Mansfield Speedway
Started: 6th
Finished: 4th
A solid pit strategy and a
fast truck earned the No. 23 Toyota Tundra team another
top-five run at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway. Johnny
Benson participated in a NASCAR test session Thursday at
the .5-mile track, and knew right away his No. 23 team
would be a threat for the win Saturday afternoon. The
team tried to tighten the handling of the red-and-black
truck up coming out of the corners; still, Benson
thought the truck would be strong on long green flag
runs. The team made additional adjustments to its
Tundra, and by the end of the day, Benson and his crew
were happy with how their truck was handling.
Jack Sprague, David
Starr
and Johnny talk
after the race
The team worked on
qualifying runs during Friday’s two morning practice
sessions, and Benson emerged fourth on the speed chart.
Benson said the truck was balanced, and he looked
forward to qualifying and the race. Unfortunately,
the No. 23 team never got a chance to qualify due to
heavy rain in the area. Since the field was set
based on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series owners’
standings, Benson was slated to start sixth for
Saturday’s race.
When the green flag waved
over the 34-truck field, Benson immediately knew there
was something wrong with his No. 23 Tundra. He reported
to his crew that he had a left rear tire going down and
needed to pit as soon as possible. Luckily, the caution
flag was displayed to the field at that time, as Benson
nursed his ailing truck around the bottom of the track.
He brought his truck to pit road on lap seven for two
left side tires and fuel, then returned to the pits on
lap eight for right side tires.
When the race restarted on
lap 12, Benson found himself in the 33rd position. The
veteran driver knew he would need patience and a lot of
luck in order to return to the front of the field. When
the caution flag waved on lap 42, Benson brought his
Tundra down pit road for fuel only. A fast pit stop
gained
Benson a number of positions
on the track. It was also the last time the No. 23
truck would be on pit road during the 250-lap event.
Benson restarted the race in
23rd and began making his way through the field. He
told his crew he needed 10 or 12 laps to get going, but
the truck really felt good. By lap 100, Benson had
climbed to the eighth position and continued his charge
to the front.
The next 150 laps were
filled with 12 caution flags, and when the checked flag
was displayed to the field, Benson had his No. 23 Bill
Davis Racing Tundra in the fourth position. His truck
was among four Tundras to finish in the top five.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heads
to Dover (Del.) International Speedway Friday, June 2.
The race can be seen live on the Speed Channel at 8 p.m.
ET.
Four Tundras Take Top Spots at Mansfield
Four Tundras finished among the top-five in Saturday
afternoon’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) race at
Mansfield Motorsports Speedway in Ohio. Tundra drivers
Jack Sprague (second), David Starr (third), Johnny
Benson (fourth) and Joey Miller (fifth) crossed the
finish line behind race-winner Ron Hornaday in the 250-lap
event at the Ohio short track. The second-place finish by
Sprague was his best result of the year, and rookie Joey
Miller’s fifth-place was his first-ever top-five.
“My Tundra was really good today -- a lot better than I
anticipated it would be during the race,” said Sprague,
following the race. “It got hot and slippery -- and
that’s just what I needed to get my Tundra running good.
Ron (Hornaday) was really good and I needed to have long
runs to get close to him. In the end, I was never able to
catch him, but it was still a great day.”
Starr battled Sprague most of the afternoon for position,
but was never able to pass him. “I thought I was a little
better than Jack (Sprague), but I just couldn’t get by
him,” said Starr, after the race. “I could cut up
underneath him, but just couldn’t get by him without
putting a fender to him or bumping him. He’s a good
friend of mine and a Toyota teammate -- and I wanted to
pass him clean. I almost got him coming to the white
flag, but I had to get off of it because there was a
lapped truck down low.”
The race began with pole-sitter Todd Bodine running away
from the field in his Germain Racing Tundra. He led the
first 117 laps before pitting for tires and fuel, and then
his teammate Ted Musgrave led a pair of laps before also
pitting. Bodine and Musgrave were never able to catch the
leaders again after making their pit stops and finished
15th (Bodine) and 16th (Musgrave).
Other results for Tundra drivers were David Reutimann
(ninth), Bill Lester (24th) and Mike Skinner (29th).
Friday evening’s qualifying session was cancelled due to
rain and the starting line-up was determined by the
championship point standings – leaving Tundra drivers Todd
Bodine (first), Ted Musgrave (second) and David Reutimann
in the top three spots. The next race on the NASCAR
Craftsman Truck Series is at Delaware’s Dover
International Speedway, June 2.
NOTES:
-
This week’s race truck
for Mansfield Motorsports Speedway is
Chassis
No. 23-35.
Johnny Benson raced this truck the at Martinsville
Speedway earlier in the 2006 campaign. The truck was
running in the top-five when it was caught up in an
incident coming out of turn four that took the team
out of contention.
- Tested and
Approved… For the third week
in a row the 23 Toyota Tundra team will test one of
its Tundras. The team tested Chicagoland Speedway as
well as Lowe’s Motor Speedway to prepare for last
Friday’s event. The team will now go to work on the
Mansfield Motorsports Speedway in preparation for
Saturday’s 250-lap event.
- Moving
Forward… The 23 Toyota
Certified Used Vehicles Tundra team picked up two more
spots in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series point
standings with its 12th-place run at Lowe’s
Motor Speedway. The team is only 20 points behind the
fifth place team of Terry Cook.
- Nice Stat…
The 23 Toyota Tundra team
has only had one finish outside of the top-15 during
the 2006 campaign. In six starts the team has
captured two top-five and three top-10 finishes.
-
Listen and Watch …
The City of Mansfield 250 is scheduled
to start at 2:15 p.m. EDT Saturday, May 27. It will
broadcast live on Speed (TV), MRN (radio) and XM Radio
(144).
Johnny Benson
on racing at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway:
“Depending on the part of the country you are in weather
can be an issue and last year at Mansfield we were hit
by a tornado. Most of us were not at the track but it
tore down some hospitality tents and a huge section of
grandstand seating. The track did a tremendous job
getting some temporary stands in there for the fans,
which shows the kind of facility it is.
“We had a
decent run there last year, but had a tire come loose
which really put us behind the eight ball during the
race. We ran up front all day but were two laps down
and could not get our lap back. We ran good all day and
knew we had a truck good enough to run with the leaders.
“This year we are going back
with Rick Ren who has really helped our short track
program. I think we are better now than at this time
last season so I am looking for a good run. Mansfield
is a neat track where it is hard to pass. You have to
have your truck really working well on the bottom to get
by another truck. As it is just about everywhere,
qualifying is so important, but once you get going and
can run side by side which is always fun and a good show
for the fans.
Crew chief Rick Ren on
racing at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway:
“Mansfield is a lot like Martinsville. In my only start
at Mansfield we started deep in the field because of
rain and made our way all the way up to 11th.
I am confident that we will qualify and race in the
front. The truck we are bringing really ran well at
Martinsville and I am looking forward to seeing how we
do this weekend.”
