#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
