Dover
June 3, 2005

BDR Race Report
Before the race weekend got started Johnny Benson said that Dover International Speedway was on of his favorite tracks on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule.  He won his first Busch Series race at the one-mile high-banked oval, along with numerous strong runs in NASCAR Nextel Cup Series at the Monster Mile.  He was hoping his first start in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series would be as kind.  Unfortunately, his hopes were squashed coming out of turn two on the first lap of Saturday’s event. 

The No.23 Toyota Certified Tundra was fast right off the truck during practice on Thursday.  Benson said that his truck was bottoming out coming off both turns two and four, but his truck really felt good through the corners.  The team made some adjustments to raise the truck and Benson said his Tundra was really good.   

The team had an early qualifying draw and was concerned that their time of 23.185 seconds would put them deep in the field for the start of the event.  As it turns out, the time was very competitive and put them 15^th on Friday’s starting grid.   Benson said his truck was really loose getting into the corners, but hoped a long green-flag run would play to their advantage. 

The No.23 Toyota Certified team showed up on Friday ready to race, but unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans.  The rain did not let up until after dark, which meant the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series would have to wait another day to make 200 circuits around Dover International Speedway.   

When Benson finally got behind the wheel of his Bill Davis Racing machine, he was confident he could pilot his truck to the front of the field.  Unfortunately, he only got through turns one and two before he was collected in a multi-truck pileup.  The team tried to make repairs to the No. 23 Toyota Tundra, but the damage to truck was too severe.  

The team dropped three spots in the championship standings to 10th 242 points behind leader Ted Musgrave.  The team heads to Texas Motor Speedway next week for the ninth event of the 25-race schedule.

 

BDR Race Review

• This week’s race truck for Dover International Speedway is Chassis No. 23-24.  The truck has seen action at Gateway International Raceway, New Hampshire International Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway and Darlington Raceway.  Its best finish is a third at New Hampshire in September 2004.

• Rookie Stripe…This will be Johnny Benson’s first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start at the “Monster Mile,” but he has logged 6,600 laps at the one-mile track.  Benson scored a NASCAR Busch Series victory at Dover on Sept. 17, 1994.

• Movin’ on up…With his fourth-place finish at Lowe’s Motor Speedway two weeks ago, Benson moved up three positions into the seventh spot in the 2005 championship standings.  Benson also recorded his first top-five finish of the 2005 campaign.

• Listen and Watch … The MBNA RacePoints 200 is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m. EST Friday, June 3.  It will broadcast live on Speed (TV), MRN (radio) and XM Radio channel 144.

Johnny Benson on racing at Dover International Speedway:
“I am looking forward to Dover.  We have had some success there in the Busch Series, as well as the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series.  I love the place; it is such a unique place to race.  We were fortunate enough to win a Busch Series event there when it was asphalt and run second there in a Cup car after they made the transition to concrete.  I am looking forward to it.  I have never run there in a NASCAR Craftsman Truck, but Greg Ely and the entire Toyota Certified No. 23 team always put a good truck underneath me, so I am really excited about getting up to Dover.”

Crew chief Greg Ely on racing at Dover International Speedway:
“We had a real strong truck last year with Dave Blaney driving.  We had a real good setup there last year and are taking it back with a couple of tweaks for Benson.  You are either going to be good or bad, and fortunately for us, we have had some success and are looking for a repeat performance this weekend.  We are finally living up to our expectations.  We have not been able to finish off the strong runs that we have had so far this year, but in Charlotte, we were good start to finish.”

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Toyota - Dover Preview

THIS RACE:  The MBNA 200 will be the sixth NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) race at Dover International Speedway.  

LAST RACE:  In the most recent NCTS race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (May 20), a pair of Bill Davis Racing Tundras -- for drivers Johnny Benson and Bill Lester -- led the Toyota contingent to the finish line.  Benson, driver of the No. 23 Toyota Certified Tundra, crossed the finish line fourth, his best result of the season.  Lester finished sixth in his No. 22 Checkers Tundra, the best outcome of his NCTS career.  

SKINNER SAYS:  In Charlotte, Mike Skinner was cruising toward his first NCTS win in a Toyota when he was involved in an accident less than 20 laps from the checkered flag.  “My Tundra was awfully strong and we had a four or five second lead,” explained Skinner, after the race.  “A lapped truck just didn’t cut the leader any slack -- although the leader is supposed to be smart enough to know who isn’t going to give any room.  I don’t blame anyone but myself -- I know the experience level of everyone out there and I’m supposed to be smarter than that.”  Skinner led the second most laps in the race (40) and finished 26th.

