RICHMOND, Va. -- Two-time Truck Series champion Ben Rhodes still had a smile on his face late Friday night after missing the playoff cut. Yes, he remained disappointed, but he quickly shifted his focus to his new role in the ThorSport Racing "R&D Department."
He will still pursue wins in the remaining Truck Series races, but he will also help his team try to find some much-needed consistency before the 2026 season.
"If I know (owner) Duke Thorson, which I think I do now after running for Duke for so many years, he's gonna say, 'Absolutely,'" Rhodes told AltDriver on pit road Friday night.
"The rest of the season is R&D to him, which he's probably bittersweet in that regard because now we get to kind of try things and do things we didn't think we could do, so you're no longer in a box."
This R&D period could become crucial for Rhodes, who has now finished no better than ninth in the two seasons since winning his second championship. His average finish has fallen from 10.7 in 2023 to 15.4 last season and 14.3 this season.
He and the No. 99 team just have not performed as consistently, which has prompted ThorSport Racing to make multiple midseason crew chief changes.
The first priority for Rhodes during this R&D period will be getting back to contending for race wins. This way, they could potentially play spoiler in the remaining seven races. Equally important will be setting the team up for a smoother start to next season.
"I don't necessarily have to run for points and we can set ourselves up for the end of the race for wins," Rhodes said. "We weren't able to do that at Watkins Glen last week and quite a few races now. I guess that's the silver lining if there is one."
Another priority will be supporting the other drivers at ThorSport Racing. This includes Jake Garcia and Ty Majeski, who will both compete in the playoffs. It will also include three-time champion Matt Crafton, who like Rhodes, missed the playoffs.
The team has two drivers in the playoffs, but it's no secret that the entire organization has struggled to achieve consistency this season. None of the full-time drivers have won a race. The closest they have come was Majeski's runner-up at Richmond.
Rhodes only has four top-five finishes while Garcia has two. Crafton only has three top-10 finishes this season, his fewest since 2002 when he had six.
With Rhodes taking on the R&D role in the remaining races, he could potentially stumble upon some package setups that could benefit the entire organization. He could be the test subject who stumbles upon the race-winning formula.
"I would like to be," Rhodes said. "Now, if they use that, that's a different story (laughing). Crew chiefs and drivers, especially crew chiefs, are all pretty stubborn.
"They all really like what they like, so I might find something that could be five seconds faster than the field. I don't know if somebody else would necessarily use it though. It's just kind of the nature of this sport."