Johnny Benson and his No. 23 Exide Batteries Toyota
Tundra team were looking forward to racing on the new
surface at Bristol’s “Thunder Valley.” After finishing
fourth the last two years at the .5-mile track, Benson
and team were looking to win there Wednesday night.
The Exide Tundra handled a little loose in the corners,
but good overall during the Wednesday morning practice
session. Benson and crew chief Trip Bruce soon
discussed setup for that evening’s race. The truck ran
well again during the “Happy Hour” final practice
session, and Benson and his team finished the day as the
fourth quickest team on the speed chart.
Benson had a great qualifying draw -- near the end of
the qualifying order – to go along with his great
truck. After posting a time of 15.938 seconds, Benson
placed himself eighth on the starting grid.
Benson began his charge to the front immediately upon
the start of the race. He broke into the top five by
lap 30, despite his complaints that the right rear was
possibly loose.
When the caution flag waved on lap 35, Benson and his
Exide team gambled and remained on the track while the
rest of the field came down pit road. Benson and Bruce
saw no reason to pit early since their tires did not
wear all that much in practice. Benson led the field to
the green flag for the lap 46 restart.
Benson appeared unstoppable for the next 60 laps, and he
began to pull away from the field. He relinquished the
lead for his one and only pit stop of the night, which
came under caution on lap 104. Because most of the lead
trucks did not pit, Benson restarted 17th after the four
tire stop.
Benson knew he had a battle ahead of him, but he
remained patient and focused and began picking off
positions one by one. By lap 120, Benson was within the
top-10 and charging for the front.
Benson stood third with 30 laps remaining in the 200-lap
race. He drove hard into the corners and gained ground
on the leader each lap. When the top two trucks
collided on lap 181, Benson regained the lead. He
fought off the hard-charging Brendan Gaughan for the
next 20 laps to capture his first victory at the tough
to tame Bristol Motor Speedway. It was also his second
victory of the year.
Benson will join the rest of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck
Series at Gateway International Raceway in St. Louis
next weekend. The race will be televised live on SPEED
Saturday, Sept. 1.
Johnny Benson holds off
Brendan Gaughan
First, Johnny Benson didn’t pit when everyone else did.
Then he pitted when everyone else stayed out.
His race strategy may
have seemed backwards, but the result was on target as he
held off a furious challenge from Brendan Gaughan to win
Wednesday night’s O’Reilly 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The win was Benson’s
second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of the season
and came in the first NASCAR race run on Bristol’s new
surface.
Both the race strategy
and the new surface received good reviews from Benson.
“We talked about pitting. We would never have thought
everyone else was coming (down pit road),” Benson said.
“Trip (Bruce, crew chief) said it would be fine.”
When most lead-lap
trucks pitted on Lap 35, Benson stayed out and inherited
the lead. He finally made his pit stop on Lap 105 – when
most lead-lap trucks stayed out – and restarted back in
17th.
Benson had made his way
to third when Travis Kvapil and Kyle Busch - running first
and second, respectively - spun out on Lap 180, leaving
Benson out front again. He held off Gaughan by 0.79
seconds for the seventh win of his career.
As for the new surface –
which produced two- and even three-wide racing at times –
there were compliments aplenty. “It’s unbelievable.
It is way, way cool,” Benson said. “This place used to
take your breath away with the way you had to run around
the bottom of the track.
“Tonight, you could race
the top, you could race the bottom. They have done one
heck of a job. They should be very proud of what they’ve
done to this track.”
Gaughan, who was trying
for his first win since the 2003 season, said the new
surface offered plenty of options. “This is
definitely not the same old Bristol,” he said. “Kyle
Busch tried to push me up the track early, so I decided
later I would try to follow him. “It was amazing. I’ve
never seen two-wide racing for the lead all around the
track on the first lap.”
Mark Martin, driving a
truck for the Wood Brothers, finished third. Series points
leader Mike Skinner was fourth and Rick Crawford fifth.