MIKE’S MARK:  Mike Skinner became the first NCTS driver to win two poles in 2005 when he qualified first at Charlotte.  The second pole of the season for the Daytona Beach, FL-driver was his fourth pole position in a Toyota Tundra.  Skinner now has 19 poles in his NCTS career and sits second in the NCTS record books in that category.

BILL’S BEST:  In addition to registering his best NCTS finish in 85 series starts at Lowe’s with a sixth-place finish, Bill Lester also recorded his first top-10 result of the season.  In addition, he gained seven positions in the championship standings and now sits 15th, just 91 points outside the top-10.  
 
POINTS PACE:  After the first seven races of the 2005 season, two Toyota drivers are among the top-10 in the NCTS championship standings.  Johnny Benson is seventh in the standings with 897 points, 191 points behind leader Ted Musgrave.  Todd Bodine (863 points) is ninth in the standings.
 
LAST YEAR AT DOVER:  Last season, two Toyota Tundra drivers recorded top-five finishes at the Dover one-mile oval.  Hank Parker Jr. crossed the finish line third in his Innovative Motorsports Tundra and Mike Skinner ended up fourth.  Skinner also led the field for 85 laps.

WIN NUMBER ONE:  Chad Chaffin earned his first career win in the NCTS race at Dover one year ago.  The Tennessee native, who was driving for Bobby Hamilton’s team, started ninth and led the final 52 laps en route to the checkered flag.  “I’ve been racing for a long, long time and have won a lot of races in the past,” says Chaffin.  “But, that win at Dover was the biggest win of my career, thus far.  It was really special and there was a lot of emotion.  It made me think about all the people who helped me along the way to get to where I am.”

BENEFITS OF WIN:  “I think that win at Dover, and my second win of the year at IRP, played a big part in me getting the opportunity I now have with Germain/Arnold Racing and Toyota,” says Chaffin.  “The residual effect of my Dover win is now I’m in the best ride of my career -- and a lot of that I can contribute to my win at Dover.”

DOVER DOUBLE:  “I really do like Dover,” explains Chaffin.  “As a matter of fact, before I won there last year I had run well at Dover the year before (2003) -- when we had a top-10 run (seventh).  I am looking forward to going back to Dover and I see no reason we can’t go there and run really well.  Although, just because you’ve won at a track it doesn’t mean very much the next time you return.  Things are different this year -- I’m with a different team, we have different trucks and I have a new crew chief.”

DOVER DESCRIPTION:  How does Robert Huffman, driver of the No. 12 Darrell Waltrip Motorsports Toyota Tundra, describe Dover?  “The best way I can think to describe Dover is that it’s similar to a really ‘stretched-out’ Bristol -- only with less banking.”

TODD’S TAKE ON TRACK:  “Dover is a pretty special place -- one that’s close to my heart,” says Todd Bodine, driver of the No. 66 Fiddle Back Racing Tundra.  “My first NASCAR speedway race was at Dover in the Busch Series in 1990.  Then, my first NASCAR Busch win came at Dover in 1991.  A couple of years after that (1993), I won both Busch races at the track.  So, I have some pretty fond memories from Dover.  It’s a place where I have quite a bit of experience and where I’ve run well.”

DOVER TRUCK DEBUT:  “This will be my first Craftsman Truck Series race at Dover, but I feel pretty good about going there,” explains Bodine.  “Tony (Furr, crew chief) and I have plenty of experience at Dover, which will be beneficial even though we’ve never run a truck there.  I think when we get to the track, between Tony and myself, we’ll have a pretty good starting point, as far as the springs and shocks we want to run.  And, we’ll rely on the TRD engineers -- who ran here a year ago -- to help us, too.”

BEEN HERE BEFORE:  Although this will be Johnny Benson’s first NCTS race at Dover, the Grand Rapids, MI-native has plenty of experience at the track.  Benson has competed in 15 NASCAR Cup and 6 Busch Series events at the Delaware track.  He has one Busch Series win at Dover.

TOYOTA TOTALS:  Toyota Tundra drivers have registered four victories, seven pole positions and 29 top-five finishes in 32 NCTS races since the beginning of the 2004 season.  Todd Bodine (California and Texas) and Travis Kvapil (Michigan and New Hampshire) each have two wins driving Tundras.  Mike Sinner has started from the pole four times in his Toyota, including two times in 2005 (California and Charlotte).  Bodine and Johnny Benson each have recorded six top-five finishes, and Skinner has five top-fives.