Fourth time was the charm for Ben Rhodes.
Fourth overtime, that is.
ThorSport Racing driver Ben Rhodes won his second NASCAR Truck Series championship late Friday night in Phoenix after a series of unfortunate events befell his Final 4 competitors.
It looked like it was going to be Corey Heim time for most of the race, with the TRICON driver taking the first two stages and running first among the Final 4 drivers with 31 laps to go when fellow championship contender Carson Hocevar ran into the back of him and spun him out.
Hocevar was visibly upset, punched at his steering wheel after the incident and on the following restart fell back from second to 19th position.
“I didn’t even want to run the last few laps, the last rest of the laps, I just wanted to go crawl into a hole and I just feel bad,” Hocevar said.
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Heim’s car only suffered minor damage, but he wasn’t able to make up ground on Grant Enfinger and Rhodes as they battled for the championship lead, and with three laps remaining he dropped back in the field suddenly and put Hocevar into the wall.
“That’s fair,” Hocevar was heard saying over the radio.
Heim said after the race that the contact with Hocevar was due to side force and not deliberate, according to reporter Alan Cavanna.
“Well, the only person who really knows is me, so that’s all that really matters,” Heim said.
Enfinger, who was ahead of Heim when the yellow flag came out, didn’t think so, as it led to the first of four two-lap overtime shootouts.
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Rhodes started the final one in fourth and Enfinger managed to close the gap from 13th to sixth, but couldn’t make the pass as Rhodes held him off to win the championship behind race winner Christian Eckes.
Hocevar will be moving to the Cup Series with Spire Motorsports next year, while Heim is set for another season in the Truck Series with TRICON and Rhodes is expected to return with ThorSport.
Enfinger’s team, GMS, announced it was dissolving its Truck Series effort and he said he knows what he’s doing next season, but hasn’t announced it yet.