Benson 10th At Atlanta

#10 Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny Benson took to the Atlanta Motor Speedway
track under a blazing sun Friday. Seconds earlier clouds had shaded and
cooled the track making it much faster.

But it didn’t matter.

Despite the sunshine, Benson drove to 10th-place qualifying run for
Sunday’s 500-mile race at the Hampton, Ga. track.

"I don't know if the sun hurt us a lot,” Benson said after the run. “I
don't think the sun was out long enough to get any [heat in the track], but
you will always take all the clouds you can get. But, that was pretty good. That
was a good time for us. It was quite a bit faster than practice, so we're
happy with what the Valvoline Pontiac turned. If we get it to race like that,
we'll be in good shape."

Benson only took one of two allocated laps.

"I got scared. What do you think? I had told them, 'You let me know as
soon as possible if I need to run another one or not.' I thought about it, but
as I went down into one - I still got in there pretty good. I was real happy
about that. Then, as I started to leave off of two I was getting a little
more squirrelly than what I wanted to be, knowing I had two more corners to
go, so I aborted."

Bill Elliott made a late knocking Ryan Newman from the pole.

Benson and his Valvoline teammates will practice Saturday morning.

Pos. Driver Speed Time
1 Bill Elliott 191.542 28.944
2 Ryan Newman* 191.462 28.955
3 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 191.337 28.975
4 Kurt Busch 190.744 29.065
5 Jimmy Spencer 190.620 29.083
6 Ricky Craven 190.436 29.111
7 Dale Jarrett 190.358 29.124
8 Kevin Harvick 190.286 29.135
9 Tony Stewart 190.273 29.136
10 Johnny Benson 190.084 29.166
11 Kenny Wallace 190.019 29.176
12 Sterling Marlin 189.986 29.180
13 Terry Labonte 189.986 29.180
14 Buckshot Jones 189.960 29.184
15 Jimmie Johnson* 189.960 29.184
16 Elliott Sadler 189.941 29.187
17 Michael Waltrip 189.914 29.191
18 Bobby Labonte 189.908 29.193
19 Jeff Gordon 189.889 29.195
20 John Andretti 189.570 29.245
21 Mike Skinner 189.473 29.260
22 Bobby Hamilton 189.415 29.268
23 Robby Gordon 189.408 29.270
24 Dave Blaney 189.389 29.273
25 Ken Schrader 189.337 29.281
26 Jerry Nadeau 189.240 29.295
27 Joe Nemechek 189.214 29.299
28 Ward Burton 189.137 29.312
29 Rick Mast 189.066 29.322
30 Jeff Burton 188.957 29.340
31 Shawna Robinson* 188.738 29.374
32 Matt Kenseth 188.731 29.375
33 Hut Stricklin 188.731 29.375
34 Kyle Petty 188.706 29.378
35 Stacy Compton 188.699 29.379
36 Jeff Green 188.693 29.381
37 Ricky Rudd 186.924 29.659
38 Rusty Wallace 188.628 29.391
39 Mark Martin 188.559 29.402
40 Jeremy Mayfield 188.609 29.393
41 Casey Atwood 187.811 29.518
42 Brett Bodine 188.404 29.426
43 Dick Trickle 187.259 29.606
42 Ron Hornaday 187.792 29.521
45 Carl Long* 186.886 29