Rhodes “wanted to avoid it” as long as he could.
But the most viral 20 minutes of the 24-year-old’s racing career – and his life – eventually caught up to him.
It was sprung on him by Duke Thorson, owner of Rhodes’ No. 99 Toyota at ThorSport Racing.
Thorson’s ambush occurred at the team’s headquarters in Sandusky, Ohio.
The occasion: Margarita Night.
“We pick up a takeout order and go back and talk, have margaritas and tacos,” Rhodes said. “So Duke Thorson thought it was really hilarious to throw the entire press conference up on the TV for me and everybody else to watch why we’re having Margarita night.”
It “was painful,” Rhodes said. “I had to drink more margaritas than I probably should have that night just to watch it.”
Why was it embarrassing for Rhodes to watch a video that endeared him to many and even led to three unique shirt designs that Rhodes sells?
As he puts it, “I’m like that old person trapped in a young person’s body.”
Rhodes, who still lives in his native Louisville, Ky., and turns 25 just after the start of the 2022 season, is a private person.
The Rhodes we saw in November is a side of him he only allows to shine through for close friends and family.
He also doesn’t see much value in putting himself out there on social media.
“I see so many people get, like haters, or even if it’s just something silly, so many people will come after you and just attack you for whatever,” Rhodes explained. “I just don’t want (that). Who wants to be controversial? So let’s just be as vanilla as possible. So no personality. Here’s just a little tweet here. A little tweet there. The people that know me probably know that I’m, (like an easily distracted) squirrel. You know, there’s a lot just going on here and there.
“But there is focus. I just find that conversations through digital devices are so difficult to do. I’m a human person, I like human interactions. I like to sit down and have dinner with people. I’m not big on texting. I love to get on the phone and talk if we’re going to actually talk.”
Throughout Rhodes’ early career, closing his personality off also applied to his interactions at the track.
Socializing with competitors was a sign of weakness.
“I’m like, ‘Oh, these people are all out to get me, they just want setup information or this and that,’” Rhodes said. “Why become friends with people when you just have to boot them out of the way on the racetrack? It’s going to be easier to boot you out of the way when you’re not my friend.’”
Rhodes is working on getting out of that mindset.
“I’m learning to have more fun around people in the racing world,” he said. “It’s fun to me because these are people I can relate to. People that are on the outside of the racing world, they don’t experience the same things as you.
“I’m ever-evolving as a human and getting better. I try to just always stay productive and get better every day.”
When Rhodes rolls into Daytona Beach for the Feb. 18 Truck Series season-opener, he’ll have two goals: start his championship defense and defend his win in the opening race of the season at Daytona.
Personality aside, what is Rhodes working on as a driver to make both those goals more feasible?
Primarily, “big picture racing.” It’s an area he’s focused on since 2019.
For Rhodes that’s “being more hyper-focused on where I need to be on the racetrack for a specific line, specific groove, specific handling, and where I need to be compared to my competitors. … That comes with goals of finishing every single lap, finishing in the top 10 … it’s harder to do nowadays with the stage racing.”
Now that we’ve gotten to know the “fun” side of Rhodes, will we see that part of his personality more going forward?
“There would have to be probably some more libations involved to get me out of my shell, maybe,” Rhodes said. “We just got to win more races. What that comes down to is happy Ben is a race-winning Ben. And race-winning Ben partakes in libations.”