Johnny Benson - Bill Davis Racing Event Preview
Chevy Silverado 150 - November 11, 2005
Phoenix Int'l Raceway - Avondale, AZ

Joey Miller, Johnny, Kenny Schrader and Chip Wile (JB's PR Rep) congregate before driver's introduction.	Curtis takes time to get the air pressures just right while the #23 Toyota Tundra in on the starting grid.
Toyota Certified Used Vehicles was the main sponsor for the #23 Toyota Tundra in the Phoenix race.  I believe  they received pretty good coverage!	Gail Davis, owner of the #23 Toyota Tundra stopped by to  wish Johnny good luck in the race.  Gail sat on the team's pit box throughout the race.
Johnny, Chip and Pat Wall (Toyota's Vice President of NASCAR Truck Series Program) discuss Johnny's third place finish.	Johnny and Rick Crawford discuss their late race battle as Rick Ren  (#23 crew chief) listens in.

With their strong run at the Phoenix International Raceway, Johnny Benson and the No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra team is only 22 points out of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series top ten with 2906 points.  The team has been on a roll the last three races picking up two top-five finishes and three spots in the championship point standings. 

In the first of two practice sessions, the No. 23 team struggled to find the balance their driver Johnny Benson was looking for.  Benson told his crew the truck was extremely loose into and tight off the corners.  The team knew they had their work cut out for them in order to get the No.23 truck ready for the 150-lap event.  They made a number of spring and shock changes trying to find a balance  Johnny Benson felt comfortable racing. 

In the second practice, the No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra team seemed to hit on a combination which was really fast.  Benson told his guys it was the best the truck had felt all day and it showed on the speed charts.  Benson was second on the monitor and was really looking forward to the race. 

After the final practice Benson felt as if he had a shot to both win the race and capture his first pole position of his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career.  He ran a time of 29.496 seconds which was five one hundredths off the pole but would put him on the outside of the front row for the start of the 150-lap event.  This was Benson’s best start of the season and was looking for a strong run out of his Tundra. 

When Benson took the green flag for the second to last time of the 2005 season he knew right away he had a truck which would be a contender for the win.  He called into his crew on lap two saying his truck was a tick tight but was waiting for the tires to come up to the ideal pressures.    

Benson held down the second position for the first 39 laps and he and the leader were pulling away from the rest of the field.  When the caution flag was displayed to the field on lap 40 the No. 23 team decided to come down pit road and put on four fresh tires and fill their truck with fuel.  The team also made a slight air pressure adjustment to try and keep up with the racetrack.

When the race restarted on lap 46, Benson was in the third position behind two trucks that elected not to pit.  Two laps later Benson took the lead and started to pull away from the field.  Benson led a race high 61-laps and held the lead until the caution came out on lap 107.   

On lap 109 Benson brought his truck down pit road for the team’s final pit stop of the event.  The team changed four tires and filled the truck with enough fuel to get to the end of the event. The No.30-truck won the race off pit road and when the event was restarted on lap 113 Benson was in the runner-up position. 

For the final 37 laps Benson did all he could to regain the lead but crossed the finish line in the third position.  After the event Benson commented on his run.
““Our run tonight was good, but we just needed to be a little better at the end,” said Benson, after the race.  “We were hoping on that last stop that we would be able to come out in the lead and have that good, clean air that Todd (Bodine) ended up having.  It didn’t happen, but it was still a very good run for us -- we qualified second and run third, and the truck is in one piece.” 

The final stop on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule will be next Friday  Nov. 18, at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the running of the Ford 200.  The race is scheduled to start at 8:15p.m. ET and will broadcast LIVE, starting at 8 p.m. ET, on SPEED (TV), MRN (Radio) and XM Radio Channel 144.

NOTES:

• This week’s race truck for Phoenix International Raceway is Chassis No. 23-60.  Truck No. 23-60 is a brand-new truck to the Bill Davis Racing fleet.

• Nice Stat… In his four starts at Phoenix International Raceway, Johnny Benson has three top-10 finishes and two top-five finishes.  His best finish (second) came in 1996.

• Welcome Back… For the second race in a row, Toyota Certified Used Vehicles will serve as the primary sponsor of the No. 23 Bill Davis Racing entry.  In the month of May, Toyota Certified surpassed the 1.5 million mark in used cars sold, making them the leader in the used car market.

• Listen and Watch … The Silverado 150 is scheduled to start at 8:15 p.m. ET Friday, Nov. 11.  It will broadcast live on Speed (TV), MRN (radio) and XM Radio channel 144.

Johnny Benson on racing at Phoenix International Raceway:
“I like Phoenix because it is so different.  It is one of those tracks where both ends are very different.  At a lot of the tracks we go to, both ends of the track are different.  They may look similar, but they are different, and you have to drive a little different.  A place like Phoenix or Darlington where the two ends are very different are fun.  You have to try and get a good balance to work on both ends of the racetrack.  I think it is always fun to work in that type of an atmosphere.

“I like Phoenix.  I have had good runs there as well as some not-so-great runs.  As a whole, I really like the place.  Turns one and two have two grooves in which you can race, but turns three and four are more single-groove corners.  It is a place you can race side by side and pass, which always makes for a good race.”