Benson 27th at Atlanta

It was a long, cold afternoon at Atlanta Motor Speedway for #10 Valvoline
Pontiac driver Johnny Benson and teammates.

Benson and crew suffered through handling problems, losing two laps to the
leaders, and a high speed spin down the backstretch but still managed to come
home 27th of the 43 cars in the race.

"That was pretty frustrating," Benson said after the race. "Right from the
start we seemed to struggle but we kept working on the car and got it OK there
at the end."

Benson began the race in tenth but fell back through the field in the opening
laps.

"It almost feels like we have a flat tire," Benson said over the team radio.

Benson fell down a lap as the first third of the race remained caution-free.
While the Valvoline Pontiac improved he could never keep up with eventual
winner Tony Stewart who set a blistering pace.

With about 40 laps to go, Benson’s day turned even worse as he was sent sliding down the backstretch by John Andretti who accident hit Benson in the left rear quarter panel.

"That sure didn’t help our day, but we were pretty lucky to get out of that
without much damage."

The James Ince-led crew brought Benson to the pits for repairs and he managed to finish out the final portion of the 325-lap race.

"We’ll go to work Monday morning to figure out what we can do to get better,"
said Ince. "Texas is coming up in a few weeks and it’s like Atlanta and I’ll
guarantee we’ll be better there."


Finishing Order

Fin Driver
1 Tony Stewart
2 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
3 Jimmie Johnson *
4 Matt Kenseth
5 Ricky Craven
6 Rusty Wallace
7 Ward Burton
8 Mark Martin
9 Sterling Marlin
10 Ryan Newman *
11 Kurt Busch
12 Buckshot Jones
13 Dale Jarrett
14 Terry Labonte
15 Kyle Petty
16 Jeff Gordon
17 Dave Blaney
18 Robby Gordon
19 Elliott Sadler
20 Ricky Rudd
21 Jeff Burton
22 Kenny Wallace
23 Jeremy Mayfield
24 Ken Schrader
25 Joe Nemechek
26 Jimmy Spencer
27 Johnny Benson
28 Mike Skinner
29 Bobby Hamilton
30 Jerry Nadeau
31 Stacy Compton
32 Casey Atwood
33 Rick Mast
34 Shawna Robinson *
35 Bill Elliott
36 John Andretti
37 Bobby Labonte
38 Brett Bodine
39 Kevin Harvick
40 Michael Waltrip
41 Jeff Green
42 Dick Trickle
43 Hut Stricklin


2002 Points

1 Sterling Marlin 645 Leader
2 Ryan Newman* 571 -74
3 Ward Burton 565 -80
4 Mark Martin 557 -88
5 Tony Stewart 544 -101
6 Matt Kenseth 540 -105
7 Kurt Busch 535 -110
8 Rusty Wallace 531 -114
9 Jeff Burton 520 -125
10 Jimmie Johnson* 517 -128
11 Jeff Gordon 516 -129
12 Ricky Craven 497 -148
13 Bill Elliott 460 -185
14 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 456 -189
15 Dale Jarrett 433 -212
16 Elliott Sadler 430 -215
17 Dave Blaney 411 -234
18 Bobby Labonte 410 -235
19 Jeremy Mayfield 391 -254
20 Kenny Wallace 391 -254
21 Ricky Rudd 390 -255
22 Terry Labonte 388 -257
23 Johnny Benson 377 -268
24 Robby Gordon 376 -269
25 Jerry Nadeau 363 -282
26 Michael Waltrip 343 -302
27 Jimmy Spencer 327 -318
28 Jeff Green 327 -318
29 Ken Schrader 324 -321
30 Bobby Hamilton 315 -330
31 Joe Nemechek 301 -344
32 Kevin Harvick 300 -345
33 Brett Bodine 295 -350
34 Kyle Petty 293 -352
35 Mike Skinner 289 -356
36 John Andretti 285 -360
37 Buckshot Jones 261 -384
38 Stacy Compton 232 -413
39 Todd Bodine 218 -427
40 Hut Stricklin 212 -433
41 Casey Atwood 211 -434
42 Shawna Robinson* 189 -456
43 Rick Mast 168 -477
44 Geoffrey Bodine 165 -480
45 Mike Wallace 149 -496
46 Robert Pressley 97 -548
47 Dave Marcis 37 -608
48 Dick Trickle 37 -608