Kentucky
Johnny Benson and the No. 23 Toyota
Certified Used Vehicles Tundra team moved on to Kentucky
Speedway with the mission of regaining the top spot in
the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Championship standings. The No.
23 team has been on a roll of late, compiling five
top-10 finishes in the past six starts, including a win
at The Milwaukee Mile.
It
wasn’t long into practice before the No. 23 team
established it had one of the fastest trucks. Benson
reported to his team that the truck handled just tick
tight in the center of the corner. Crew chief Trip
Bruce and the team made minor front end changes to the
truck to eliminate the tight condition JB was feeling.
Benson said the changes really helped the truck turn,
and he felt like they would be a contender for the win
Saturday night.
The
No. 23 team started Saturday night’s race in the fourth
spot, but it did not take long for Benson to battle for
the lead. He and teammate Mike Skinner battled NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Busch to for the top
spot. Benson told his crew on lap four that the truck
was pretty good, but he was sliding all four tires on
both ends of the track.
When
the caution flag waved on lap 20, Benson reported to his
crew that he had just picked up a huge vibration in the
truck. Knowing his team had a fast truck, Bruce did not
want to take any
chances and called Benson onto pit
road. The No. 23 team serviced its truck on lap 22,
making a trackbar adjustment during the four tire stop.
Benson restarted 13th two laps later.
The veteran driver knew he needed to be cautiously
aggressive in order to return to the front. He said the
truck was a touch loose, but he felt like it would come
in as the tires started to heat up, and it did. By lap
30, Benson was in the ninth spot and running times as
good as those of the leader.
When
the caution flag was displayed to the field on lap 51,
Benson and his team discussed different strategies. The
team elected to come down pit road for two right side
tires and fuel. The short stop gained the team valuable
track position, and Benson restarted in the lead.
Benson and Skinner put on an exhibition for the next 60
laps and led the rest of the field by five seconds.
Benson explained to Bruce that the truck was a little
tight on entry, and he could use a little help during
the final stop of the night.
That
final stop came under caution on lap 115. The team made
a
slight air pressure adjustment to fix the
tight condition Benson was feeling, along with changing
four tires and filling the truck with fuel. Some teams
elected to use the same two-tire strategy the No. 23
employed earlier, and Benson was relegated to the fourth
spot on the restart.
However, it only took one lap for the Toyota Certified
Used Vehicles Tundra to regain the lead. Benson battled
his rookie teammate Michael Annett for the final 30 laps
and emerged with his second victory of the season.
All
three Bill Davis Racing entries finished in the top
seven Saturday night. It was the fourth time this
season that all three entries have finished in the top
10. Annett finished second in only his third career
Craftsman Truck Series start, and Skinner captured his
11th top-10 finish this season. All three entries led
laps at the 1.5-mile tri-oval, a first for Bill Davis
Racing. Additionally, all three Toyota Tundra entries
sit in the top-10 in Craftsman Truck Series point
standings: Benson is on the point, Skinner is in fifth
(101 points behind Benson) and the No. 22 truck gained
three spots to stand eighth.
The No. 23 team
returns to action Friday night at O’Reilly Raceway Park
near Indianapolis. The race can be seen live on the
Speed Channel. Check local listings for start time
Johnny Wins in Kentucky!
Johnny Benson dominated
Saturday night's Built Ford Tough 225 at Kentucky Speedway,
winning his second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race of the
year and 11th of his career, cruising to an easy victory in
event No. 13 of 25 on the NCTS schedule.
Finishing second behind Benson
was his Bill Davis Racing teammate, youngster
Michael Annett, in just his third NCTS start of the
season. Then it was Matt Crafton, Dennis Setzer and
David Starr rounding out the top five.
Second-qualifier Kyle
Busch took the lead on the opening lap in his No. 51
Miccosukee Resorts Toyota Tundra, ahead of the Toyota
Tundra-sponsored No. 5 of Mike Skinner, Skinner's teammate
Benson in the No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra,
and points leader Ron Hornaday Jr. in the Camping World No.
33 Chevrolet Silverado.
Shelby Howard spun on Lap 4, bringing out
the first caution of the race. Under yellow, Jack Sprague
pitted with engine problems in his American Commercial Lines
Chevy. He had to pit again for a missing hood pin, which
dropped him to the end of the field and he would never be a
factor in the outcome of the race.
Busch held sway when the green flag flew
on Lap 8, but pole-sitter Skinner began to pressure him
heavily. It took just five laps for another yellow to fly,
as Ryan Lawler spun the Manheim Dealers Auto Auction
Chevrolet at the exit of Turn 2, in an incident that also
involved Timothy Peters's Dodge Ram.
The top four remained unchanged when the
green flew to start Lap 16, as Matt Crafton moved his No. 88
Menards Chevrolet into fifth ahead of Justin Marks in the
No. 9 Construct Corps Toyota.
On Lap 22, Caution No. 3 came out as J.C.
Stout lost a motor in his No. 91 American Classic Outfitters
Chevrolet. Under the ensuing caution, nine trucks stayed
out, while third-place Benson was the first of the leaders
to pit. When the green waved on Lap 25, the order was Busch,
Skinner, Marks, Annett in the No. 22 Pilot Travel Center
Toyota and Jason White in the No. 08 Gunbroker.com Dodge.
