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Keep up with what is happening with Johnny and the #23 Bill Davis Racing Team. 

 

  

Bill Davis Racing Event Preview

 

Race/Date:    Toyota Tundra Milwaukee 200 – June 22, 2007

Location:       The Milwaukee Mile – Milwaukee, W.I.

 

 

Johnny Benson and his No. 23 TCUV team wanted to make history and become the first team to win back-to-back races at The Milwaukee Mile.  The team utilized the same truck that won at the Wisconsin track last year.

 

Benson and his Tundra shot straight to the top of the speed charts during Friday morning’s practice sessions.  Realizing the importance of qualifying position at this track, Benson and his crew set their truck up for that afternoon’s qualifying run.

 

With an early qualifying draw, Benson gave it all he had and put down a great lap of 29.639 seconds.  He would start Friday night’s race in the fourth position.

 

Benson would start his charge forwards immediately upon the drop of the green flag.  By lap 17, Benson reported to his crew that he needed grip.  Despite the truck’s need for adjustment, Benson soon began battling for the lead.

 

Benson joined the rest of the field on pit road after a caution flag waved for debris on lap 68.  The crew added a round of wedge to the left rear during the four-tire stop, and Benson restarted second on lap 72.

 

Benson passed Mike Skinner for the lead on lap 104 during another long green flag run.  He held his position well and stretched out his lead each lap.  Benson also let his crew know that he was a touch tight off the corners.

 

After the fifth caution flag of the night waved on lap 159, Benson came down pit road for the last time.  The No. 23 team flew through the four-tire stop— this time with an air pressure adjustment— and Benson regained the lead for the restart on lap 165.

 

Benson lengthened his lead on the rest of the field until the final caution flag waved on lap 194.  With three laps to go on the restart, Benson fought off a hard-charging Ron Hornaday Jr. and become the first driver to ever win back-to-back races at The Milwaukee Mile.

 

Benson and the rest of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams will head to Memphis (Tenn.) Motorsports Park this weekend.  The race will be televised on SPEED Saturday, June 30.

 

 

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Johnny's Comments After Win
 Last year's Milwaukee Mile race-winner Johnny Benson began the race third on the grid and ended up in victory lane in the No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra.

How does it feel to win again at Milwaukee?
  "It feels great. The engine ran awesome. It was pretty close to last year. I think last year we were a little better, but not by much. I knew Ron (Hornaday, Jr.) had the same set-up we ran last year with Rick (Ren, crew chief) being over there. (Ren was Benson's crew chief last year.) Those guys did a tremendous job coming from where they did. The guys right here at Bill Davis Racing - all the guys did a tremendous job this week. Not often do I do the Polish victory lap, but being here in Milwaukee - where Alan Kulwicki is from - I had to do it. He's somebody I always looked up to for what he's accomplished, and he's done a lot here at this track. So, I had to do that for him."

Were you worried on the late race restart?
"I know he's (Hornaday, Jr.) pretty good on those restarts, but I don't think I'm horrible either. I felt okay. I knew as long as he wasn't beside me going into turn one, I was going to be fine. Ron did everything he could, but our Tundra was pretty good. It was a great day."

Have you won races with this Tundra before?
"This is the truck we won a couple of races with last year. We won at Phoenix and a couple others. It's one of my favorite trucks."

Did you expect to be that good at the end of the race?
"We thought we would be good by the end of the race. I don't care about leading every one, I just care about the last one. Mike (Skinner) was pretty good at the beginning and we were decent. I know when we got up to second we would be okay. I knew Ron was going to be pretty good. I was a little worried about that. We were in good clean air at the end."

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series has raced at The Milwaukee Mile every year since 1995, and in all those years no driver has ever been able to score back-to-back wins.  That is until tonight.

 

Johnny Wins Back to Back in Milwaukee!


 

Mikayla, Debbie and Katelyn join Johnny in victory lane

Johnny Benson dominated the second half of the Toyota Tundra Milwaukee 200, leading all but one of the final 96 laps in the Bill Davis Racing No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Toyota en route to his first win of the 2007 season. Benson won this race last year, the second win of his 2006 season which helped propel him to a runner-up finish in the final championship standings.

