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Ben Rhodes won Thursday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Kentucky Speedway.

Rhodes, a Kentucky native, held off Stewart Friesen by .922-seconds in getting his first win of the season.

“I still don’t have any words,” Rhodes said after his second-career win in the Camping World Truck Series. “This is amazing, a dream come true. This has been such a long time coming. These guys deserved it so much. They’ve been working their butts off and we’ve been having such bad luck this year.

“We’ve had trucks like this all year long, finally we could showcase it. I’m so proud of this team. This is exactly what we needed.”

Friesen came from the rear of the field after the team was forced to change engines prior to the race to finish second – tying his career-best from Texas Motor Speedway earlier this year.

“We had an engine problem during time trials and the whole team stepped in,” Friesen said. “It was awesome. We had less than an hour to go to swap ‘em out and we had a good finish. We led some laps. Didn’t get off the way we needed to on pit road at the end and it was the difference of about 100 yards and a lot of clean air. Proud of the guys, but I made a little mistake there and it cost us.”

Matt Crafton, Brandon Jones, John Hunter Nemechek, Grant Enfinger, Todd Gilliland, Noah Gragson, Dalton Sergeant and Justin Haley rounded out the top 10.

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NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race – Buckle Up in Your Truck 225

Kentucky Speedway

Sparta, Kentucky

Thursday, July 12, 2018

1. (3) Ben Rhodes, Ford, 150.
2. (14) Stewart Friesen, Chevrolet, 150.
3. (30) Matt Crafton, Ford, 150.
4. (6) Brandon Jones(i), Toyota, 150.
5. (17) John Hunter Nemechek(i), Chevrolet, 150.
6. (5) Grant Enfinger, Ford, 150.
7. (2) Todd Gilliland #, Toyota, 150.
8. (1) Noah Gragson, Toyota, 150.
9. (9) Dalton Sargeant #, Chevrolet, 150.
10. (10) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 150.
11. (4) Chris Eggleston, Toyota, 149.
12. (11) Cody Coughlin, Chevrolet, 149.
13. (15) Korbin Forrister, Toyota, 149.
14. (18) Austin Self, Chevrolet, 149.
15. (7) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 148.
16. (12) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 148.
17. (19) Justin Fontaine #, Chevrolet, 148.
18. (13) Brett Moffitt, Toyota, 148.
19. (20) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, 146.
20. (22) Bo LeMastus #, Toyota, 146.
21. (21) Clay Greenfield, Chevrolet, 145.
22. (23) Robby Lyons, Chevrolet, 143.
23. (26) Josh Reaume, Chevrolet, 143.
24. (28) Wendell Chavous, Chevrolet, 139.
25. (31) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, 138.
26. (32) Myatt Snider #, Ford, 137.
27. (8) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, Accident, 133.
28. (16) Tate Fogleman, Chevrolet, Suspension, 103.
29. (29) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, Overheating, 28.
30. (27) Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, Vibration, 22.
31. (25) Camden Murphy, Chevrolet, Electrical, 11.
32. (24) Tyler Matthews, Chevrolet, Accident, 1.

Average Speed of Race Winner:  146.739 mph.

Time of Race:  01 Hrs, 32 Mins, 00 Secs. Margin of Victory:  0.922 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  3 for 14 laps.

Lead Changes:  11 among 5 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   N. Gragson 1-26; B. Rhodes 27; N. Gragson 28-32; B. Rhodes 33-42; N. Gragson 43-73; P. Kligerman 74-83; S. Friesen 84-85; P. Kligerman 86-87; S. Friesen 88-122; B. Rhodes 123-125; T. Gilliland # 126; B. Rhodes 127-150.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  N. Gragson 3 times for 62 laps; B. Rhodes 4 times for 38 laps; S. Friesen 2 times for 37 laps; P. Kligerman 2 times for 12 laps; T. Gilliland # 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 41,18,4,51,98,88,52,75,21,25

Stage #2 Top Ten: 18,51,41,52,98,4,24,8,88,21

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