CarQuest Auto Parts Ford, 146, , , , , , 7, Running

31) 36, Spencer Boyd, No. 20 Hair Club Chevrolet, 146, , , , , , 6, Running

32) 20, Kris Wright #, No. 02 First National Bank Chevrolet, 143, , , , , , 5, Running

33) 34, Tyler Hill, No. 56 Hill Motorsports Chevrolet, 106, , , , , , 4, Alternator

34) 21, Tate Fogleman, No. 12 RANDCO Industries Chevrolet, 98, , , , , , 3, Electrical

35) 22, Tanner Gray, No. 15 Ford Performance Ford, 80, , , , , , 2, Rear Gear

36) 33, Lawless Alan, No. 45 AutoParkIt.com Chevrolet, 11, , , , , , 1, Accident

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie, (P) Playoffs

Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 30 Mins, 34 Secs

Race Length: 150 Laps, 150 Miles

Average Speed: 99.374 MPH

Margin of Victory: 4.694 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 18, 2, 38, 52, 99, 42, 88, 98, 21, 19

Stage 2 Top 10: 18, 2, 99, 52, 38, 21, 42, 88, 9, 98

Comments: Chandler Smith has won the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway, his second career victory in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Ben Rhodes has won the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason indicated: Nos. 3, 04, 13 (Missing driver introductions), No. 26 (Unapproved adjustments).

Failed to Qualify: (3) 41 Dawson Cram, 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb, 6 Norm Benning.

Caution Flags: 4 for 25 laps

Laps: 13-18 (No. 45 Incident Frontstretch [4])

47-53 (Stage 1 Conclusion [3])

92-99 (Stage 2 Conclusion [34])

102-105 (No. 12 Stopped On Track [4]).

Lead Changes: 12 among 3 drivers

S. Creed 1-30

C. Smith # 31

S. Creed 32-34

C. Smith # 35-48

S. Creed 49-83

C. Smith # 84

S. Creed 85-88

C. Smith # 89-93

S. Creed 94

S. Friesen 95-99

S. Creed 100-132

C. Smith # 133-150.

Cometic Gasket Pole: Chandler Smith, No. 18

Mobil 1 Driver of the Race: Chandler Smith, No. 18

Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Chandler Smith, No. 18

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2021, Issue 11, Posted 1:25 AM, 11.06.2021