Johnny Benson
Bill Davis Racing Event Preview
Race/Date:
Cool City Customs 200 – June 14, 2008
Location:
Michigan International Speedway – Brooklyn, Mich.
Date: Saturday, June 14,
2008
Started: Eighth
Finish:
Second
Laps Completed: 100
Total Laps: 100
NCTS Points: First
Johnny Benson took his Exide Batteries Toyota Tundra to
his hometown track this past weekend with all hopes of
winning. Dominating at the two-mile track two years
ago, Benson and his No. 23 Exide crew were looking to
capture their first win of the 2008 season.
With practice kicking off on Friday morning after the
rain storms had cleared, Benson ran strong right out of
the box as he ended up 10th on the board at
the end of the day. Feeling as if he had a great truck
to race with, Benson and his team prepared their truck
for qualifying the next morning.
Going out early in the qualifying order, Benson put down
a good lap of 41.311 seconds as he would qualify himself
in the eighth position for the start of Saturday’s
afternoon race.
As the green flag would wave, Benson would soon let his
crew know that he was aero tight. As he continued to
fight his truck on the racetrack he still managed to
make his way forwards. By lap 30, Benson had put
himself in the fourth position.
As the field would run under long green flag conditions,
Benson would have to make a pit stop along with the
other trucks on the track. Pitting on lap 38 for four
tires, fuel, a trackbar and an air pressure adjustment
in order to free him up a bit, Benson would restart in
the seventh position.
As the second caution of the race would come out on lap
44, Benson would dive down pit road for fuel and another
trackbar adjustment. Restarting first on lap 50, Benson
would hang on to the lead as long as possible. As he
lost the lead on lap 55, Benson would remain in the
top-three until another caution flag would fly.
Having to now work his way back through the field from
the 15th position on the lap 62 restart,
Benson showed that he knew the two-mile track well. And
with 20 laps to go, Benson was in the second position
once again fighting for the lead.
Maintaining his position well, but doing all he could to
catch the leader, Benson would have to now be ready for
a restart as the last caution of the race would come out
on lap 94.
With just three short laps to go as the race restarted
on lap 97, Benson would have his hands full. Not only
was he trying to catch the leader, but he was trying to
fight off his teammate from behind as well.
As the white flag waved, Benson made his move on the
leader and as the two would come around turn four,
Benson would have a slight edge. As the two would cross
the finish line, Benson would come up short, 1/1000th
of a second short. It was the second closest finish in
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series history.
Benson will lead the Craftsman Truck Series as the
point’s leader to The Milwaukee Mile next week. The
race will be televised live June 20th on Speed Channel.
NOTES:
-
This week’s race truck for
the event at the Michigan International Speedway is
Chassis No. 23-60. This is the same truck Benson
ran last weekend at Texas en route to a third place
finish.
-
Welcome Home… Benson was
born and raised in Grand Rapids, M.I. He made his
NASCAR debut here in 1993 racing in the NASCAR Busch
Series before moving to North Carolina in 1994.
-
Back in Black and Blue…
Exide will serve as the primary sponsor of Benson’s
No. 23 Toyota Tundra this weekend.
-
Michigan Facts… Benson got
his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win at MIS in
2006. He also has two top-five finishes and three
top-10 finishes in his four career starts at the
two-mile track.
-
Point Standings… The No. 23
team sits in the third position in the NASCAR
Craftsman Truck Series point standings. Benson is
only 55 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 two top-five
finishes and four top-10 finishes in the last five
events.
-
More Racing… Benson will be
racing at Toledo Speedway in the ISMA Series Friday
night after NCTS practice is complete.
-
Listen and watch … The Cool
City Customs 200 is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. EST
Saturday, June 14. It will broadcast on SPEED (TV),
MRN (radio) and Sirius Satellite Radio (Ch. 128).
Johnny Benson on Racing at the Michigan
International Speedway
"I love going home to race at Michigan. It's
always fun to race in front of my family and friends.
Plus MIS is just a great track to run on. We have
been slowly moving back up in the points and hopefully
that will continue this weekend. We started the
season out strong and then got into a string of bad
luck, but it looks like this Tundra is back on track
now. I would love to get a win here at Michigan."
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