The hard feelings between ThorSport Racing teammates Ben Rhodes and Johnny Sauter continued once again in race No. 2 of the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season. In the final Stage of the BrakeBest Brake Pads 159 at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course, Ben Rhodes — who won last week’s season-opener on the Daytona Superspeedway layout — had a huge run on Sauter.
Rhodes pulled to the inside of Sauter’s No. 13 truck in an effort to pass his teammate, when Sauter did not give the No. 99 truck any room, which caused Rhodes to lock up his tires and pull into the grass to avoid spinning Sauter.
According to Jayski.com’s Dustin Albino, following the close call, Rhodes keyed up his radio and said, “Johnny’s a fucking bitch. Tell him I’m going to ship his ass.”
"Johnny's a fucking bitch. Tell him I'm going to ship his ass," Ben Rhodes says of his teammate Johnny Sauter.
The two teammates made contact in the infield. #NASCAR
— Dustin Albino (@DustinAlbino) February 20, 2021
That should make for a fun team meeting next week.
Not long after this issue, Rhodes would get around Sauter, but it was the continuation of the feud amongst teammates.
Last week at Daytona, Sauter made the decision to push John Hunter Nemechek around his teammate Rhodes on the final lap of Stage 1 of that race. This cost Rhodes a Playoff point.
While the missed Playoff point in the season-opener had to grind Rhodes’ gears, he ended up winning Friday night’s race at the Daytona Road Course after the ordeal with Sauter, so it may ultimately be chalked up to no harm, no foul.
