Bill Davis Racing Event Preview

Race/Date:    Easy Care Vehicle Service Contracts 200 – Oct. 27, 2007

Location:       Atlanta Motor Speedway – Atlanta, Ga.

Johnny Benson headed to the Atlanta Motor Speedway with high hopes of keeping his top-ten streak alive.  Finishing in the top-ten the last six races, including winning two of those six, Benson and his No. 23 team have been on a roll and saw no reason to let up at this past weekend’s Atlanta race.

As practice got underway Friday afternoon, Benson and his team experienced all sorts of problems with their TCUV Tundra.  Making numerous changes in between sessions, the No. 23 team just couldn’t get their truck up to par, finishing out the day in the 18^th position on the speed charts.

Before their qualifying attempt the next day the No. 23 TCUV team went to work under crew chief Trip Bruce’s authority.  Literally changing everything on the truck, Benson and the team held their breath as their Tundra ran its qualifying laps.  Running a lap time of 30.754 seconds, Benson would qualify in the eighth position and became very pleased with his guys and his truck.

As the 130 lap race got underway, Benson radioed over to the crew during the first few laps that his TCUV truck was tight off.  With a competition caution flying on lap 30, Benson came to pit road with the rest of the 36-truck field.  Taking four tires, fuel and making a wedge bolt adjustment, Benson and his team would get off pit road with ease, until the realized that got caught for speeding.  Having to come back down pit road for a pass through penalty, Benson would be forced to start at the tail end of the longest line.

Immediately however Benson would vault his way through the field, passing trucks left and right on the 1.5 mile Atlanta racetrack and making his way into the top-10 by lap 60.  With another caution flag waving on lap 80, Benson along with the rest of the field would come to pit road.  Taking four tires and fuel only, Benson would restart in the second position on lap 85.

Taking the lead on lap 96, Benson would radio over to his crew that he felt a vibration in the left front.  Trying to put it out of his mind, Benson drove hard and hung onto the lead for the next few laps.

With the fourth caution of the night coming out on lap 106, Benson would once again come to pit road for four tires, fuel, a wedge and an air pressure adjustment, restarting in the fourth position on lap 111.

Remaining calm throughout the last few crazy laps and driving hard, Benson would cross the start/finish line in the third position, and move himself into the fourth position in the NCTS points.

The Craftsman Truck Series heads to Texas Motor Speedway again this weekend.  The race will be televised live on SPEED Friday, Nov. 2.

Johnny Finishes 3rd in Atlanta
Kyle Busch was both lucky and good Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.  Busch benefited from two timely caution flags, including one when we was about to be black flagged for a having a loose window net, and then powered past leader Ron Hornaday Jr. with seven laps to go to win the EasyCare Vehicle Service Contracts 200.

Hornaday finished second, followed by Johnny Benson, Mark Martin and Mike Skinner. Hornaday's runner-up performance enabled him to sneak past Skinner and retake the lead in the Truck Series standings by a mere four points with three races remaining in the season. It is the fifth time in the past six races that the series lead has changed hands between the two drivers.

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