Johnny Benson

Bill Davis Racing Event Preview

Race/Date:    Sam’s Town 400 – June 6, 2008

Location:       Texas Motor Speedway – Ft. Worth, TX

Started:                      15th

Finish:                             Third

Laps Completed:       172

Total Laps:                172

NCTS Points:             Third

Johnny Benson and his Brangus Breeders Toyota Tundra went into Texas Motor Speedway this past weekend with hopes of finishing strong and moving up in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series point standings.

Practice kicked off Thursday morning and Benson and his No. 23 Tundra needed a lot of improvement right off the bat.  Trip Bruce (crew chief) and the guys got to work in between practices and by the end of the final session, Benson let his Brangus crew know that he was very happy with his truck.

Going out pretty early in the qualifying order and on an extremely hot racetrack, Benson knew it would be tough to run a strong lap.  Mustering a 30.841 second lap, Benson qualified himself in the 15^th position for the start of Friday night’s race under the lights.

As the green flag waved over the hot and slick Texas track, Benson radioed over to his No. 23 Brangus Breeders crew that his Tundra was sliding all over the place.  As the first caution flag would wave on lap 34, Benson would dive down pit road for four tires, fuel, a trackbar and a wedge adjustment.  With an incredibly quick pitstop, Benson would restart the race in the eighth position, six positions better than when he came in.

Benson’s truck would become better under the long green flag run, but still needed to be a bit freer.  As he continued to move his way through the field another caution flag would wave on lap 62 and Benson would once again come to pit road.  This time however, for fuel and a wedge adjustment only, which allowed Benson to take the lead off pit road.

Keeping the lead until lap 70, Benson would fight to stay up front as his truck would be the best it has been all night.  However as the third caution of the night would come out on lap 88, Benson along with the rest of the leaders would come back to pit road.  Once again taking four tires, fuel and making a wedge adjustment, Benson would restart the race in the 13^th position due to many in the back of the field not pitting.

On lap 97, Benson would radio over to crew chief, Trip Bruce that his Tundra was wicked loose.  Having to remain calm and wait it out, Benson still continued to move his way back to the front.  By lap 110, Benson was in the sixth position and his truck had become much better under the long run.

Now being able to pick off positions one by one, Benson found himself in the second position by lap 156.  Battling back and forth within the top-three for the remainder of the race, Benson would cross the start/finish line in the third position and vault himself up to the third spot in points, just 55 points out of the lead.

Benson and the rest of the Craftsman Truck Series will head to his hometown track, the Michigan International Speedway next week.  The race will be televised live June 14th on Speed Channel.

NOTES:

• This week’s race truck for the event at the Texas Motor Speedway is Chassis No. 23-60.  This is the same truck Benson ran earlier in the year at the California Speedway en route to a third place finish.

• Brangus on Board…  Benson’s No. 23 Toyota Tundra will carry a new paint scheme again this weekend.  The colors of the International Brangus Breeders Association (IBBA) will adorn the sides of Benson’s Tundra in Texas.  Brangus is the No. 1 American breed.  The unsurpassed combination of Angus quality and Brahman hardiness sets Brangus apart.  The blend of selected cattle from the two parent breeds results in a breed that better combines efficiency of production and excellence of end product than any other breed, new or old.  The IBBA will be highlighting their OptimaxX program this weekend.

• Point Standings… The No. 23 team sits in the fifth position in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series point standings.  Benson is only 54 points out of the lead.

• Back on Track… Benson and his No. 23 guys seem to be back on track as they started the season off with a bang, but had some misfortunate luck earlier in the year.  They now look as if they are right where they need to be for the point’s battle in that they have captured a top-five and three top-10 finishes in the last four events.

• BDR Domination… Not only has Benson sat on the front row the last two NCTS races, including capturing his third career pole two weeks ago, but the BDR truck trio once again finished in the top-10 for the second time this year.  BDR and NASCAR newcomer, Scott Speed captured the truck team’s first win in 2008 at Dover last weekend as well.

• Listen and watch … The Sam’s Town 400 is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. EST Friday, June 6.  It will broadcast on SPEED (TV), MRN (radio) and Sirius Satellite Radio (Ch. 128).
  
  Johnny Benson on Racing at the Texas Motor Speedway
  “Texas is a fun track.  It is smooth and you can run real fast there. We have had some bad luck at Texas the last few times we have been there, but hopefully all of that is gone and we can continue to run strong like we have done the last few weeks.  We seem to be on track right now and we hope to keep the ball rolling here in Texas.”