Benson's main competitor at the end was Ron Hornaday, the driver he defeated here last year. But Hornaday is now working with crew chief Rick Ren, who crew chiefed Benson's win here last year.  "I think last year we were a little better, but not by much," Benson said in victory lane. "I knew Ron (Hornaday, Jr.) had the same set-up we ran last year with Rick (Ren, crew chief) being over there. Those guys did a tremendous job coming from where they did. The guys right here at Bill Davis Racing - all the guys did a tremendous job this week. Not often do I do the Polish victory lap, but being here in Milwaukee - where Alan Kulwicki is from - I had to do it. He's somebody I always looked up to for what he's accomplished, and he's done a lot here at this track. So, I had to do that for him."

A late caution brought out when Jack Sprague got crossed up in turn two set up a four-lap dash to the checkered. Benson was forced to hold off a last-ditch effort by Hornaday, who is the acknowledged master of restarts.

"I know he's (Hornaday) pretty good on those restarts, but I don't think I'm horrible either," Benson said. "I think we can get going pretty well when we need to too. I knew as long as he wasn't beside me going into turn one, I was going to be fine. Ron did everything he could, but our Tundra was pretty good. It was a great day."

As for Hornaday, the driver of Kevin Harvick's No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet was left to ruminate about what could have been for the second consecutive year.  "Second sucks," Hornaday joked during his post-race press conference. "No, actually we're pretty happy with that. We had to come from the back after getting spun early. I don't know if I came down on Willie (Allen) or what, but we spun on lap two and had to come from the back. We just had to use the truck up a little too much getting back through there to make a run at him at the end. They weren't telling me anything about what lap we were on or anything, and I finally had to ask. Here I thought we were getting near the end and it was only lap 70 and we were already out of brakes.  I tried on the last restart to get to him, but I locked the brakes up and couldn't ever get close to him."

But Hornaday differentiated his runner-up finish in 2007 very clearly from his result in 2006.  "Last year Johnny passed us," Hornaday said. "This year we just couldn't quite catch him."

Todd Bodine had a solid evening, finishing third in the No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota to score his first ever top-ten finish at Milwaukee.  "Finally we had a good finish here," said a relieved Bodine after the race. "We just missed it a little bit. The Hillmans made some good calls for us tonight and we learned a lot. Johnny (Benson) and Ron (Hornaday) had good trucks and we couldn't quite get to them at the end. The bad part is we beat Mike (Skinner) in the race and lost points to him because he led the most laps here tonight."

For Skinner, the fourth-place finish in the No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota was a disappointing end to a race in which he led the opening 104 laps.  "We're happy, but disappointed," Skinner said. "We struggled here but brought our truck home in one piece. We just got off there a little bit. We did an air pressure I didn't really want to do. Then we got the last set of tires and did what I wanted to do. I just think we got the right set of tires at the end. I thought we could make a show of it at the end, but Johnny is awfully good here."

 

 

 

NOTES:

  • This week’s race truck for The Milwaukee Mile is Chassis No. 23-60.  This truck has not yet seen action this year; however this is the truck that Benson not only won with last year at Milwaukee, but he won four races total with it in 2006.

  • Last Year’s Winner… Benson turned his season around last year as he won just his second race ever at Milwaukee.

  • Bowling for fun…Benson will join his teammate Ryan Mathews Thursday, June 21 at the Blue Mound Bowling center in Milwaukee.  NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series drivers will take on the media and guests of Craftsman Tools to determine which group boasts the better bowlers.

  • Welcome Back Toyota Certified Used Vehicles this weekend.  Benson’s truck will once again adorn the red and black colors.

  • Double Duty… Benson is also scheduled to compete at The Milwaukee Mile in the NASCAR Busch Series race this Saturday, June 23 at 8:00 p.m.  Johnny will be driving the #1 James Finch/Phoenix Racing machine sponsored by Miccosukee Resort Gaming.  The race is televised live on ESPN2.

