Johnny Benson - Racing Event Preview
Power Stroke Diesel 200 - August 4, 2006
O'Reilly Raceway Park - Indianapolis, IN

ORP Race Photos
By:  Phil Cavali

The #23 Toyota Tundra sponsored by Certified Used Vehicles is looking good!	Johnny and Patrick
Waiting to qualify	Rick and JB discussing strategy
Side by Side Racing	Dodging a bullet

Johnny Benson and the No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles team headed to Indianapolis hoping to regain some ground on Todd Bodine in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship points standings.  The No. 23 team put together a strong run at the famous short track in 2005, but a miscue on pit road spoiled a top-five performance.  Given the success Benson and crew chief Rick Ren have experienced at Indianapolis, the team expected to capitalize on a strong performance this time around.

The No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles team was close to the top of the speed chart in both practice sessions Friday morning.  Benson told his crew the truck felt really good on both entry and exit of the corners.  He could really roll through the center, which is the key to a fast truck at ORP.  The team made a number of small adjustments to the truck to dial it in for the 200-lap event.  By the end of practice, the team believed it had a top-five truck.

Benson was the 10th driver to qualify Friday afternoon.  The crew knew a good starting spot is another key to success at Indianapolis.  Benson‘s lap of 22.748 seconds was good enough to claim the 17th position on the starting grid.  After the run, Benson said his truck handled a little tight in the corners, which hurt his exit off the turns.

When the green flag waved over the 36-truck field Friday evening, Benson began his mission to stay out of trouble and bring home a top-five finish.  Five laps into the 200-lap event, Benson reported that the truck handled really tight, and the crew needed to make some major adjustments during the first round of pit stops.  He added that the truck was sliding the nose and would not turn in the corners like it did in practice.

Ren planned the changes the crew would make during the first pit stop.  Meanwhile, Benson fell to 20th position with only a tenth of the race completed.  He was really struggling to hold on to his ill-handling machine.

When the caution flag was displayed to the field on lap 58, the No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra team prepared to make adjustments when Benson brought the truck to the pit box two laps later.  The crew made air pressure and trackbar changes, in addition to giving the truck four tires and fuel.

Benson restarted the event three laps later in 25th.  Fifteen laps later, he communicated that the changes did not help; the truck was still really tight.  Despite the poor handling, Benson began gaining track position.  By lap 100, Benson had made it up to 17th.

The team made its final four-tire pit stop under caution on lap 128.  This time, it made wedge and air pressure adjustments, hoping to remedy the handling issue.  Terry Cook’s truck blocked Benson’s truck in its stall, and Benson lost valuable track position trying to get around his opponent’s vehicle.

When the race was restarted on lap 134, the No. 23 TCUV Tundra was in the 16th spot.  Benson needed a long green flag run to help him move forward, but the final 50 laps were caution-filled.  Benson crossed the finish line in the 12th spot.  The top-15 finish propelled the team into the runner up position in the points standings.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns to action Saturday, Aug. 12 for the Toyota Tundra 200 at Nashville Superspeedway.  The race can be seen live on the Speed Channel.

Starr Top Toyota Driver at ORP
In Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) race at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis, David Starr was the top-finishing Toyota when he recorded a fourth-place finish in his No. 11 Red Horse Racing Tundra.  Starr followed race-winner Rick Crawford, Dennis Setzer (second) and Ron Hornaday, Jr. (third) to the checkered flag at the Indianapolis short track.

Germain racing teammates Todd Bodine and Ted Musgrave also registered top-10 finishes at the Indianapolis oval.  Bodine, driver of the No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Tundra, crossed the finish line seventh.  Musgrave,
driver of the No. 9 Team ASE Tundra, ended up one spot behind his teammate in eighth-place.

Tundra drivers following Starr, Bodine and Musgrave to the checkered flag
were Johnny Benson (12th), Bill Lester (14th), Mike Skinner (18th), Jack
Sprague (28th) and David Reutimann (34th).

 

 

NOTES:

• This week’s race truck for O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis is Chassis No. 23-88.  This is a brand new truck to the Bill Davis Racing fleet.

• Happy Anniversary… This week marks the one-year anniversary of Rick Ren’s tenure at Bill Davis Racing.  In his first year at BDR, Ren has led the team to two wins, 11 top-five finishes and 15 top-10 finishes.  The Tilton, Ill., native has also guided his team to a third-place standing in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship points, only 163 points out of the lead.

• Certified Winner… Toyota Certified Used Vehicles will serve as the primary sponsor of the No. 23 Bill Davis Racing Toyota Tundra this weekend at O’Reilly Raceway Park.

• Tested and Approved… Johnny Benson and the No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles team tested at Caraway Speedway near Asheboro, N.C., Monday, July 31 in preparation for Friday night’s event.

• Winning in every division… Benson took his late model stock car back to his home state of Michigan to compete in last Wednesday’s Kalamazoo Clash at the Kalamazoo Speedway.  Benson dominated the race and took home the trophy and a check for $25,000.

• Gail Davis’ ride with Petty and Friends… Gail Davis took to the open road last week by participating in the 2006 Chick-fil-A Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America.  This was Gail’s 11th trip with the Petty entourage, which embarked on its 12th- annual ride across the country in an effort raise money and awareness for children’s charities.  To learn more, visit www.kylepettycharityride.com.

• Listen and Watch… The Power Stroke Diesel 200 is scheduled to start at 8:45 p.m. ET Friday, Aug. 4.  It will broadcast live on Speed (TV), MRN (radio) and XM Radio channel 144. 

Johnny Benson on racing at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis:
“ORP is a neat place to race.  Ten years ago, you could race right up by the wall or get underneath someone and do some side-by-side racing.  Now, the groove has moved down so much that it has become harder and harder to pass there.  It is important to be able to run the bottom and get hooked up off the corner to make a pass.  All in all, it is a great place to race and is fun.  We had some success there in 2005, even though we had some trouble at the end of the race.  We are taking a new truck, but we’re quite optimistic.  I am looking forward to the race itself.

“[Crew chief] Rick Ren has been a great asset to the team.  Rick has the same type of vision that I have.  He is very knowledgeable and gets the vehicle to do what I want it to do in race trim.  The trucks are feeling like I want them to feel, and it has showed this year.  We have been off here and there, but I feel like everybody has had the same issues.  When we have been on, we have been good.

“I have confidence in Rick and [truck chief] Billy Hagerthey and everyone who works on the trucks.  It is very seldom that we have to fix little things or make adjustments at the racetrack.  They have been on top of it and well prepared.  When you unload at the track, your main goal is to make sure you race well and not have to make a number of changes.  This team has done that.  All the guys help each other.  This is one of very few teams in racing where everybody pitches in and helps each other.  They all work together to get the job done and get it done right.  I think that mentality starts with Rick and moves its way down through the team.”