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Mike Wallace To
Replace Benson At Chicagoland
Mike Wallace will drive the #10 Valvoline Pontiac in the
Nascar Winston Cup race this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway
replacing the injured Johnny Benson.
"We wanted someone with experience that we knew the team and
I could communicate with," said Crew Chief James Ince. "Mike
is just that driver. Our
team is devastated about what happened to Johnny Saturday
night but we have a job to do and we have every intention of
going on and doing the best we can."
Benson is recovering from displacements in ribs 6, 7 and 8
on the right side of his chest suffered in an accident
Saturday night in the 400-mile at Daytona
International Speedway.
Benson's timetable for returning to racing has yet to be
determined by his physician and the Valvoline Racing team.
Benson missed the Richmond, Charlotte
and Dover races earlier this season because of rib injuries
from the Richmond Busch Series accident.
Saturday's accident did not reinjure the ribs Benson hurt at
Richmond.
Wallace, 43, finished 41st Saturday night at Daytona in his
fourth Winston Cup start of the season. He scored a career
best second-place finish at Phoenix in
2001 driving the #12 Penske Ford.
He has made seven starts in the Busch Series in 2002.
Wallace owns three Busch Series victories and four Craftsman
Truck Series victories. Wallace's older brother is Rusty and
younger brother is Kenny who
both race in Winston Cup.
The Valvoline Pontiac will carry a special paint scheme this
weekend. Fozzy Bear's picture will be prominently featured
on the car in honor of the 25th
anniversary of the Muppets.
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#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: Doug Morgan
Rear Tire Changer: Joe Piette
Rear Tire Carrier: Shane Cooke
Other Crew Members
Truck Driver: Jerry Hess
Shock Specialist: Mike Cluka
Tires: Joe Piette
Engineer: Tim Turner
Mechanic/Signboard: Brian Dantine
Computers: John Hayes
Scorer: Terry Lane
PR Rep: Drew Brown
Big Brothers Big Sisters Of America:
Wallace is racing this week for the Fox Valley, Wis. 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 the Valvoline Pontiac's on-track
performance. Valvoline
matches the 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.
THE RACE: Tropicana 400
Winston Cup Race #18 of 36 for the 2002 Winston Cup season
Race: Sunday, July 14, 2002 in Joliet, IL
NOTE: Joliet, IL is in the Central Time Zone(ct), all times
here are Eastern
Time(et) 1 hour ahead of ct
TV: NBC - 2:30pm/et
Race re-air: TNT on Tues, July 16th, 1:00am/et; Speed
Channel on Wed, July
17th, 8:00pm/et and Thurs, July 18th, 1:00am/et.
Pre-Race Show: NBC - 2:00pm/et - Hosted by Bill Weber
Announcers: Allen Bestwick, Benny Parsons and Wally
Dallenbach
Pit Reporters: Bill Weber, Matt Yocum, Marty Snider, Dave
Burns
Posted Awards/Purse: $4,491,173 (was $3,976,953 in 2001)
Entry List Link at: NASCAR.com
2001 Race Winner: Kevin Harvick, 121.200mph, started 6th
Race Speed Record: Kevin Harvick, 2001, 121.200
Track/Race Length: 1.5 mile oval, 267 laps, 400.5 miles
Pit Road Speed: 45mph
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Practice
Practice: Friday, July 12th, 12:20 - 2:20pm/et; Saturday,
July 13th, 11:15am - 12:00noon/et.
Happy Hour Practice: Saturday, July 13th, 12:15 - 1:00pm/et
on TV-Speed
Channel - live.
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Qualifying
Qualifying Draw: Friday, July 12, 11:20am/et
Qualifying: 2 laps for positions 1-36, Friday, July 12th at
4:05pm/et, TV-Speed
Channel live and live via MRN Radio. Re-air on TV-Speed
Channel, Fri, July 12th
at 8:00pm/et.
Second-Round Qualifying: there is no longer a 2nd round of
qualifying (since
the 2001 season)
Track Qualifying Record: Todd Bodine, July 2001, 183.717mph
Last Year's Pole Sitter: Todd Bodine, 183.717mph, finished
14th.
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Track Specs:
1.5 mile tri-oval
Banking:
18 degrees in the turns
11 degrees in the front stretch
5 degrees in the back stretch
Attendence: ~75,000 another 10,000 in the infield
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