  • Listen and watch … The Toyota Tundra Milwaukee 200 is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. ET Friday, June 22.  It will broadcast on the Speed Channel (TV), MRN (radio) and Sirius Satellite Radio (Ch. 128).

Johnny Benson on racing at The Milwaukee Mile:

“Well, we didn’t run as well as I would have liked to run last week in Michigan, so hopefully this week in Milwaukee we can do much better. We started off a little rusty last week, but ended up pretty good.”

 

“I like Milwaukee. We won here last year and I hope to do the same this year. Milwaukee is a great place to race. The competition has gotten stronger at each race this year, and I look forward to racing with such a competitive group again this weekend at the Milwaukee Mile. From now on it’s all about winning and if I want to get up there in the points we are going to have to start doing it now.”

 

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Victory Lane


Milwaukee
June 20, 2008


Miami
November 16, 2007
 


Gateway
September 1, 2007
 


Bristol
August 22, 2007



Milwaukee
June 22, 2007

 

2008
Point
Standings
(As of Memphis)
 
1. Ron Hornaday  
2. Matt Crafton -27
3. Todd Bodine -54
4. JOHNNY -56
5. Rick Crawford -74
6. Mike Skinner -113
7. Eric Darnell -137
8. Jack Sprague -164
9. Terry Cook -189
10. Chad McCumbee -228

Berger
Chevrolet

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Berlin Raceway
Hall of Fame

 John Benson Sr.
Harry Obie
Bob Knight

Gail Cobb
Ralph Baker
Jimmy Meyer

The Mysliwiec's
 


2008
Craftsman Truck Schedule
02/15 Daytona
02/23 California
03/07 Atlanta
03/29 Martinsville
04/26 Kansas
05/16 Lowes
05/24 Mansfield
05/30 Dover
06/06 Texas
06/14 MIS
06/20 Milwaukee
06/28 Memphis
07/19 Kentucky
07/25 Indy
08/09 Nashville
08/20 Bristol
09/06 Gateway
09/13 Loudon
09/20 Las Vegas
10/04 Talladega
10/18 Martinsville
10/25 Atlanta
10/31 Texas
11/07 Phoenix
11/14 Homestead
 
2008
 Nationwide
Schedule
02/16 Daytona
02/23 California
03/01 Las Vegas
03/08 Atlanta
03/15 Bristol
03/22 Nashville
04/05 Texas
04/11 Phoenix
04/20 Mexico
04/26 Talladega
05/02 Richmond
05/09 Darlington
05/24 Lowes
05/31 Dover
06/07 Nashville
06/14 Kentucky
06/21 Milwaukee
06/28 New Hampshire
07/04 Daytona
07/11 Chicago
07/19 Gateway
07/26 Indy
08/02 Montreal
08/09 Watkins Glen
08/16 Michigan
08/22 Bristol
08/30 California 
09/05 Richmond
09/20 Dover
09/27 Kansas
10/10 Lowes
10/25 Memphis
11/01 Texas
11/08 Phoenix
11/15 Miami
 
2008
Sprint Cup
Schedule
02/17 Daytona
02/24 California
03/02 Las Vegas
03/09 Atlanta
03/16 Bristol
03/30 Martinsville
04/06 Texas
04/12 Phoenix
04/27 Talladega
05/03 Richmond
05/10 Darlington
05/25 Lowes
06/01 Dover
06/08 Pocono
06/15 MIS
06/22 Sonoma
06/29 New Hampshire
07/05 Daytona
07/12 Chicago
07/27 Indy
08/03 Pocono
08/10 Watkins Glen
08/17 MIS
08/23 Bristol
08/31 California
09/06 Richmond
09/14 Loudon
09/21 Lowes
09/28 Kansas
10/05 Talladega
10/11 Lowes
10/19 Martinsville
10/26 Atlanta
11/02 Texas
11/09 Phoenix
11/16 Miami
 

 
2008
JB's Berlin
Schedule
  August 2nd
September 27th