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 12^th. 

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 12^th 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.”