Well, up until last week’s surprise victory at Darlington Raceway, Ben Rhodes had scored a total of ZERO Playoff Points in the 2020 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series season. However, fast forward to this weekend’s ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond Raceway, and suddenly the driver of the No. 99 has some big momentum.
Rhodes, who won last weekend’s race at Darlington Raceway thanks to a strategic roll of the dice, captured Stage 2 of Thursday’s NGROTS event at Richmond as well.
Rhodes assumed the lead after a brief battle with his ThorSport Racing teammate on lap 119.
Enfinger would score the runner-up finish in the Stage. Austin Hill would come home third, while former full-time NASCAR Cup Series competitor David Ragan impressed with a fourth place finish in Stage 2 in DGR Crosley’s No. 17 truck.
Zane Smith, who won Stage 1 and looked good early in Stage 2 finished fifth.
Brett Moffitt, Matt Crafton, Sheldon Creed, Todd Gilliland and Timmy Hill rounded out the top-10 in Stage 2.
The Stage was relatively clean, as the whole race has been to this point. The lack of green flags have led to many trucks going a lap down, including Playoff hopeful Derek Kraus who ended Stage 2 one lap off the pace.
Stage and Playoff Points Awarded in Stage 2:
| Finish | Driver | Stage Points | Playoff Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ben Rhodes | 10 | 1 |
| 2 | Grant Enfinger | 9 | 0 |
| 3 | Austin Hill | 8 | 0 |
| 4 | David Ragan | 7 | 0 |
| 5 | Zane Smith | 6 | 0 |
| 6 | Brett Moffitt | 5 | 0 |
| 7 | Matt Crafton | 4 | 0 |
| 8 | Sheldon Creed | 3 | 0 |
| 9 | Todd Gilliland | 2 | 0 |
| 10 | Timmy Hill | 1 | 0 |
