NASCAR Now
Johnny joins host Allen Bestwick and panelists Ray Evernham and Brad Dougherty for Monday's show of NASCAR Now shown on ESPN2.  The show will be broadcast on Tuesday, April 7th at 1:00 a.m. - so set your DVR's! 

Harvick Wins at Martinsville
Following one attempt at a green-white-checkered restart, race leader #2-Kevin Harvick held the lead to win the Kroger 250, his first truck win at Martinsville; fourth series win. Teammate, #33-Ron Hornaday Jr. finished second.

#51-Kyle Busch sustained some left rear fender damage when Harvick moved him up the track to take the lead in the waning laps of the race. While trying to push the damaged fender off the tire by way of scraping the inside wall, Busch crossed the pit road commitment line but did not pit. NASCAR called a rules violation and Busch had to restart from the rear of the field winding up with a 17th place finish.

Rounding out the top ten were; #5-Mike Skinner, #1-Johnny Benson, #14-Rick Crawford, #60-Stacy Compton, #8-Dennis Setzer, #16-Brian Scott, #88-Matt Crafton, #52-Ken Schrader.

Top 5 Finish! 
Congratulations to Johnny and the #1 Red Horse Racing Team!  Johnny brought home his #1 Toyota to a 4th place finish at Martinsville Speedway.  Kevin Harvick won the race.
 

Director's Take - Martinsville
By:  Wayne Auton
"Short-track racing is the very foundation of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Martinsville Speedway is such a historic track. It's also one of four tracks remaining on the schedule to host this series since its inaugural 1995 season.

"This will be the first short track we'll race this season so teams are looking at completely different factors and setups than the first three tracks.

"One of the biggest factors at this track will be brakes. You can have a great running truck but if you don't have the right brake set-up, it could keep you out of Victory Lane.

"A driver's track position is also key here. It is so hard to pass, you really want to start your day in a good position which places a big emphasis on your qualifying run.

"Not only will starting in a good position be important but teams' pit strategy will be key to keeping that good track position. It will be interesting to see what calls the crew chiefs make.

"This paperclip-shaped track is like two drag strips with two corners. It gets tight. Drivers will have their hands full trying to keep their fenders on. Of course, that just gives the fans good action to watch."

In the Loop
Johnny Benson, the defending NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion, sits 29 points out of the top 10; a position he didn't figure to be in at the close of 2008.

Now, after three races, Benson will likely take a "one race at time" mantra. The next race in his battle to regain standings prominence is Martinsville and the last time the series visited the short track, Benson won.

So optimism is high. Benson has been solid at Martinsville since the inception of Loop Data in 2005. In his last eight races there, Benson has a Driver Rating of 90.5, an Average Running Position of 12.8, 59 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 66.8%.

But there's one problem. The man Benson's chasing is even better. David Starr, who is 10th in points, ranks above Benson in almost every key statistical category. Starr, who won at this race in 2006, has a Martinsville Driver Rating of 92.6, an Average Running Position of 12.6, 60 Fastest Laps Run, a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 65.7% and has been passed only 74 times in the last eight races, the fewest of any driver during that span.  Starr struggled during the last Martinsville race, finishing 33rd, but has finished in the top 10 in four of the last six Martinsville races. 

Media Predictions Are In
The Media voted in the first-ever poll to predict who they thought would be the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion and Raybestos Rookie of the Year. The results are in claiming Ron Hornaday Jr. (# 33 VFW/Longhorn Chevrolet) will be the champion come Homestead. Hornaday edged Todd Bodine (#30 Germain Toyota) in the poll.

A Glimpse
Johnny sent the JBFC some photos of his supermodified to share with you.  It's looking pretty sporty! 

         

    

36 Trucks Entered for Martinsville
Saturday’s Kroger 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway will have a full field of 36 trucks, according to NASCAR’s preliminary entry list.

Among the 36 trucks entered are two for Sprint Cup drivers who are also racing at Martinsville this weekend, the No. 2 Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet for Kevin Harvick and the No. 51 Billy Ballew Motorsports Toyota for Kyle Busch.

Among the part-time entries are a Brad Keselowski-owned Chevrolet for driver Mikey Kile, an Andy Hillenburg Chevrolet for Speed TV analyst Hermie Sadler, a Chris Fontaine-owned Chevrolet for Fontaine, a Ken Schrader-owned Chevrolet for Schrader and a Chris Lafferty-owned Chevrolet for Dillon Oliver.  One truck, the GunBroker.com Racing No. 21 Dodge, does not have a driver listed.

NASCAR Hall of Fame
Thanks to the efforts of long time JB fan, Ray Patten JB fans will long be remembered at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

Ray purchased a brick in honor of Johnny's Craftsman Truck Championship and efforts are now underway to purchase a brick in honor of his Busch Series Championship.  To view the bricks -     click here

Toyota Sticking with NASCAR
Toyota announced it plans to continue engaging in motor sports this year, despite being financially restricted by severe business conditions. TMC plans to focus on these top-class racing series: the FIA Formula One World Championship (F1), Japanese Super GT, Formula Nippon and NASCAR. This will mark TMC's eighth year in F1 competition. In Japan, TMC will participate using the Lexus brand this year and will aim to recapture the Super GT GT500 title using the Lexus SC430.

In the United States, TMC will again participate in NASCAR's pinnacle Sprint Cup Series with the Toyota Camry, which totaled 10 wins last year. TMC is also aiming to win the Nationwide Series, NASCAR's second most-popular series, also with the Camry. And TMC will continue to race the Toyota Tundra in the Camping World Truck Series, after having won both the manufacturer's and driver's titles last year.

Happy Birthday, Grandma! 

Meet the #1 RHR Team
The JBFC posted team photos that were taken at the Atlanta race.  More information and updates to come .... 

JBFC Spotlight
 

The JBFC would like to spotlight an up and coming driver - right in our backyard!  David Utting is the nephew of one our fan club members aka Doc Utting.  David is just 7 years old and already burning up the tracks in quarter midgets.  Good Luck, David!

Special Decal

Happy 50th Anniversary - Mom and Dad! 

JB Brings Winning Truck to Atlanta
The American Commercial Lines 200 will mark Johnny Benson’s eighth Camping World Truck Series start at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

In seven previous starts, Benson has logged 30 laps led and earned three top-five and four top-10 finishes. He is ready to get back to his winning ways after getting caught up in an accident and finishing 26th at Daytona and earning a 12th place finish at California Speedway. The No. 1 Red Horse Racing team will compete with chassis #73 at AMS, the same chassis Benson took to victory lane at Michigan International Speedway in 2006 and Bristol Motor Speedway in 2007.

Congrats!

Full Field of Trucks for Atlanta
Thirty-nine trucks, three more than a full field, are on the preliminary entry list for Saturday's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series American Commercial Lines 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Notables entered for the race who aren't running the full 25-race schedule include last weekend's winner, Kyle Busch, in the No. 51 Billy Ballew Motorsports entry and Kevin Harvick Inc. drivers Kevin Harvick and Ricky Carmichael, the former motorcycle star.

The race will mark team co-owner Harvick's first Truck start of the season. Carmichael is scheduled to make 15 starts in the team's No. 4 Chevrolet.  Series veteran Dennis Setzer will make his debut in the No. 8 MRD Motorsports entry, while Clay Rogers and Chris Jones will make their first qualifying attempts of the season, respectively.  Gabi Dicarlo, who is running a partial schedule for Doug Stringer Motorsports, is scheduled make her second career qualifying attempt.

Happy Birthday, Mom!