Johnny Benson
Bill Davis Racing Event Preview
Race/Date:
AAA Insurance 200 – June 1, 2007
Location:
Dover International Speedway – Dover, D.E.
Dover International Speedway is the track where Benson
won his first NASCAR Busch Series race in 1994 and he
was looking to win again, but this time in the NASCAR
Craftsman Truck Series.
With crew chief Trip Bruce back on board this weekend,
Johnny Benson and his No. 23 TCUV team headed to the
Monster Mile ready to work their way forwards in points
at the series 300th race.
The team immediately struggled in the first practice
session on Thursday afternoon. After making some major
adjustments before Happy Hour, Benson’s team found a
great combination and finished out the session as the
fifth quickest truck.
With Saturday’s morning qualifying session underway,
Benson would get his turn as the 21st truck
on the track. With the track getting hotter by the
minute, Benson knew what he had to do to start up
front. Posting an incredible time of 23.308 seconds,
Benson would start in the third position for Saturday’s
afternoon race.
As the green flag waved over the field, Benson knew he
had to be careful at the start of the race. With many
quick trucks up front, Benson would narrowly avoid a
first lap wreck with the front runners.
Restarting in the second position on lap 11, Benson
would maintain his position within the top-three until
his green flag pit stop on lap 100. Taking four tires,
fuel, an air pressure and a wedge adjustment, Benson
would return to the track one lap down and in the 13th
position.
With Benson’s truck needing to be a little freer as the
race went on, Benson would again get his chance to come
to pit road as the caution flag would wave on lap 130.
Taking four tires, fuel and making a wedge adjustment
once again, Benson would restart in the 12th
position on lap 134.
With an amazingly fast truck, Benson would not only
charge his way forwards on the restart, but would get
his lap back by driving his way around the field over
the next 60 laps. Benson’s No. 23 TCUV Tundra was a
half a second quicker than any truck on the track the
last part of the race.
Picking off positions one by one, Benson vaulted his way
straight to the front, but would eventually run out of
time and finish fourth at the Monster Mile.
Benson moves up two positions in points and will head
with the rest of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams
to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. The race will be
televised on SPEED on June 8.
NOTES:
-
This
week’s race truck
for the Dover International Speedway is
Chassis No. 23-37.
This is the first time this truck has been run this
year, however Benson did run this truck last year at
Dover en route to a sixth place finish.
-
Welcome Back Toyota
Certified Used Vehicles this weekend. Benson’s truck
will adorn these colors for the next four races.
-
Moving On Up… The No. 23
team moved up a spot in points this week into the
ninth position with a solid top-five finish at
Mansfield Motorsports Park, but is only a mere 2
points out of the eighth position.
-
Last year… Benson started
from the top-10 and finished strong in the sixth
position at Dover International Speedway.
-
Listen and watch … The AAA
Insurance 200 is scheduled to start at 4:45 p.m. ET
Friday, June 1. It will broadcast live on Speed
Channel (TV), MRN (radio) and Sirius Satellite Radio
(Ch. 128).
Johnny Benson on racing at
Dover International Speedway:
“I really like Dover. It is definitely a get up and go
track, but you also can not overdrive the track. You
have to get into the corner good where the truck does
not slide out from underneath you, and you can not get
back into the gas. It is a place where you have to pay
attention to everything that is going on though from
start to finish, so you have to be very careful.”
“I am definitely ready to race in Dover this weekend.
We need to get back up there in the points, so hopefully
this weekend we can get another strong finish. We have
TCUV back on board this weekend and I want to give them
a good showing as well.”
