Johnny Benson - Event Preview
Toyota Tundra 200 - August 12, 2006
Nashville Superspeedway - Nashville, TN

Johnny Benson and the No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra team were on a mission to make it “two for two” in Nashville.  Benson wheeled his No. 23 Toyota Tundra into victory lane in the first event sponsored by Toyota earlier this season at The Milwaukee Mile.  Saturday’s event at the 1.33 mile Nashville Superspeedway was also sponsored by Toyota, and Benson wanted nothing more than to win again for the manufacturer.

Benson was happy with his Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra in both of Friday’s practice session.  He told crew chief Rick Ren that the truck handled a little tight in the middle of the corners, but had really good bite off the turns.  The team made a couple of shock and spring changes to the truck, hoping to get the truck to rotate in the center of the corner.  Rain shortened the final practice session, but the No. 23 team was already confident in its machine.

Benson started the 150-lap event in the 22nd position and began his charge to the front from the very start of the race.  On lap five, Benson reported that the truck handled tight in turns one and two.  He was having a hard time keeping his truck on the bottom of the track.  Ren and the crew began discussing the changes they would make during the first pit stop.

By lap 20, Benson had wheeled his Tundra up to the 11th spot.  He reported that the truck now handled loose in the center of the corner, and he was having a hard time getting back to the gas.  Once again, changes to be made during the first pit stop became the topic of discussion in the No. 23 pit.

The team received an opportunity to make changes under caution on lap 37.  The four-tire stop also featured a wedge adjustment, which would hopefully improve the handling of the No. 23 Tundra.  Because some competitors did not pit, Benson restarted 22nd on lap 40.

On lap 47, Benson communicated that the changes made the truck worse.  It was extremely loose in the corners.  The handling problems did not seem to deter Benson from gaining positions.  By lap 70, he had moved into the 12th position and was running consistent lap times.

The team made its final pit stop of the race under caution on lap 78.  This time around, it made trackbar, wedge and air pressure adjustments in an effort to dial the truck in for the final segment of the race.

Benson stood eighth with 50 laps remaining.  He told Ren that the truck was not good on new tires, and it took a couple of laps for the truck to gain grip.  As the grip increased, the distance between Benson and the leader decreased.  He was fifth with 10 laps to go.

Benson was third at the beginning of a green-white-checkered finish.  When his teammate Mike Skinner and the runner up Todd Bodine collided on the final lap, Benson dove under the dueling trucks to capture the lead.  It was Benson’s third victory of the season.  He sits second in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship standings, only 144 out of the lead.

The Craftsman Truck Series takes a weekend off before traveling to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway for the O’Reilly 200 Presented by Valvoline Aug. 23.  Coverage of Wednesday evening’s race, scheduled for a 9:15 p.m. ET start, will broadcast on Speed (television), MRN (radio) and XM Satellite Radio

Benson Steals the Show from Bodine and Skinner
By:  Toyota Motorsports

Johnny Benson earned his third career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) victory in Saturday afternoon’s Toyota Tundra 200 at Nashville Superspeedway when he passed veterans Mike Skinner and Todd Bodine in his No.23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra.  Skinner and Bodine took themselves out of the race when they came together while battling for the win. The scuffle on the final lap resulted in an eighth place finish for Bodine and a 17th finish for Skinner.  Jack Sprague piloted his No. 60 Con-way Freight Tundra to a second place finish behind Benson. 

“The restart was good and the field got bottled up a little bit down there,
and then I got a run on Jack (Sprague),” said Benson after the race.  “I
got underneath him in turn two and he ran me pretty hard through turns
three and four -- which is what you’re supposed to do.  He almost got ahead of me up off turn four.  I was saying: ‘I really, really, need to be in
front of him right now.’  So, I got a little bit of draft on him coming
down the side.  He knew -- so he let off to get behind me and see if he
could ‘take the air off.’ I saw what was going on ahead of me with the No.
30 (Bodine) and the No. 5 (Skinner) -- and I wasn’t going to come off the
bottom.  I needed to hook that bottom and get some good grip because the track was slippery today.  My Tundra came out in the lead off turn two.  I looked up in the mirror and said: ‘There’s nobody that’s going to wreck me out of here.’”

Bodine and Skinner had different views on how the final laps played out.
“It was a green-white-checkered finish and I got inside him (Skinner),”
said Bodine when asked about the wreck.  “Obviously, his spotter didn’t
tell him.  He came down and I hit him; I didn’t take him out.  I could have
just turned him right around and been done with him, but I didn’t do that.
The difference was he did wreck me -- or he tried to for the win.  If you
saw the replay, he pushed me from half-way down the front straightaway --
all the way through the corner.  I got off him and tried to save it, and
let him save it.  It was going to be a good points day for the No. 30 team,
but we lost some points to Johnny -- he was in the right place at the right
time.”

“I never dreamed in a million years that Todd (Bodine) would do that to me
to win a race,” said Mike Skinner. “He did and I hate it for him --- and
for us.  We’re pretty good friends off the race track and have been for a
pretty long time.  He just got a bit greedy.  He can’t win every time.  He
stepped over the line.”
 

NOTES:

• This week’s race truck for Nashville Superspeedway is Chassis No. 23-60.  Johnny Benson drove this truck to victory at The Milwaukee Mile in late June.

• Million Dollar Man… By starting the race this weekend, Benson will surpass the $1 million mark in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career earnings.  Benson will be the 33rd competitor to accomplish this task.  Benson will also be the ninth driver to earn more than $1 million in each of NASCAR’s top three touring series.  It has taken Benson 66 starts to accomplish this feat.

• Bill Davis Racing First… Once Benson reaches the $1 million mark, all three Bill Davis Racing drivers will be part of that elite group of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series millionaires.  The feat will also make the Bill Davis Racing team the only team in Craftsman Truck Series history in which all drivers have earned more than $1 million.  Bill Lester passed the $1 million mark last year at Kentucky Speedway, and Mike Skinner has totaled $2,306,097 in career earnings.

• Moving on up… The team’s 12th place finish last Friday night at O’Reilly Raceway Park propelled Benson into the runner up spot in the Craftsman Truck Series Championship points standings.  Benson is only 182 points behind leader and fellow Toyota driver Todd Bodine.

• Certified Winner… The Toyota Certified Used Vehicles logo will again adorn the hood of No. 23 Toyota Tundra this week in the Toyota Tundra 200.

• Nice Finish… In 2005, Benson finished eighth at Nashville in 2005, joining his teammates in the top 10.  It was the first time in BDR history in which all three Craftsman Truck Series teams finished in the top 10 at the same event.

• Listen and Watch… The Toyota Tundra 200 is scheduled to start at 5:15 p.m. ET Saturday, Aug. 12.  It will broadcast live on Speed (TV), MRN (radio) and XM Radio channel 144.

Johnny Benson on racing at Nashville Superspeedway:
“I love Nashville.  The track is pretty neat, although it’s tough place to pass.  It’s a finesse-type of race track, where you have to really concentrate to hold it down at the bottom of the track.  It also requires a lot of discipline to make sure you don’t go into the corner too hard.

“Nashville is also a special place for Toyota.  They bring an enormous group of employees to the track, and it is important for the Toyota teams to do well in front of them.  We won in Milwaukee, which was also sponsored by Toyota, and I am hoping we can go two-for-two this season and take our Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra to victory lane.”