Cheerios Betty Crocker 200 - September 8, 2005
Richmond Int'l Raceway - Richmond, VA

The #23 team goes to work	In traffic

Post Race Report - Richmond 
The word of the night for the No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra was patience.  The team tested the short track last Tuesday and Wednesday in preparation for Thursday’s event and was not happy with the results so it brought back a different truck.

In the two practice sessions of the day, the No. 23 Bill Davis Racing Tundra team struggled to find a balance, with both speed and handling.  Driver Johnny Benson told his team it would really run on the straight-aways but was really tight in the corners.  Crew chief Rick Ren did not give up and by the end of the second practice the team was seventh on the speed chart and felt as if it had a truck, which would be very competitive during the race.

Benson went out late in the qualifying session, which the team felt played to their advantage because the track was cooling off.  Benson ran a lap of 21.424 seconds, which lined him up on the outside of the fifth row.

Benson started the Cheerios Betty Crocker 200 and immediately told his crew the truck was extremely tight.  He said the truck was extremely tight getting into the corner.  He needed some major adjustments made to it on the first stop to have a chance to run with the leaders.

The team came up with a plan for changes during the first stop.  When the caution came out for the third time on lap 41, the 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles team decided to pit.  Benson brought his machine to pit road on lap 43.  The team changed four tires and filled the truck with fuel.  They also made major wedge and air pressure adjustments to try and free up the truck.

When the race was restarted on lap 48, Benson found himself in the 25th position.  In only 12 laps, Benson maneuvered his way up to the sixth position.  He told his crew the changes helped, but could use more of the same changes.

By lap 100, Benson was running with the leaders in the fourth position.  When the caution came out on lap 141, the No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra team decided to come in and put on four fresh tires.  The team had a solid stop and when the race was restarted on lap 148, Benson lined up in the 11th spot.

With less than 20 laps to go, Benson called into his crew saying the truck’s condition had changed and was now really loose in and tight in the middle off the corner.  The team took a gamble and pitted with only a few laps remaining.   Benson had a climb ahead of him to get back inside the top 10. 

In the last ten laps, Benson managed to pick up eight spots and crossed the line 13th.  With the solid finish, Benson picked up two spots in the points and is now only 60 points out of the tenth position.  (09-11-05)

 

 

NOTES:

• This week’s race truck for Richmond International Raceway is Chassis No. 23-35. Johnny Benson last drove truck No. 35 to a fourth-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway.

• Tested and Approved… The No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra team tested Richmond International Raceway Tuesday, Aug. 30 and Wednesday, Aug 31 in preparation for Thursday’s 200-lap event.

• Elite Group… Bill and Gail Davis’ win at Bristol Motor Speedway last Wednesday night put them in an elite group in the NASCAR Community. Not only was it their 17th victory in the top three series of NASCAR, but it also placed them among only six other team owners who have been to victory lane in all three NASCAR touring series. The Davis’, along with Richard Childress, Dale and Teresa Earnhardt, Rick Hendrick, Jack Roush, and Darrell Waltrip, have won in all three of NASCAR’s top series.

• Nice Finish… The No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra has finished in the top 10 in four of the last five NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series events. The team’s fourth-place finish in Thunder Valley gained it two positions in the point standings. The team sits 13th in the championship standings, only 90 points out of eighth position.

• Listen and Watch … The Cheerios Betty Crocker 200 is scheduled to start at 8:15 p.m. ET Thursday, Sept. 8. It will broadcast live on Speed (TV), MRN (radio) and XM Radio channel 144.

Johnny Benson on racing at Richmond International Raceway:
“Our test in Richmond went OK. We were not as good as we wanted to be, but we learned a good bit that we can take back for the race. We made over 40 runs trying different combinations in the truck. Rick [Ren, crew chief] and I are trying to get on the same page in what I like in a truck and what he can do for me. I think we learned some things about each other, which was beneficial.

“We are going to bring a different truck back for the race. As a team, we did not feel we could win the race with the truck we brought for the test, so we will see if another truck will be more competitive.

“I like Richmond. It is a place you can race. It is not like Bristol, where you just follow the leader all night. Track position is not the key to winning the race like it is at Bristol. There are two grooves to race and pass, which gives you options on the track. If everyone is running the bottom groove, you can work on your truck to run the top and vice versa. I am confident our No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra will be a contender.”

Crew chief Rick Ren on racing at Richmond International Raceway:
“I had high hopes when we went to Richmond to test, but we did not test as well I hoped. We are going to take the truck we raced at Bristol, which ran really well and seems to be good at short tracks. After two days of testing, we have taken a different direction, so hopefully when we go back to Richmond we will be a lot better.”