Benson 11th at Indy Qualifying

#10 Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny Benson didn't think his lap around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was all that fast Saturday afternoon.

"The car was sliding all over the place and I thought it wasn't going to be a good lap at all," Benson said. "Then (Crew Chief) James Ince came over the radio and told me the time and where that put us on the scoreboard. I felt a lot better once I heard that."

That time of 49.920 seconds (180.288 mph) was good enough for 11th fastest of the 50 cars who made two-lap qualifying runs on the hot, humid day in Indianapolis.

"I think the temperatures got so hot today that it made the handling of all our race cars really difficult," Benson said. "It seemed like everyone had their
hands full."

Benson, like most drivers, took only one of the two allotted laps. He said despite the tricky conditions he was happy with the outcome.

"That's pretty good," Benson said. "You want to be near the front of the field because this track is a pretty tough place to pass cars. Hopefully we can take advantage of our starting spot and have a good run here tomorrow."

Tony Stewart won the pole and will be joined on the front row by Bill Elliott.

Nascar will allow two 45-minute practice sessions late Saturday afternoon after the IROC race then Benson and 42 other starters will take the green flag for the Brickyard 400 at 1:30 p.m. (Eastern time) on Sunday.

NBC will televise Sunday's race.