Sometimes the fastest thing in Nascar
isn’t the speed of the cars but how quickly things change.
Just look at the weekend Johnny Benson endured at Richmond
in May.
Benson posted the fastest speed in
Busch practice on Thursday then turned in the fastest laps
in the final two Winston Cup practice sessions Friday
evening.
Minutes later, in his inaugural Busch race of the season,
the high hopes came to an end when another car slammed
Benson from behind sending him for a two-night stay in a
local hospital with one broken and two cracked ribs.
Benson missed the Winston Cup race on
Sunday plus the Winston, Charlotte and Dover races. He
returned for Pocono and Michigan but was wrecked again at
Daytona breaking three ribs and missing the Chicago and New
Hampshire races.
Obviously, Richmond represents a lot
of frustration for the driver who expected to contend for a
top-10 finish in the 2002 points race. But things can change
from bad to good just as quickly as it changed the other way
in May. Richmond could be the right place for that to happen
to Benson who has posted three consecutive top-10 finishes
at .75-mile D-shaped oval.
What Do You Remember About Richmond
In May:
“I remember most of the time I was there last time, but
not all of it. 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 Drivers Dread A Return To The
Scene Of A Wreck:
“I don’t think so. If you were going to a track where
you screwed up and had a bad wreck then you might think
twice about going back. That’s just human nature. But when
somebody else does something to you at a track then you
really don’t think about the track. I mean last time we were
here at Richmond we were minding our own business and got
wrecked. There’s not much you can do about that and you
certainly can’t think the track had any part of that.”
Was It Worse Because You Were
Running So Well?
“There are weekends where things don’t go well and you
get pretty frustrated. Wrecking during one of those weekends
might be a bit easier to swallow. But at Richmond in May we
were the best in both garages. I look back at that weekend
and what I remember most is that we had a great race car on
the Cup side and on the Busch side. That’s what I think
about. It was just unfortunate we had the accident and I
couldn’t race on Sunday. There isn’t much you can do about
it so you don’t worry about it.”
What Is Your Strategy At Richmond?
“I love Richmond. I can’t wait to go back there. It’s a
great place to race and it seems like we have always had
success there. Richmond is a track where you do a lot of
slipping and sliding. You want to get out front, stay up
with the lead cars and at the end hopefully you will be in a
position to win. We have always raced pretty well up there.
We have great equipment and it’s a type of track I like.
It’s nice and smooth and it’s a track where finesse is the
key. Those are the kind of tracks where I like to race.
Along with everyone else also.”
Benson Richmond Record
Race Year S F
Fall 2001 27 10
Spring 2001 11 6
Fall 2000 8 7
Spring 2000 23 25
Fall 1999 30 22
Spring 1999 26 28
Fall 1998 32 41
Spring 1998 8 18
Fall 1997 37 13
Spring 1997 23 9
Fall 1996 34 10
Spring 1996 33 37
Race Information
THE RACE: The Monte Carlo 400
with the Looney Tunes Winston Cup Race #26 of 36 for the
2002 Winston Cup season Race: Saturday, September 7, 2002 in
Richmond, VA TV: TNT - 7:30pm/et
Race re-air: TNT on Tues, Sept 10th at
1:00am/et; Speed Channel on Wed, Sept 11th, 8:00pm/et;
Thurs, Sept 12th, 1:00am/et
Pre-Race Show: TNT - 7:00pm/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: ) $3,841,298 (was
$3,302,971 last year), not counting the No Bull Five
$1,000,000
2001 Race Winner: Ricky Rudd,
95.146mph, started 9th
Event/Track Race Record: Dale Jarrett, Sept 1997, 109.047mph
Track/Race Length: 0.75 mile oval, 400 laps, 300 miles
Practice: Friday, Sept 6th, 11:20am -
1:20pm/et; Friday, Sept 6, 4:45 - 5:30pm/et.
Happy Hour Practice: Friday, Sept 6th,
6:15 - 7:00pm/et on TV-Speed Channel at 6:00pm/et.
Qualifying Draw: Friday, Sept 6th,
10:20am/et
Qualifying: 2 laps for positions 1-36,
Friday, Sept 6th at 3:05pm/et, TV-TNT and live via MRN
Radio, XM Satellite Radio and via NASCAR.com's Racecast
Race/Event Qualifying Record: Mike
Skinner, Sept 1999, 125.465mph
Track Qualifying Record: Ward Burton,
May 2002, 127.389mph
Last Year's Pole Sitter: Jeff Gordon,
124.902mph, finished 36th.
Track Specs:
Short Track: 0.75-mile oval, 60-foot
width with 10-foot apron
Banking: turns: 14 degrees;
frontstretch 8 degrees; backstretch 2 degrees
Straights: Backstretch - 860 feet;
Frontstretch - 1290 feet
Seating Capacity: ~105,000
#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 Brian Dantinne
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: Greg Burkhart
Rear Tire Carrier: Shane Cooke
Other Crew Members
Truck Driver: Jerry Hess
Shock Specialist: Mike Cluka
Tires: Jeff Johnson
Engineer: Tim Turner
Computers: John Hayes
Scorer: Terry Lane
PR Rep: Drew Brown
