Benson Proved In October Talladega Isn’t Over
Until The Checkered Flag Falls
 
 #10 Valvoline Pontiac Crew Chief James Ince claims rental cars could put on a
 good show at Talladega and his driver Johnny Benson agrees. But that’s a good  show from the fan perspective. The drivers, crew chiefs and race crews judge  the quality of a race at Talladega by the condition of their race car when it drives back to the hauler after the checkered flag falls.
 
 The Valvoline team had that concept reinforced in October when Benson appeared headed for a great finish running fourth going into the second turn on the final lap. But a last lap multicar crashed left him with a 23rd-place finish
 and his Valvoline Pontiac nearly demolished. The car was salvaged in the
 off-season and will race Sunday.
 
 What Kind of Race Do You Expect Sunday?
 
 "It's not going to matter of which package you run at Talladega. You could use
 the old rules or the current rules. You're going to have the same type of race
 at Talladega. Daytona and Talladega are so different. You're still going to see
 a lot of three-wide racing there because handling isn't near the issue that it
 is at Daytona, so it's still going to be that way. Maybe you won't be able to
 go up through the middle as good as you did with the [roof] blades, but it's
 still going to be a good race for the fans."
 
 Are Drivers And Crew Chiefs More Important Under These Rules?
 
 "I don't know if it's going to change much. It's the same race every time
 there. It's always tight, it's always packed together and that's what you're
 going to have."
 
 How Will Your Pontiac Race?
 
 “I think it will race great. This car raced extremely well there last year.
 It's the same car that we were running fourth with until the wreck on the
 backstretch [on the last lap], so I know it's going to race good. You just
 can't get through the air yourself without having any drafting help. The
 Pontiac will race awesome. It's just a matter of getting them qualified."
 
 Do Drivers Dread Talladega?
 
 “I don’t know it is hard to say. Is it an uncomfortable feeling? Yeah it is.
 Going three or four wide at a race like that for three hours makes it, at
 times, extremely uncomfortable. At other times it’s OK. If you are two-wide or
 single file then it is easy just to cruise around there. I don’t think drivers
 get up on the morning of the race and dread racing. I don’t think you can have
 that type of mindset. You have to have the mindset that we are going to get
 through this race safely and see how it all plays out. I don’t think any of us
 get up in the morning and say ‘Man I wish this race were done now. But, there
 is always concern when you run a race like Talladega.”
 
 Would You Buy A Ticket?
 
 “Absolutely, the shows NASCAR puts on there are unbelievable. I’ve seen this
 race from behind the steering wheel. I can’t imagine what it looks like from
 the stands. I mean we had 49 lead changes last year. And someone told me the other day the victory margin is less than a second in our last 20 races at
 Talladega. That’s incredible.”
 
 How Would You Balance The Safety And Excitement?
 
 “Finding that balance puts NASCAR in a tough spot. If you really look at it,
 they got what they tried to do. And that is to make a great race with great
 side-by-side racing all day long. But, if you look at the safety side you see
 that issue isn’t totally settled. What would I do? To tell you the truth I just
 don’t know. We have tested a lot of different things. You know it is very hard
 at Talladega to spread the field out. At Daytona it is a little bit easier.
 They are in a tough position.”
 
 Crew Chief James Ince On Talladega:
 
 “We could race our rental cars around Talladega and put on a great show.”
 
 Note: Mike Cluka will begin changing front tires for the #10 team this weekend
 in Talladega.
 
