Tiebreaker propels Rhodes into Playoffs, leaves Truex on the outside

RELATED: Full Chicago results | Playoff field set | Playoff standings JOLIET, Ill. – Ben Rhodes survived a pit road penalty and contact with his teammate to earn the final Playoff spot for NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series here Friday night at Chicagoland Speedway. The driver of the No. 27 Toyota for ThorSport Racing finished sixth in Friday’s TheHouse.com 225, a result that left him tied in the standings with fourth-place finisher Ryan Truex. But Rhodes had the edge with a tiebreaker (he had a season-best finish of second at Pocono while Truex had a best of third, also at Pocono), thus sending him into the three-round, seven-race playoff that will begin next weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. "They said we were tied but I didn't believe we had the (tiebreaker) point to get us through," a still-unbelieving Rhodes said on pit road afterward. "I don't even know what it is. They gave me the (playoff) hat and I said 'Are you sure? I’m not putting that on until I see the official word.' "I can't believe it; I was kind of desperate out there for whatever we could get. All night long the race wasn’t going our way. We had a couple of pit road penalties. Ever since we unloaded here we struggled. We had to change our package several times and could just never get the truck to come to life for us. "That kind of set a bad tone for us and then the 16 (of Truex) getting the pole, it seemed like everything was going wrong. We just managed the whole night; thank goodness we had the advantage we did." RELATED: Truex reacts to missing postseason | Complete breakdown of all eight drivers Six drivers were already assured spots in the Playoffs by virtue of having won one or more races this season, including Friday night’s winner Johnny Sauter. Other winners this season consisted of Kaz Grala, Christopher Bell, John Hunter Nemechek, Matt Crafton and Austin Cindric. Chase Briscoe had a solid enough points advantage over the other non-winners to assure himself a spot in the playoffs. Rhodes led Truex by only seven points and sat 31 ahead of Grant Enfinger prior to Friday’s race. Those points gaps grew and shrunk throughout the course of the 150-lap race, with Truex holding the advantage after the completion of the second stage. Enfinger finished fifth, right between Truex and Rhodes. He needed to be ahead of both -- much further ahead. Rhodes had fallen behind when a tire violation during a pit stop on Lap 38 cost him track position. Later, on a restart, teammate Crafton slipped up the track and made contact, nearly cutting down a tire on the No. 27 Toyota. When Crafton spun on Lap 106, Rhodes hit pit road twice as his crew repaired the cosmetic damage. In spite of the setbacks, Rhodes had more than enough truck and barely enough time to rally in the final stage. "This was definitely our worst night as far as performance goes," he said. "It couldn't have come on a worse night; it stressed us all out." Truex posted his fourth top-five finish in his last five starts with the Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota but needed one more spot to bump Rhodes from the Playoffs. "We don’t have the speed those top three guys have is really what it comes down to," Truex said. "My only shot was restarts, if I could get good restarts and get in front of them. "But they just had so much more long run speed than we did. It sucks. We're a top-five truck and we're missing the playoffs. It's frustrating."