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.”