Dale Earnhardt Jr and Kevin Harvick’s popular team | Sports News

The NASCAR world is mourning Rick “Otis” Hodges, the hauler driver who labored on the much-loved groups of each Dale Earnhardt Jr and Kevin Harvick during two powerhouse eras of stock car racing.

Several racing groups and former drivers confirmed the passing, which comes after the game was hit by the crushing losses of two drivers in fast succession final week.Hodges labored with Earnhardt Jr on the enduring Bud No.8 car, then with Harvick when he had some of his best seasons.

The information of his death drew fast responses from these within the NASCAR neighborhood who knew him best. Harvick tweeted, “I am grateful for the years spent together, from my first to my final season with SHR. Otis, this toast is for you.” The death hit close to home for Harvick after witnessing his 13-year-old son Keelan grow to be the youngest ever winner of the Snowflake 125.

Dave Moody of Motor Racing Network added, “Sad to hear of the passing of Rick Big Otis Hodges. He spent a lot of time in Victory Lane with Kevin Harvick and Rodney Childers in recent years.”

Five Lug Racing remembered Hodges’ twenty years in NASCAR and his evolution from a concrete employee to a trusted hauler for Earnhardt Jr’s No. 8 car. The team famous that his presence was felt nationally in each storage stall, hauler lot, and track-side setup the place he labored.

Before racing, he labored within the concrete business in Raleigh, North Carolina, and joined NASCAR in 2003 on a buddy’s advice. That alternative put him proper into Dale Earnhardt Inc. because the hauler driver for the No. 8 Budweiser team.

Hodges was in charge of transporting vehicles, instruments, tools, and different gadgets in a job that stored him on the street more nights than at home. The 2003 season stays one of Earnhardt Jr’s most memorable, and Hodges was there for each mile.

Earnhardt Jr completed third within the standings with 4,815 factors, incomes wins at Phoenix and Talladega. He additionally recorded 13 top-five finishes and 21 top-10 finishes. Throughout the season, he ran 36 races with an average end of 12.72, had 4 DNFs, and led 1,046 laps out of 10,505 whole laps.

Hodges’ job was to make sure the vehicles arrived in preventing form, and by the time Earnhardt Jr’s crew unloaded the Budweiser purple, he had already cleared weigh stations, dodged breakdowns, and accomplished hauls that generally stretched previous 40 hours.

As Stewart-Haas Racing got here into focus in 2008, Hodges moved to the No. 39 team with Ryan Newman earlier than in the end becoming a member of Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 operation. That period included championship aspirations and a 2020 postseason run the place Harvick completed fifth within the standings regardless of lacking the Championship 4 by eight factors.

Harvick made the playoffs for the eleventh consecutive 12 months and the 14th total, whereas Hodges helped carry the team by a long season that included finishes of sixteenth at Texas and seventeenth at Martinsville, in addition to a near-title charge constructed on consistency.