BENSON PONTIAC QUOTES

JOHNNY BENSON, NO. 10 VALVOLINE PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

"We're satisfied with that. We made a bunch of changes right before qualifying. The guys did a great job. We got it through qualifying; now
we'll worry about the race."

HOW MUCH DID YOUR TEST PAY OFF TODAY?
"It helped, but most of the testing we did here was race stuff as opposed to qualifying stuff. We did a little bit of qualifying stuff, but not as much as we probably should have. That is probably why we struggled a little bit off of the truck this morning. Outside that, we're real happy."

ARE YOU PRETTY OPTIMISTIC FOR SUNDAY?
"We're looking forward to the race. The last three times here we've finished 11th, sixth and third, so we're looking forward to Sunday. And [Ken] Schrader qualified good, so that's another good thing. To be teammates and be second and third, that is something we're real proud of."

WHAT HAVE YOU AND KEN FIGURED OUT HERE?
"The cars are pretty close. They're built the same and we were real close in time. I think we'll both be decent in the race and we're looking forward to it. I know the Valvoline Pontiac will be good and I'm really looking forward to the race."

AFTER LAST WEEK'S RACE, HOW DOES IT FEEL TO GET BACK TO SOMETHING LIKE A BASIC ONE-MILE OVAL?
"Good. Like I said, I'm looking forward to this race. We don't have to worry about getting the spoilers cut off or added and all that fun stuff. The Daytona 500, obviously, is a huge race and it's a good race to go down to. But this is a little bit more what we like to do. You can race side-by-side. You can run anywhere you want on this racetrack and have a good deal, so we're all looking forward to it."

ON POSTING TWO TOP 10s HERE IN 2001
"We finished sixth in the first race and in the second race we finished third and it's the same car, so I think we'll be in pretty good shape. I think we'll be in decent shape most of the day.

JOHNNY BENSON, NO. 10 VALVOLINE PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

"There are a lot of things, obviously, that can happen, but I'm looking forward to it. If it runs half as good as it did last year, I think we'll be OK."

WHAT DID YOUR TEAM DO TODAY TO KEEP FROM OVER-WORKING THE ENGINE?
"We didn't run a lot of laps, obviously. Really, as cold as the temperature is out right now, we didn't even get the engines really that warm. I don't think we're really worried about it. We only put like eight laps on our engine and that's not going to be enough to hurt anything. Tomorrow, we may not run as much in the first practice as what we would like to see and run more in the second. But, outside that, I don't think it's going to be a huge problem. It's a track that is slippery, doesn't provide a lot of grip and you 'pedal' the throttle anyway here, so I really don't think the engine issue is going to be a big issue - not any different than any other time we've raced here."

DID WARD'S WIN LAST WEEK MAKE YOU OPTIMISTIC THAT YOU WILL WIN SOON?
"We sure hope so. We've been right there. We just haven't been able to get into victory lane. It would be great to be able to do it at a place like the '500,' but I'd take it at Rockingham, I'd take it at Martinsville - it doesn't matter where it's at. But, I think if we had a shot at it anywhere, Rockingham has been a really great racetrack for us and I think we'll be fine here. I'm ready to race. We could race tomorrow as far as I'm concerned."