#10 Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny Benson left Talladega Superspeedway feeling like a pretty lucky man.

He wasn’t so fortunate to miss the big wreck on lap 164 that involved 24 cars.

Nor did he feel real lucky for his 39th-place finish after running pretty well all afternoon on the high-speed trioval. 

Benson felt lucky because of some quick work by his crewmembers as well as crewmembers on other NASCAR teams who pulled him from a burning Valvoline Pontiac on pit road as flames spread over the car and inside the driver cockpit.

“That was pretty scary,” Benson said after a trip to the infield car center.

“That’s the first time in my career I’ve ever had a fire like that. I’m fine and I didn’t get burned but I got very hot in the car. I inhaled some of the smoke and fire extinguisher stuff so they took me to the hospital for a while.”

Benson said fire is a driver’s worst nightmare.  “There’s nothing worse. I’d rather hit the wall harder than heck compared to catching on fire. Fire is the worst.” Rescue workers doused Benson with cold water and wet towels after he was pulled from the car. After a few minutes in the care center he was released to go back home to North Carolina.

Until the accident, Benson was enjoying a pretty good day. He started 7th and then moved to fourth in the early going. For the rest of the race Benson moved up and down the scoring pylon using the draft to climb as high as tenth and fell as far back as 30th.

“I think we had a pretty good car today,” Benson said. “If we could have ever got into clean air I think we would have been really good but it was just a matter of who was going to help who out there. When you got help you were pretty good, when you didn’t you’d go to the back of the pack.”

Benson was running midpack as the laps began to wind down and making his move to the front. With 16 laps to go several cars ahead of Benson got together in turn two and cars began crashing and spinning. Benson hit another car while enduring a hit from behind.

When he finally came to a rest on the backstretch he refired the engine. Benson drove the damaged Valvoline Pontiac around to the pits where the crew changed two tires and sent him back on the track just ahead of the pace car. The plan was to bring him in for two more tires. As he was circling the track the battery housed in the car just behind the left rear tire caught fire. The flames rapidly spread and by the time he was in the middle of pit road the fire had erupted over the car.

Crewmembers from Kenny Schrader’s #36 team as well as others on pit road and Talladega safety crews helped pull Benson from the burning car. The damage from the car along with Benson’s treatment forced the Valvoline team to retire from the race.

“Yeah, I want to thank all those guys,” Benson said after the race. “I hate to think what would have happened if they weren’t there. I was having some trouble getting out but they risked getting burned to save me. I owe them a lunch I think.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won Sunday’s race and was followed across the finish line by Michael Waltrip.

Race Results

Fin Driver

1 Dale Earnhardt Jr.

2 Michael Waltrip

3 Kurt Busch

4 Jeff Gordon

5 Sterling Marlin

6 Dale Jarrett

7 Jimmie Johnson *

8 Rusty Wallace

9 Jeff Burton

10 Kyle Petty

11 Hut Stricklin

12 Geoffrey Bodine

13 Brett Bodine

14 Ricky Rudd

15 Ward Burton

16 Jeff Green

17 Jimmy Spencer

18 Ricky Craven

19 Bill Elliott

20 Terry Labonte

21 Kenny Wallace

22 Bobby Hamilton

23 Mike Skinner

24 Ken Schrader

25 Steve Grissom

26 Casey Atwood

27 Stacy Compton

28 Kevin Harvick

29 Tony Stewart

30 Matt Kenseth

31 Dave Blaney

32 Jerry Nadeau

33 Robby Gordon

34 Steve Park

35 Frank Kimmel

36 Jeremy Mayfield

37 Mark Martin

38 John Andretti

39 Johnny Benson

40 Elliott Sadler

41 Bobby Labonte

42 Mike Wallace

43 Ryan Newman *

2002 Points Standings

Rank Driver Points

1 Sterling Marlin 1369

2 Matt Kenseth 1260

3 Rusty Wallace 1212

4 Kurt Busch 1192

5 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 1178

6 Jimmie Johnson* 1172

7 Jeff Gordon 1168

8 Tony Stewart 1138

9 Mark Martin 1137

10 Ricky Rudd 1114

11 Jeff Burton 1072

12 Bill Elliott 1013

13 Ward Burton 1006

14 Terry Labonte 989

15 Ricky Craven 974

16 Dale Jarrett 968

17 Bobby Labonte 958

18 Jeremy Mayfield 926

19 Michael Waltrip 912

20 Jimmy Spencer 908

21 Ryan Newman* 905

22 Dave Blaney 901

23 Elliott Sadler 879

24 Kyle Petty 878

25 Jeff Green 824

26 Mike Skinner 800

27 Jerry Nadeau 799

28 Bobby Hamilton 772

29 Kevin Harvick 771

30 Johnny Benson 763

31 Robby Gordon 705

32 Ken Schrader 686

33 Hut Stricklin 672

34 Stacy Compton 665

35 Brett Bodine 657

36 John Andretti 626

37 Casey Atwood 597

38 Buckshot Jones 559

39 Kenny Wallace 553

40 Rick Mast 451

41 Joe Nemechek 447

42 Steve Park 397

43 Geoffrey Bodine 292

44 Shawna Robinson* 281

45 Todd Bodine 218

46 Mike Wallace 186

47 Frank Kimmel 165

48 Hermie Sadler 143

49 Robert Pressley 97

50 Steve Grissom 88

51 Dick Trickle 74

52 Andy Hillenburg 68

53 Jay Sauter 52

54 Dave Marcis 37