Charlotte

COLLATERAL DAMAGE MADE FOR A LONG NIGHT AND A 23^RD PLACE FINISH FOR JOHNNY BENSON AT LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY.

 In an effort to avoid an accident on the track, Benson drove through the grass which caused damage to his #1 Red Horse Racing machine. The team worked hard to fix it but the damage was too severe for them to be competitive in the NC Education Lottery 200.

Johnny Benson and his Red Horse Racing team looked forward to a weekend of racing on their “home track.” Just 20 minutes from Red Horse Racing’s shop, Lowe’s Motor Speedway seemed like the perfect place for the #1 team to pick up their first win of the season. Benson looked to be a strong contender when the race started but on lap 34 that all changed. The #5 of Mike Skinner spun on the front stretch and Benson’s teammate, T.J. Bell was collected in the accident. Benson took evasive action to avoid it and drove onto the grass in between pit road and the race track. Benson was able to avoid the accident but the grass had ripped off the splitter on the truck and caused left front fender damage. The team spent much of the rest of the race fixing the damage on pit road and trying to complete laps and collect as many points as possible. Benson ended the night with a 23^rd place finish in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200. The finish dropped Benson two spots to seventh place in the NASCAR driver point standings.  

When the #1 Red Horse Racing team unloaded at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Thursday afternoon they were optimistic about their chances of finally claiming victory at the track. In the first laps of practice on Friday morning, Benson reported that he was really happy with his truck. Qualifying was rained out due to an afternoon thunderstorm but Benson was happy to take the sixth place starting spots his Owner’s Points afforded him.  

The green flagged dropped on the NC Education Lottery 200 just after eight o’clock Friday night. During the first pace laps it was sprinkling but fortunately the storm moved away from the track and didn’t interrupt the race. Benson was immediately on the move. On lap two he claimed the seventh spot and by lap 10 he was sixth.  

The caution came out on lap 25 and Benson told the team that his truck has started off loose but was getting better with each lap. Crew Chief Trip Bruce called his driver to pit road on lap 27 for fuel. Benson came back in on lap 28 for four fresh tires and no adjustments. Several competitors played a different strategy and only took two tires or no tires at all so Benson restarted 17^th.  Just two laps later the #5 of Mike Skinner got sideways and spun on the front stretch. He collected Red Horse Racing teammate T.J.Bell in the accident. Benson saw what was happening in front of him and dove towards pit road to avoid it. He ran through the grass in between pit road and the track. He was able to escape the accident but not the damage. The grass ripped the splitter off the nose of the truck and caused left front fender damage. While the race was red flagged to clean up debris, Benson and Bruce talked about how they would fix the damage. The team gathered replacement pieces and waited for Benson to hit pit road. When the red flag was lifted, Benson hit pit road and the crew worked to replace the nose and left front fender. It took multiple pit stops to fix because Benson did not want to go a lap down. When the two new pieces were secure and the field took the green flag again, Benson was 20^th. 

The #1 machine was starting to run hot and Benson headed to pit road again on lap 37. After making multiple pit stops to re-tape the nose and clean the grill, Benson found himself in the 25^th position on lap 40. Quick work by the team to fix the damage kept Benson on the lead lap.  

Reporting that his Toyota Tundra was getting really tight, Benson eventually lost a lap to the leaders on lap 69. A caution came out on lap 87 and the #1 headed to pit road once again. Taking four fresh tires and an air pressure adjustment the first time, Benson came back the next lap for fuel and more repairs. He returned two laps later to make sure all the lug nuts were tight and make final repairs before going green. He restarted 21^st.  

On lap 112, Benson told the team that his truck was still running really hot. The crew got the cool down unit ready and Benson brought his Tundra to pit road. They put water into the radiator but the temperature was slow to come down. Benson lost more laps waiting on the temperature to drop but if he hadn’t the engine would have blown. He returned to the track in the 23^rd spot. Benson wasn’t able to make up much ground in the final laps. He was enough laps down that there were no more positions to be gained. He finished the long night in the 23^rd position. That finish dropped him two spots in the driver point standings; he now sits seventh.  

