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Johnny Benson
Bill Davis Racing Event Preview
Race/Date:
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Ohio 250 – May 26, 2007
Location:
Mansfield Motorsports Speedway – Mansfield, O.H.
Mansfield Photos
By: VPS Motor Images
With interim crew chief Billy Hagerthey again calling
the shots, Johnny Benson and his No. 23 team headed to
Mansfield Motorsports Speedway with high hopes.
The crew made several necessary changes during the
first practice session, and Benson had the 14th-fastest
truck. The 360 OTC/TCUV team made some minor adjustments
before the final practice session, which vaulted the No.
23 truck to the fourth-fastest time on the speed chart.
Benson’s late qualifying draw gave him a great chance
to qualify near the front of the field. A quick time of
15.565 seconds placed Benson fourth on the starting
grid.
With the rain approaching, Benson knew he would have
to make his way to the front of the field fast. He took
the second position before the race was halted due to
rain on lap 16.
Once the rain ended and the race restarted, Benson
retained his position. He pitted under caution on lap 52
for four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment. The
back half of the field opted not to pit, relegating
Benson to 26th for the restart.
Benson drove hard to fight his way back to the front,
passing several trucks on one of the NASCAR Craftsman
Truck Series’ hardest tracks on which to pass. Rain
again stopped the race on lap 100.
Benson and his team waited out the lengthy rain delay
before resuming action with as much zeal as before.
Several cautions made for a long night, but Benson drove
smart and picked off positions one by one. He re-entered
the top 10 by lap 144 of the 250-lap event. Benson drove
his heart out in the remaining laps to finish fifth.
Benson and the rest of the Craftsman Truck Series
teams will race Friday night in Dover, Del. The race
will be televised live on SPEED.
Another Top 5 Finish for the #23 Team!
Jack Sprague was the highest-finishing Tundra driver at
Mansfield with a 2nd-place finish for Wyler Racing. A total
of four Tundras finished in the top-10 Saturday as Mike
Skinner finished fourth and Johnny Benson finished fifth for
Bill Davis Racing, while Ted Musgrave finished eighth for
Germain Racing. Other Tundra finishers were: Terry
Cook (12th), Ryan Matthews (18th), Aaron Fike (24th), Todd
Bodine (31st) and Ken Butler (36th).
The race was red-flagged due to rain
three times for more than five hours, and the checkered flag
flew nearly eight hours after the green flag waved. Skinner
started on the pole and led the first 53 laps. He has now
led 497 laps this season.
Jack Sprague, No. 60 Con-way
Freight Tundra, Wyler Racing - Finished: 2nd Were you
surprised that the No. 75 truck made it without stopping?
"Honestly, I was pretty surprised that (race winner) Dennis
(Setzer) was able to make it without stopping. I know that
nobody out there gets better fuel mileage than my Toyota
Tundra. I pitted with the No. 1 truck (Fike) early in the
race, and he still ran out of gas there at the end. I'm not
sure how it all happened, but overall, the guys brought me a
great truck and we're pretty happy with a second-place
finish."
Mike Skinner, No. 5 Toyota Tundra, Bill Davis Racing -
Finished: 4th
How would you describe the race?
"Today was a long day. (Crew chief) Jeff (Hensley) told me
what to do, and he predicted a lot of cautions. I didn't
think that there would be as many as there were, but he was
right. Our biggest thing was to race careful and keep our
nose clean, because on these short tracks, there are always
trucks around you. Overall, it was a good points day for our
team, and we'll go to Dover and do it again."
Johnny Benson, No. 23 360 OTC
Tundra, Bill Davis Racing Finished: 5th Was it hard to
stay focused during a race that took so long? "A
little bit, but not really. There was some great racing out
there all day, so it's hard to lose any focus. The Bill
Davis team brought me a real good truck and Toyota had
another great motor, so we're pretty pleased with how we
finished. The race was a little odd in that we never could
really get into a rhythm because of the rain, but once it
cleared up and we got running again, we showed that we had a
pretty good truck."
NOTES:
-
This
week’s race truck
for the Lowe’s Motor Speedway is
Chassis No.
23-35.
This is the same truck that Benson raced to a top-ten
finish with earlier this year at Martinsville.
-
Welcome Back
360 OTC and TCUV as
the co-sponsors this week of Benson’s No. 23 Toyota
Tundra in Mansfield.
-
Last year’s
fourth place finish
at Mansfield was a hard-fought finish. This year
Benson will try and duplicate his effort.
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Jack man woes…
Benson’s jack man Ryan “Pickle” London was injured in
a go-kart accident this past weekend and suffered
injuries to his arm, head and chest. This weekend Ron
“Porkchop” Pederson will fill in as the jack man for
the 23 truck.
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Going home…
Matt Weber will be
returning to his hometown this weekend. Weber is from
Galion, O.H., which is about five miles from the
speedway. Weber is the 2nd gas man for
Benson’s No. 23 Toyota Tundra.
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Listen and watch …
The NASCAR
Craftsman Truck Series Ohio 250 is scheduled to start
at 1 p.m. ET Saturday, May 26. It will broadcast live
on Speed Channel (TV), MRN (radio) and Sirius
Satellite Radio (Ch. 128).
Johnny Benson
on racing at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway:
“Mansfield is a neat
track and the fan base is great. There is always so
much energy with the fans, which makes it a lot of fun
for us.”
“At Mansfield you have
to have your truck really working well on the bottom in
order to get by another truck. Therefore, qualifying is
so important here. We have managed to qualify well at
Mansfield in the past and last year we finished the race
in the fourth position. Hopefully we can have another
solid finish this time around.”
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