Johnny Benson
– Toyota Tundra Racing
Post Race
Report
Getting back to business after
several weekends without racing, the NASCAR Craftsman
Truck Series headed to Lowe’s Motor Speedway for the
running of the Quaker Steak and Lube 200 Friday evening.
Johnny Benson and the Toyota Certified Used Vehicles team
struggled a bit in the first practice session of the day,
but stepped up when it counted, qualifying in the sixth
position and finishing 12th.
Benson
was the 36th of 41 competitors to take to the track for
qualifying Friday afternoon and his lap of 176.800 mph
earned him the sixth starting spot for the race later that
evening. When the green flag waved for the start of the
134-lap event, Benson was perplexed by a vibration within
the truck that occurred as soon as the race began, but was
still able to pick up several spots in the first 10 laps.
Crew
chief Rick Ren made plans to make adjustments to the truck
during the first pit stop to help Benson with a tight
handling condition that had begun to get worse as the race
wore on. A yellow flag on lap 47 allowed Benson to drive
down pit road to the attention of his crew as soon as pit
road opened. The No. 23 crew bolted on four fresh tires,
filled the truck with fuel and made a track bar adjustment
and sent Benson on his way, picking up one spot on pit
road in the process. Benson restarted on lap 52 in the
sixth position.
The
No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Toyota remained
tight throughout the remainder of the event and Benson
continued to deal with the vibration within the truck,
though he was able to break into the top five on lap 92
after a pit stop several laps before enabled the team to
make wedge and air pressure adjustments. After the second
of two very fast pit stops during the evening, the truck
unfortunately became even tighter in the remaining laps,
leaving the team to speculate about what could have been
done differently in preparation for the race to make the
truck even better. Benson made the save of the day with 25
laps to go when his truck got away from him in turn two,
but lost several spots while gathering it back in. Benson
fell to 12th in the final laps and remained
there when the checkered flag flew.
Though
Benson and the team didn’t finish as high as they would
have liked, they were able to pick up two spots in the
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series owner points and now stand
in sixth place.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck
Series next heads to Mansfield (Ohio) Motorsports Speedway
for the running of the Mansfield 250 May 27. The 250-lap
event will be held Saturday afternoon beginning at 2 p.m.
ET and will broadcast on Speed TV and MRN radio.
Charlotte Preview
Johnny Benson - Bill Davis
Racing Event Preview
Quaker Steak & Lube 200 - May 19, 2006
Lowe's Motor Speedway - Concord, NC
-
This week’s race truck for
Lowe’s Motor Speedway is Chassis No. 23-24. This is a
truck that has been completely reworked since the end of
the 2005 season.
-
Home Sweet Home…
Johnny Benson is excited about racing at
Lowe’s Motor Speedway for two reasons: His No. 23 Toyota
Certified Used Vehicles Tundra is fast, and he can sleep
in his own bed the night before the race. Benson and
his family reside in Charlotte.
-
Certified Leader…
Toyota Certified Used Vehicles will again serve as
primary sponsor of the No. 23 Bill Davis Racing Toyota
Tundra. It will be the third time this season that the
leader in certified used vehicles will adorn the hood of
the No. 23 Tundra.
-
This is what I call a stat…
Benson has accumulated 30 top-10 finishes in 55 career
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts. Benson has
crossed the finish line in the top 10 in 54 percent of
his total starts.
-
Nice Finish…
Benson’s lone Craftsman Truck Series start at Lowe’s
Motor Speedway occurred one year ago and resulted in a
fourth-place finish.
-
Tested and Approved…
Benson and the Certified No. 23 team tested at
Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., last Monday and
Tuesday to prepare for Friday night’s event at Lowe’s
Motor Speedway. The team will also participate in
Thursday’s open test session at LMS.
-
Listen and Watch…
The Quaker Steak and Lube 200 presented by Click It or
Ticket is scheduled to start at 8:45 p.m. EST Friday,
May 19. It will broadcast live on Speed (TV), MRN
(radio) and XM Radio (144).
Johnny Benson on racing at Lowe’s Motor
Speedway:
“We are pretty excited to go to Charlotte. Last year we
ended up fourth, and I think this year our truck is in a
lot better shape. We tested two trucks in Chicago last
Monday and Tuesday and had two really strong trucks to
pick from to take to Charlotte. We are actually going to
take an older truck which has been redone since the end of
2005, and hopefully we will have a great weekend. I think
we are going to be really strong and hopefully will be up
front the entire race and be there at the end.
“Rick and I seem to have
really good communication on the mile-and-a-half tracks.
We felt like we have always run well on those types of
tracks and are working to get our short track program up
to that level. I think we are accomplishing that. I know
that in Martinsville we did not have the results we
wanted, but we ran well. We ran in the top five all day,
and I am happy to see that we are making gains in that
area.
“It is nice to run at
Charlotte because you are at home. Although the truck
schedule is not grueling, it is always nice to be able to
climb out of the truck and be at home in 20 minutes. I
usually have some family and friends down to the race, and
it is really fun.”
Crew chief Rick Ren on
racing at Lowe’s Motor Speedway:
“I am looking forward to going to Lowe’s Motor Speedway
for three reasons. One, I get to sleep in my bed every
night we are at the race track. Two, I have had success
there in all three NASCAR series and am confident in this
team’s ability to get the job done. Finally, after our
team’s test at Chicago, I know that we are going to be
fast and hopefully be there at the end to contend for the
win.
“I am only taking one truck to
the open test on Thursday. Johnny and I decided after the
test in Chicago that we were going to focus only on
getting our truck better in traffic. We are going to make
a number of long runs trying to dial our truck in for the
race. I am really excited about Charlotte and hope that
we can have another strong finish and keep on this roll we
have been on for the last couple of weeks.” |
