Valvoline Dover Preview
Benson/Ince Quotes

#10 Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny Benson wants to race this weekend’s NASCAR Winston Cup race in Dover, Del., but injuries will keep him sidelined another week before he returns to action at Pocono. Benson has not raced since he suffered a broken rib and two cracked ribs in a Busch Series race in Richmond on May 3.

Benson plans to spend Dover weekend just like he did the Charlotte weekend and that’s on the Valvoline pit box watching the race and helping Crew Chief James Ince. He prefers being behind the wheel but realizes waiting an extra week to return is the smartest driving move he can make.

Jerry Nadeau will substitute for Benson this weekend at Dover. Nadeau finished
28th at Charlotte on Sunday in his debut points race in the Valvoline Pontiac.
Nadeau finished second at Dover in September.

Benson:

How Do You Feel?

“I’m feeling better and better every day. I’ve been off the pain medicine for a
while, I’m sleeping through the night and the physical therapy is going pretty
well. I can’t lift a whole lot and don’t think I will any time soon but overall
I’m getting better and better. Like I have said, I’ve cracked ribs before but
when you break one it is a whole different world when it comes to the pain. I’d
prefer never doing this again.”

What Have You Been Doing to Feel Better?

“I’ve spent time stretching and doing water aerobics in the pool. That makes my
whole body feel better. You get to stretch without the pain you’d get if you
weren’t in the water. I’ve got a few electronic gizmos too that I’ve been
trying out to speed the healing process. They say that time is the best healer
so I’ve just had to make myself realize that I’m going to have to wait for
Pocono before I can come back.”

Are You Looking Forward To Pocono?

“Yes, you better believe it. This watching isn’t a whole lot of fun. I think I
could run Dover but that is a pretty tough track on your body plus at the
speeds we run there you just don’t crash easy. The last thing I want to do is
get caught up in a wreck there and make this injury worse and miss even more
time. Pocono is a bit easier on the body and I think that’s where the doctors
feel my return would be best.”

What Will You Do At Dover?

“Same as I did at Charlotte and that’s spend a lot of time watching from the
transporter and pit box and then trying to bridge the communication gap between Jerry and James when they discuss the car. We have run really good at Dover in the past and I know Jerry has done well there so I think we will be good this weekend.

“Who knows if I have time I might try to find a spotting job for some team
during the weekend.”



Crew Chief James Ince:

How Tough Has Different Drivers Been On The Crew?

“It makes it a tough situation. Fortunately, Jerry is a great race car driver
and that is one thing we don’t have to worry about. There’s no doubt about the
fact that he is going to go mash the gas. The biggest thing we’re struggling
with is terminology and trying to search out what we need to do to the car. I’m
so used to having conversations with Johnny and being able to relate things
back to Berlin (Berlin Raceway in Grand Rapids, Mich.) or Monnett, Mo., or
wherever, and we know what we’re talking about. That’s the one part of the
equation that I don’t have right now. But, we’re getting better with that. Last
week at Charlotte was a good example. In practice on Saturday it took me 15
minutes to get him to say one word I was searching for. Once I heard the word I
was searching for, then I figured I knew how to go fix the race car.
“We just need to bridge that gap. Communication is important. Everybody talks
about chemistry, but it’s really not chemistry. It’s communication and
understanding what that communication is. You can tell somebody something until you’re blue in the face, but if they’re not relating to that it doesn’t really
help the situation. “We’re getting better at that. In some ways, it’s fun right now to a degree because we’ve really accelerated that communication between Jerry and me. “But, it’s not an easy deal and going to Dover is a little scary for me because that is not an easy place. That is a track where you’re either right or you’re wrong and there is a real small window of opportunity to get your race car
right. Hopefully, we’ll be smart when we get there. We’re trying to stick to
our old notes. We’re taking a really good race car that finished second there
in the past (September, 2000). “We’ve got good stuff. It’s one of those deals where it could be a great weekend and go real smooth or it could be really hard because of communication that we’ve got to keep working on.”

Both Jerry And The Valvoline Team Have Run Well At Dover. Does That Make It
Easier?

“That helps a whole lot. We know that we don’t have to go out in left field.
We don’t need to go change what we do and that’s important. It doesn’t matter
if it’s the race car driver or the jackman on pit road. If you’ve got to change
a position, that is the only position you want to change. If you can change
that and make it work, then you’re in good shape. If you’ve got to change that
position and end up altering six other things because of that, then you’re not
going to be as good as you would have been. “In the NFL, if they change quarterbacks, they don’t change the playbook. That’ s the thing we’re trying to accomplish. That’s the comfort of taking a car that is proven there and taking a setup that is proven there. That is going to help us a lot and hopefully keep us from scratching our head. At the end of the day if we don’t run good, it’s going to be because Jerry and I weren’t able to speak the same alphabet.”



THE RACE: MBNA Platinum 400
Winston Cup Race #13 of 36 for the 2002 Winston Cup season
Race: Sunday, June 2, 2002 in Dover, DE

TV: FX - 1:00pm/et

Race re-air: Speed Channel on Wednesday, June 5th, 8:00pm/et

Pre-Race Show: 12:30pm/et, with hosts Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond

NASCAR on TV(not up to date)

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: $4,171,566 (was $3,662,694 in 2001)

2001 Race Winner: Jeff Gordon, 120.361mph

Track Race Record: Mark Martin, Sept 1997, 132.719mph

Track/Race Length: 1.0 concrete oval, 400 laps, 400 miles

Pit Road Speed: 35mph


Practice

Practice: Friday, May 31st, 10:05am - 12:00noon/et; Saturday, June 1st, 9:30 -
10:15am/et.

Happy Hour Practice: Satruday, June 1st, 11:15 - 12:00noon/et on TV-FX at
11:30am/et.


Qualifying

Qualifying Draw: Friday, May 31st, 9:00am/et

First Round Qualifying: 2 laps for positions 1-36, Friday, May 31st at
1:30pm/et, TV-FSN and live via MRN Radio(link below) and via NASCAR.com's
Racecast (paid).

Track Qualifying Record: Rusty Wallace, Sept 1999, 159.964mph

Last Year's Pole Sitter: none - rained out.


Track Specs:
Superspeedway: 1.0-mile oval
Banking: turns: 24 degrees; straights: 9 degrees
Straights: Frontstretch - 1,076 feet; Backstretch - 1,076 feet
Attendence: ~140,000



#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 Roman Pemberton
Engine Tuner: Ondre Rexford

Over The Wall Pit Crew
Gas Man: Jimmy Watts
Front Tire Changer: Mike Cluka
Front Tire Carrier: Steve Genenbacher
Catch Can: Steve Mann
Windshield: Russ Hoekwater
Jackman: Rob Jones
Rear Tire Changer: Joe Piette
Rear Tire Carrier: Shane Cooke

Other Crew Members
Truck Driver: Jerry Hess
Shock Specialist: Mike Cluka
Tires: Kyle Petty
Engineer: Tim Turner
Mechanic/Signboard: Brian Dantine
Computers: John Hayes
Scorer: Terry Lane
PR Rep: Drew Brown

Big Brothers Big Sisters Of America:

Nadeau is racing this week for the Nutmeg BBBS, Inc., Hartford, Conn. Chapter
of Big Brothers Big Sisters Of America. Each week Valvoline donates money to
the national Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America organization as well as an
individual local chapter based on Benson's on-track performance. Valvoline
matches Benson's performance by donating $5,000 for a win, $2,500 for a pole,
$1,000 for a top ten 10 finish, $500 for a top 20 finish and $20 for each lap
led. The 3-year program has raised over $750,000.