Benson Quotes From Sunday Visit To Track

JOHNNY BENSON, NO. 10 VALVOLINE PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

HOW ARE YOU FEELING?
"I'm OK. I'm extremely sore, but outside that, we're going to make it. We'll live through it and all that fun stuff. Outside that, I'm pretty tender right now, but in a couple weeks I'll be good to go."

DID YOU REMEMBER EVERYTHING ABOUT THE ACCIDENT FRIDAY NIGHT?
"I remember getting hit and I remember going all the way up and hitting the wall. But, it's really weird to watch the video and see me getting out of the car. I don't remember that, so there is a little bit that's fuzzy. But, I guess I wasn't knocked out. They said I was moving right away, but I don't remember some of that."

DO YOU THINK THERE IS ANYTHING THAT CAN BE IMPROVED IN THE CAR THAT COULD HAVE HELPED YOU IN AN IMPACT LIKE THAT?
"To be perfectly honest, I think everything we've got in our car is pretty good now. We are probably going to go up there and look at the car a little bit more closely, knowing that some stuff moved. But, I feel confident that everything is as good as it needs to be. Now, if we can learn something - great. But, I don't know what we could do any different. Everything did what it was supposed to do. I talked to NASCAR and they looked at the belts. Everything looked good there. We know some stuff moved around, but in an impact like that, it's going to."

HOW LONG DO YOU EXPECT TO DEAL WITH THE PAIN FROM THE BROKEN RIB?
"I don't know. I've never broken a rib before. I've had cracked ribs before and I thought that was a big deal, but this is a totally different world. They said it was a clean break all the way through and it is 10 times worse than a crack. I'll just have to deal with it. Dale Jarrett went through it. They just give you a local shot down there to numb that whole rib and they said they could do that when it's time to get in the car. It won't be as painful then. It will just feel weird, but I'll deal with that when it happens. I'm not really thinking about that today because I've got a little time."

KNOWING YOUR CAR IS REALLY FAST THIS WEEKEND, HOW HARD IS IT TO WATCH SOMEBODY ELSE DRIVING IT?
"It depends how you look at it. I'd say this is one of the best cars we've built. We built it for here and it is good. I was extremely happy with it. Going into the race, I felt like we could win this race. Of course, Joe [Nemechek] is driving it now and he feels the same way. That's a tribute to how good of a job these guys did on this car.

"Sure, I want to be driving that race car and I wanted to win this race. But, this is still our team, and if they go win this race with Joe, I am all for it. That's what we're here for. We wouldn't have put Joe in the car if we didn't believe he could go win the race with it."

ARE YOU GOING TO STAY FOR THE WHOLE RACE TODAY?
"Physically, I can. But, I'm going to beat the traffic."