 
 THE RACE: Aaron's 499
 Winston Cup Race #9 of 36 for the 2002 Winston Cup season
 
 Race: Sunday, April 21, 2002 in Talladega, AL
 
 NOTE: Talladega is located in the Central Time Zone, all times listed here are
 in Eastern Time Zone (1 hour ahead)
 
 TV: Fox - 2:00pm/et
 
 Race re-air: Speed Channel on Wednesday, April 24th, 8:00pm/et
 
 Pre-Race Show: 1:30pm/et, with hosts Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond
 
 
 NASCAR on TV
 
 Announcers: Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
 
 Pit Reporters: Dick Berggren, Matt Yocum and Steve Byrnes
 
 Hollywood Hotel: Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond
 
 Posted Awards/Purse: $4,347,026 (was $3,842,807 in 2001)
 
 Entry List Link at: NASCAR.com
 
 Restrictor Plate Info page
 
 2001 Race Winner: Bobby Hamilton, 184.003mph, started 14th
 
 Track Race Record: Mark Martin, May 1997, 188.354mph
 
 Track/Race Length: 2.66 mile quad oval, 188 laps, 500.08 miles
 
 Pit Road Speed: 55mph
 
 
 Practice
 
 Practice: Friday, Apr 19th, 12:00noon -2:00pm/et; and Saturday, Apr 20th,
 10:30 - 11:15am/et.
 
 Happy Hour Practice: Saturday, Apr 20th, 12:15 - 1:00pm/et on TV-FX 1:00pm/et.
 
 
 Qualifying
 
 Qualifying Draw: Friday, April 19th, 11:00am/et
 
 First Round Qualifying: 2 laps for positions 1-36, Friday, April 19th at
 4:05pm/et, TV-FX tape delay at 7:00pm/et (and re-aired on Speed Channel Sat Apr 20th at 8:00pm/et) and live via MRN Radio
 
 NASCAR Online will have live lap-by-lap coverage of Winston Cup qualifying via
 the web (NOTE: this is now a paid subscription service).
 
 Second-Round Qualifying: there is no longer a 2nd round of qualifying (since
 the 2001 season)
 
 Track/Event Qualifying Record(no restrictor plate): Bill Elliott, April 1987,
 212.809mph
 
 Track/Event Qualifying Record(Restrictor Plate): Bill Elliott, May 1990,
 199.388(15/16th inch plate)
 
 Last Year's Pole Sitter: Stacy Compton, 184.861mph, finished 43rd
 
 
 Track Specs:
 Superspeedway: 2.66-mile trioval 48 feet wide (12-foot apron)
 Turns: Banking: 33 degrees Length: 3,750 feet Radius: 1,100 feet
 Trioval: Banking: 18 degrees
 Frontstretch: Chute length: 2,150 feet (from turn to middle of trioval) Total
 length: 4,300 feet Banking: Minimal for drainage only
 Backstretch: Length: 4,000 feet Banking: Minimal for drainage only(Talladega
 Website)
 
 
 
 
 #10 Valvoline Pontiac Team Television Information
 
 Pit Contact: James Ince or Drew Brown
 Owner: Valvoline/MB2 Motorsports (Tom Beard, Nelson Bowers, Read Morton)
 Crew Chief: James Ince
 Car Chief: Gary Putnam
 Engine Builder: Hendrick Motorsports
 Spotter Brian Dantine
 Engine Tuner: Ondre Rexford
 
 Over The Wall Pit Crew
 Gas Man: Jimmy Watts
 Front Tire Changer: Mike Cluka
 Catch Can: Steve Mann
 Windshield: Russ Hoekwater
 Jackman: Tim Boatwright
 Front Tire Carrier: Shane Cooke
 Rear Tire Changer: Joe Piette
 Rear Tire Carrier: Steve Genenbacher
 
 Other Crew Members
 Truck Driver: Jerry Hess
 Shock Specialist: Mike Cluka
 Tires: Kyle Petty
 Engineer: Tim Turner
 Computers: John Hayes
 Scorer: Terry Lane
 PR Rep: Drew Brown
 
 Other Information:
 
 All wind tunnel testing is performed in Ottawa, Canada and Detroit.
 
 Team tested at Talladega on April 9 and 10.
 
 Benson Career At Martinsville
 Year S F
 Fall 2001 4 23
 Spring 2001 37 7
 Fall 2000 23 33
 Spring 2000 13 13
 Fall 1999 21 42
 Spring 1999 28 30
 Fall 1998 33 31
 Spring 1998 39 41
 Fall 1997 19 19
 Spring 1997 17 9
 Fall 1996 10 18
 Spring 1996 10 10