Johnny Benson - Toyota
Tundra Event Preview
Built Ford Tough 225 - July 8, 2006
Kentucky Speedway - Sparta, KY
Kentucky Race Report
By: Chip Wile
The
No. 23 Bill Davis Racing Toyota Tundra team was in the
Bluegrass state over the weekend hoping to bite into
the point lead Todd Bodine had over the rest of the
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series field. Benson and the
23 team have been on a roll over the past eight weeks
compiling seven top-10 finishes, including
back-to-back wins. The team brought the same truck
that won at Michigan International Speedway three
weeks ago and was confident in the truck’s ability to
run up front.
In
the first of two practice sessions on Friday
afternoon, Benson was not happy with his Tundra. He
told his crew the truck was extremely tight in the gas
and would not turn. The crew went to work changing
just about everything underneath their Tundra trying
to get it dialed in for the race. Benson went back
out on the track saying the adjustments helped but it
needed a lot more.
In
the second and final practice, Benson seemed to be
happier with how his Tundra was handling. He told his
guys it was still tight, but he felt like it would
really be good during the race. The team made a couple
of small changes to dial the truck in and at the end
of the second practice Benson was running the fastest
lap times on the track and the team was looking
forward to the race.
After another top-10 qualifying run the team started
Saturday night’s event in the seventh spot. On lap
10, Benson called into his crew saying the truck was
tight in the gas, but explained the truck was really
good getting into the corner. Rick Ren and his team
discussed what changes they were going to make at the
first pit stop.
During the second restart of the race on lap 19,
Benson ran into the back of a fellow competitor.
Benson came onto the radio explaining someone in front
of him did not go when the flag waved and all the
trucks stacked up. He told his crew the truck had
front-end damage and the engine was starting to run
hot.
When the caution flag was displayed to the field on
lap 27 the 23 Bill Davis Racing Tundra team started to
prepare for Benson to come to pit road. Benson
brought his red and black Toyota down the pit lane to
the attention of his crew on lap 29. The crew worked
to repair the front-end damage as well as fill the
truck with fuel. They also made a wedge adjustment to
their Tundra in hopes it would loosen it up.
When the race was restarted in lap 32 Benson was all
the way back in the 32nd position. He battled to get
back into the top-10, but with a tattered truck it was
going to be a feat. Benson called into his crew on
lap 47 saying the engine was running at 260 degrees
and he needed to come in. Luckily for the team, the
caution flag flew on the next lap. Benson brought his
Tundra to pit road on lap 50. The team changed four
tires and filled the truck with gas. They also pulled
some tape off the front end in hopes it would cool the
engine down.
By
lap 80, Benson had battled back to the 24th
position but was fighting a tight race truck. Teams
started to make green flag pit stops and it was
playing right into the 23 teams favor. By lap 120,
Benson was leading the race and really needed a
caution flag in order to keep his top-five position.
Luckily for the team, the yellow came out on lap 121
and put a number of trucks one lap down.
Benson came in and took on four fresh tires and enough
fuel to make it to the end of the race. When the
race was restarted on lap 126 Benson was in the fifth
position. Benson battled for the last 24 laps and
came across the finish line in the fourth position.
With its seventh top-five finish of
the season, the 23 Bill Davis Racing Toyota Tundra
team overtook the second spot in NASCAR Craftsman
Truck Series standings.
JB Top Tundra at Kentucky Speedway
By: Toyota Motorsports
Johnny
Benson, driver of the No. 23 Bill Davis Racing Tundra,
was the top-finishing Toyota in Saturday night’s NASCAR
Craftsman Truck Series race at Kentucky Speedway.
Benson crossed the finish line fourth -- trailing
race-winner Ron Hornaday, Jr., second-place Rick
Crawford and Brendan Gaughan (third) to the checkered
flag.
Three other Tundra drivers registered top-10 finishes at
the one-and-a-half-mile Kentucky track. Ted Musgrave
recorded a sixth-place finish in the No. 9 Germain
Racing Tundra and David Starr finished eighth in the No.
11 Red Horse Racing Tundra. Craftsman Truck Series
points leader Todd Bodine stayed ahead of the field in
the point standings following a 10th-place result.
Benson, who started seventh, led seven laps in the
150-lap event, but damage to his front end hampered his
efforts to catch the leaders. “Our night started off
real good, then on one restart someone running second or
third brake-checked everybody,” said Benson, following
the race. “When that happened, everyone ran into each
other. It knocked our nose off and it really killed the
handling of our Tundra. I’m not going to complain
though because we finished fourth -- but that ruined any
chances we had of winning.”
“It was a hard fought battle tonight,” said Musgrave,
after the race. “The tires were really, really hard and
I could see that everyone had trouble sliding around,
especially in groups of five or six trucks. A guy out
front in clean air could run away from everyone else. I
proved that towards the end of the race when I broke
free and was running down the leaders. We just felt shy
of a top-five – and that’s what we always look for, but
we learned a little bit tonight that we can build on
down the road.”
Other Tundra drivers finishing positions at Kentucky
were Jack Sprague (11th), David Reutimann (12th), Joey
Miller (13th), Bill Lester (28th) and Mike Skinner
(31st). In the Saturday afternoon qualifying
session, David Reutimann earned a starting position on
the outside of row one. The next race on the
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is at Memphis Motorsports
Park, July 16.
NOTES:
-
This
week’s race truck for Kentucky Speedway is Chassis No.
23-73. Johnny Benson drove this truck to his first
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory in Michigan
three weeks ago.
-
Holding
Strong… After 12 races this season, Benson and the No.
23 Bill Davis Racing Toyota Tundra team sit third in
the Craftsman Truck Series point standings. Benson is
only five points out of second place and 143 markers
out of the lead.
-
Finishing
Strong… The No. 23 Bill Davis Racing Toyota Tundra
team has two wins, six top-five finishes and nine
top-10 finishes in 12 starts. Its average finish this
year is eighth. The team has already matched its
total number of top-five finishes in 2005 with 13
races remaining this season.
-
Nice
Starts… Benson has an average start of 10.7 and has
only started outside the top 15 once in 2006.
-
Kentucky
is good to me… Benson started the event at Kentucky
Speedway last year in the 13th position and brought
his Toyota Tundra home in the ninth spot. It was his
first Craftsman Truck Series start at the 1.5-mile
facility.
-
Listen
and watch… The Built Ford Tough 225 is scheduled to
start at 8 p.m. ET Saturday, July 8. It will
broadcast live on Speed (TV), MRN (radio) and XM Radio
channel 144.
Johnny Benson on racing at Kentucky Speedway:
"To be good in Kentucky, you have to be able to get
through turns three and four. Turns one and two seem to
be easy, but getting into three is tough and getting off
four properly is critical in order to have a good lap.
If you can get that done, you are going to have a decent
day.
"We had an
OK day last year. We had some mechanical trouble in the
rear end to deal with. We sacrificed two or three
spots, just trying to avoid a complete failure and a
poor finish. Other than the mechanical issues, we had a
good run. I am looking forward to going back.
"If I had
to put a grade on our season so far it would be a ‘B.’
I think there is always room for improvement to get the
grade a little higher, and we are working on that. We
are doing our homework and moving our pit stops around a
little bit. We are doing some different things with our
Tundra, and I think we are well on our way to seeing
some improvement. I think that even if we were leading
the points, I will still give us a ‘B’ to give us more
incentive to improve."
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