“We are obviously disappointed by how this race went,” Benson said. “I felt like we had a truck to win the race. When I saw Mike wrecking I had to try and avoid it so I went low and ran into the grass. That damaged our Toyota Tundra pretty badly and the guys had to work really hard to put it back together while still keeping me in the race. I’m proud of everyone’s hard work tonight. We’ll just go to Dover and get it back there.” 

The NASCAR Camping World Series will enjoy a weekend off before racing resumes in Dover, Delaware. The AAA Insurance 200 at Dover International Speedway is scheduled for Friday evening, May 29th. It will be tape delayed on Speed at 8:00 p.m. EST.

Practice Report
By:  Red Horse Racing
Johnny Benson competed in two practice sessions on Friday morning at Lowe's Motor Speedway. During the first practice session, Benson reported that his #1 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra was "really, really good" during his first few laps on the track. Benson told the crew that the truck could be just a little looser so they worked to make minor adjustments to tweak the machine. He finished the first practice ninth quick.

The crew had a 20 minute break to work on their Tundra for the final hour-and-a-half practice session. Feeling good about the truck after the first practice, crew chief, Trip Bruce used the final practice session to try different race adjustments so the team would be better prepared for the evenings race. The crew worked quickly to change shocks, track bar and wedge adjustments to get the right fit for Benson. During the last half hour of the session, Benson focused on running laps by himself to judge how the truck would feel when he wasn't in traffic. Bruce was pleased with the lap times and the #1 Red Horse Racing team finished final practice in the 21st spot. Benson feels confident that he has a strong truck for North Carolina Education Lottery 200 tonight. Ron Hornaday Jr. was fastest in final practice with Rick Crawford, Mike Skinner, David Gilliland, and Colin Braun rounding out the top-five.

Charlotte Preview
By:  Red Horse Racing

The Beast Owes him One…The North Carolina Education Lottery 200 will mark Johnny Benson’s fifth Camping World Truck Series start at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Although he has never been to Victory Lane, he has been close on several occasions but bad luck always seems to strike in the closing laps. In 2007, Benson was running second and blew a tire with just a few laps remaining in the race and totaled his truck earning at 27^th place finish. Last year, Benson was running second but NASCAR black-flagged him saying he jumped the restart. After serving his penalty, Benson rallied for an 11^th place finish but ran out of time to clinch the win. He and the Red Horse Racing team are hoping luck is one their side in the final laps this year and they can finally seal the deal. 

·      Repeating History….Benson and his #11 team started the season with a 26^th place finish and sat 25^th in NASCAR driver point standings. In the last four races they have turned up the heat and rebounded from the deficit. Each week the team has improved their previous finish. They finished 12^th at Atlanta, fourth at Martinsville and second in Kansas. That steady climb has put Benson in the fifth position in driver point standings going into Lowe’s Motor Speedway. It’s déjà vu for Benson, who found himself in the fifth position in points at this exact same time last year en route to earning the 2008 Camping World Truck Series Championship.  

·     Benson Sizzles in Summer…Johnny Benson is one of the most consistent drivers in the garage area but he has yet to win a race in the series before the summer heat sizzles. In 2006, his first win came at Michigan in race 10 of the season on June 17^th. In 2007 and 2008, it was Milwaukee before Benson took the checkered flag in race 11 on June 22^nd and June 20^th respectively. He’s hoping this year he can reach Victory Lane before June but he has only two chances left to make it happen. This weekend at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and May 29^th at Dover International Speedway.

 Johnny Benson on racing at Lowe’s Motor Speedway
“We are really excited to get to Lowe’s. We were really fast last year and we had the opportunity to win but NASCAR said I jumped a restart and I got penalized late in the race. We worked our way back to 11^th before it was over. I guess I feel like Lowe’s really owes me one!” 

Crew Chief Trip Bruce on Lowe’s Motor Speedway
“We used our time off to really prepare a great truck for Lowe’s. We have used the chassis dyno, the shaker rig and all the information TRD gave us to put together a really strong truck. We’ve been good there the past two years but just haven’t been there at the end. Our goal this week is to be there in the closing laps and take this #1 Tundra to Victory Lane.”  

Equipment Information
The #1 Red Horse Racing team will compete with chassis # 73 in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. This is Benson’s favorite chassis. He last raced it at Kansas Speedway where he started fifth and finished second.