JOHNNY BENSON QUICK FACTS
Texas Motor Speedway
WinStar World Casino 400
June 5, 2009 

Just as the summer is starting to heat up, so is Johnny Benson and his Red Horse Racing team. All the team needed was just a little luck and they would rope in a win in the Lone Star State. Benson and his #1 Toyota Tundra were strong right from the drop of the green flag. He ran in the top-10 for much of the 167-lap event and looked to be a contender for the win late in the race. With only two fresh tires instead of four on the final stop, Benson wasn’t able to reach the leader but was happy to bring home a fourth place finish after two consecutive races of finishing outside the top-20. The top-five finish didn’t just boost morale, Benson also moved up three spots in the series driver point standings. He now sits seventh.  

After two practice sessions on Thursday afternoon, the #1 Red Horse Racing team felt confident their truck could find its way to Victory Lane on Friday night. Benson put his Tundra in the 15^th starting spot but didn’t waste any time working his way to the front. When the green flag dropped under the lights at Texas Motor Speedway, Benson had gained four spots in just three laps. He reported the truck was loose in but pretty good off the corners. Just a few laps later he told the team he was losing grip in the rear of the truck.  

Benson broke into the top-10 on lap 18 but was fighting an increasingly loose condition in his truck. After running 22 laps, Benson reported that the looseness was giving way to a tight condition. The caution flag flew on lap 41 and Benson headed to pit road on lap 42 for four fresh tires and an air pressure adjustment. He returned the next lap for fuel and a shock adjustment. Quick work on pit road put Benson in the fifth spot for the restart.  

During the next long green flag run, Benson slipped back to the seventh spot early on but then reclaimed the fifth spot as his truck seemed to come alive the more laps he ran. Still loose, Benson and his crew chief, Trip Bruce discussed making a track bar adjustment on the next pit stop. 

With no caution flag in sight and in need of fuel, Benson hit pit road under green flag conditions on lap 101. He took four fresh ties the first time by and then returned the next lap for fuel and a track bar adjustment. He blended back on the track in the 13^th spot but as the green flag spots cycled through, Benson moved up to eighth. 

Benson was running the fastest laps on the track but because all the competitors were so spread out, it was very difficult to pick up positions. The caution came out on lap 122 and Benson once again brought his #1 Red Horse Racing machine to pit road. Bruce opted to give Benson only two right side tires to pick up track position. He came back in the next lap for fuel. The gamble for track position worked and Benson restarted third.  

When the green flag flew it didn’t take Benson long to claim the second spot. He reported that his truck was getting tighter, most likely as a result of having two new tires and two older tires. Benson slipped back as the truck got tighter, eventually settling in the fourth spot. He held on for the final laps, and finished the WinStar World Casino 400 in the fourth spot. It marked the fourth top-10 finish for the team and moved Benson from 10^th to seventh in the Camping World Truck Series point standings. 

The NASCAR Camping World Series will head to Brooklyn, Michigan this week. The Michigan 200 at Michigan International Speedway is scheduled for Saturday afternoon, June 13^th. It will be televised on Speed at 2:00 p.m. EDT.

Bodine Wins at Texas
Johnny Finishes 4th

Todd Bodine won the gamble on fuel to win the WinStar World Casino 400, his 17th victory in 123 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races. This is Bodine's second win this season, fifth win at Texas, and he is the first NCWTS driver to win five races at one track.

Matt Crafton finished second, to take over the lead in the driver point standings from Ron Hornaday Jr.. For the second week in a row, Hornaday had troubles at the track; incurring a penalty resulting from a mistake on pit road, and then late in the race engine troubles, left him four laps down with a 19th place finish. Rounding out the top ten were; Colin Braun, Johnny Benson, Rick Crawford, Johnny Sauter, David Starr, Jason White, Tayler Malsam, Mike Skinner.

There was a new record set for the total time of the race; average speed was 153.133 mph, time of race 1 hr. 38 min. 43 sec. There were 5 lead changes among 5 drivers and 2 cautions for 10 laps [new record for least amount of caution laps at Texas]. 

·      Terrific in Texas…The WinStar World Casino 400 will mark Johnny Benson’s 10^th Camping World Truck Series start at Texas Motor Speedway. Benson has earned six top-10 starts and five top-five finishes at the Fort Worth 1.5-mile Tri-Oval. Benson has also experienced his share of back luck in Texas. The fall 2006 race kicked-off a streak of engine failures that plagued the team for three straight races. Benson was going for the lead, running second and running fourth respectively when his engine expired. Thankfully he turned that bad luck around in 2008 with third place finishes in both events. 

·     Championship still in sight….Despite dropping to 10^th in the point standings after a 20^th place finish at Dover International Speedway, Benson and his Red Horse Racing team are not worried. Last season heading into the Texas race, Benson sat fourth in points. He says it’s too early to panic about the points yet. In fact only 169 points separate the leader and 10^th place. He is confident with a few solid finishes, the #1 team will once again be in the hunt for back-to-back Championships. 

Benson Sizzles in Summer…Johnny Benson loves the summer months because that is when his performance is at its best, statistically speaking. He has never won a Camping World Truck Series race before June but once the summer starts every competitor should look out. Benson has won a total of nine races during summer months in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Last season, Benson was on fire; winning at The Milwaukee Mile and then taking the checkered flag at three summer races in a row at Kentucky Speedway, O’Reilly Raceway Park and Nashville Superspeedway.