At the one-third mark, Lap
50, Busch pitted, turning the lead over to Skinner, who was
trailed by Marks, Annette and Hornaday. Two laps later, the
caution flew for the fourth time when Chrissie Wallace
backed her GEICO Toyota into the wall at the exit of Turn 4.
The caution pinned Busch a lap down,
while the lead-lap trucks pitted. Benson won the race off
pit road ahead of Erik Darnell in the Northern Tool +
Equipment Ford F-150, Skinner, Marks and the No. 30 Lumber
Liquidators Toyota of Todd Bodine. Busch got the Lucky Dog,
which put him back on the lead lap, but all the way back in
26th place. The race was red-flagged on Lap 57 to allow
track workers to repair the damage that Wallace's truck did
to the SAFER barrier.
The track went green on Lap 59, and Busch
immediately began charging towards the front, with Skinner
quickly taking second from Darnell and closing on leader
Benson. On Lap 67, Bodine pitted with loose lugnuts on the
right-front tire of his Toyota.
Caution No. 5 for debris was displayed on
Lap 74, one lap before the halfway mark. This time is was
Bodine who got the Lucky Dog and got back on the lead lap
for the Lap 78 restart, as Benson led Skinner, Darnell,
Marks and Crafton.
Four laps later, points leader Hornaday
made an unscheduled pit stop with a loose left-rear wheel on
his Kevin Harvick Inc.-owned Chevrolet. That dropped him to
27th, one lap behind the leaders.
At the 100-lap mark, Benson held sway
over Skinner, Darnell, Marks and Crafton. Benson's Toyota
clearly liked the clean air out front, while behind him
Crafton took over fourth place on Lap 108.
The next caution came on Lap 114 for
debris, sending most of the leaders scurrying down pit road
a lap later. Annett led the race off pit road, followed by
Setzer's Bobby Hamilton Racing Dodge, both taking only two
tires. Benson came out third, but with four fresh Goodyears,
which was a decided advantage. Behind them were Marc
Mitchell's Hyprene-Ergon Toyota and Skinner.
On the restart, Benson jumped into the
lead, while behind them, Marks, Darnell and Chad McCumbee's
Malcolmson Construction Chevrolet crashed in Turn 3. The
accident began when Ted Musgrave's Team ASE Toyota bumped
Busch, who drifted into McCumbee, sending him into the wall,
where he got hit by first Darnell and then Marks.
The order after the carnage was Benson,
Annett, Setzer, Crafton and David Starr's Red Horse Racing
Toyota. But on the Lap 127 restart, there was a huge crash
at the end of the backstretch as Bodine made contact with
first Jon Wood's Barnhill Group Ford and the Fords of Colin
Braun (Con-Way Freight) and Brendan Gaughan (International
Maxx Force Diesel).
On Lap 131, the green came out, with
Benson fending off his Bill Davis Racing teammate Annett.
Crafton got past Setzer for third, but no one was going to
catch Benson, as he scored a dominating victory.
This week’s race truck
for Kentucky Speedway is
Chassis No. 23-72.
Johnny
Benson drove Chassis No. 23-72 to a fourth-place finish
earlier this year at Kansas Speedway
·
Certified Leader…
The Toyota
Certified Used Vehicles logos will again adorn the sides
of the No. 23 Toyota Tundra this week in Kentucky. The
used car leader is the first in the industry to surpass
2 million cars sold.
·
24/7 Racer…
The NASCAR
Craftsman Truck Series might have had the weekend off,
but it has not kept Benson from racing. The veteran
spent last Tuesday racing in the
ISMA Super
Modified event at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway.
·
Top-10 Result…
The No. 23
team has three starts at the 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway
and has an average finish of ninth. In 2008, the No. 23
Toyota has an average finishing position of 11.08.
·
Perfection…
Benson and the No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles
Tundra team have completed every lap of competition at
Kentucky Speedway. The team has logged 451 laps of
competition at the track in three starts.
·
Test, Test, Test...
Benson and the No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles
team tested at Darlington (S.C.) Speedway in preparation
for this weekend’s race. The team spent both Wednesday
and Thursday at the “Track Too Tough to Tame.”
·
Listen and Watch …
The Built
Ford Tough 225 is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. ET
Saturday, July 19.
It will broadcast on SPEED
(TV), MRN (radio) and Sirius Satellite Radio (Ch. 128).
“I am really looking forward to this weekend. We have
really worked hard on our mile-and-a-half program this
year, and it is really starting to pay off. We have
learned a couple of things in the wind tunnel that have
helped us on the track with both speed and handling.
Kentucky is a place where you need to able to stay in
the gas as much as you can so your truck really has to
handle in the corners. I am confident we are taking a
package that will be able to run in the top five. [Crew
chief] Trip Bruce and all the guys on this Toyota
Certified Used Vehicles Tundra have done a tremendous
job this year, and it is just such a pleasure to get
behind the wheel of this truck every week.
“We
are really excited about the second half of the 2008
season. There are still eight or 10 teams that are
capable of winning the championship. We are going to
have to be mistake-free in order to be there in Miami.
I feel like this team is just hitting their stride. We
are going to some of the tracks where this team really
excels, and we are all working toward a common goal.”
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