Valvoline
Dover Preview
#10 Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny Benson thinks Japanese
GT champion Hideo Fukuyama faces an uphill battle this
weekend when he attempts to qualify then race on the high
banked, concrete oval of Dover Downs International Raceway.
.
Fukuyama is making his first appearance in a Nascar Winston
Cup points race
this weekend driving for Travis Carter’s #66 team. Fukuyama
tested at Dover
last month. Fukuyama, a sports car driver, with several
starts in the 24 Hours
of Le Mans, has also raced in a couple NASCAR Winston West
Series events,
including one at the Twin Ring Motegi oval in Japan and
another at Pikes Peak
International Raceway.
Benson said Fukuyama’s appearance will only increase
Nascar’s awareness outside the country and hopes the
Japanese driver will have a good weekend. While Fukuyama’s
appearance will be interesting, Benson hopes he can continue
to race as well as he did at New Hampshire where he led 53
laps before his car was damaged lapping Rusty Wallace.
Despite the Wallace encounter Benson finished fourth.
Benson’s Thoughts On NHIS:
“We know that we had a good car the other night at Richmond
and got wrecked. We had a great car Sunday at New Hampshire
and got wrecked again. I have no doubt we’ll bring a great
car to Dover this weekend as well. We will just keep
bringing great cars to the track and racing as hard as we
can. Sooner or later we are going to win one of these things
if we keep doing that.
“Sure, I’m disappointed about last weekend at New Hampshire
but that’s over and we are focusing on Dover. We finished
second there before and have had some pretty good runs. No
matter what happens this team isn’t going to give up. New
Hampshire will be great motivation for the rest of the
season.”
Benson On Dover’s Secret to Success:
“Just look at the history. It’s qualifying. For some reason
a heck of a lot of
winners qualified well at Dover so that tells me the race
really starts on
Friday when we qualify. We’ve got to get a good lap in and
good a good starting
spot. It also helps in picking at pit. If we qualify well
then we get to choose
a pit before the other teams. We had our race ruined there
last year because
another team’s tire rolled onto pit road and we hit it. We
don’t want that to
happen again. We have had good cars the last two weeks and I
don’t expect
anything different this weekend at Dover. This could be a
lot of fun.”
How Do You Feel About Fukuyama Racing At Dover?
“It’s going to be interesting for him. It sure is a neat
opportunity for him to
come to the United States and race. I’m glad Nascar and
Travis Carter are
giving him an opportunity. But he is about to race at a
track the likes of he
has never seen anywhere in Japan. I know that he has
probably never seen a
track with as high of banks, concrete and as fast as Dover
is.”
Will Nascar Become An International Racing Series?
“I don’t know if Nascar will become an international sport
as far as getting
drivers from all over the world to race here like maybe some
of the open wheel
series. Most of our foreign drivers will come over from open
wheel racing. We
haven’t had too many drivers who drove stock cars outside
America. If they
developed more stock car series throughout the world you
might see more and
more foreign born drivers.”
How Hard Will Dover Be For Fukuyama?
“What he is about to do will be extremely hard. It’s going
to be like a first
time mountain climber going up Mt. Everest. But he did test
there so he has an
idea of what the track is like. But it isn’t going to be
real easy for him. I’m
sure he is used to road courses or flat tracks, but he’s
about to see something
totally new. Even the average oval racer in the United
States would be hard
pressed to do well at Dover.”
What Are Your Impressions of Fukuyama?
“He came over at Darlington and introduced himself and his
translator. They
gave me a Japanese good luck charm for my safety. That was
really nice. I told
him I could have used that at Daytona or Richmond earlier
this year. But, he
seems like a very nice man and I certainly hope he does
well.
“I raced against him on the road course at Suzuka in 1996
when we went over
there. I really don’t remember much about him other than him
and Wally
(Dallenbach) wrecked. I think he was doing pretty well that
day before they
wrecked.”
Can You Imagine Not Speaking The Same Language As Your
Team?
“It would be like any of us going over to another country
and trying to race.
You would have to have a really good translator. Still, it
would be tough. You
need someone going around with you showing you where you
have to be and stuff like that. But, I’m sure they have
people who will be doing that for him. I’m
sure at times you could feel pretty hopeless."
Will Other Drivers Help Fukuyama?
“They will help him if he comes and ask. He will be parked
in the garage area
next to someone who I’m sure will help him. Plus, you have
to remember he has tested there. He has an idea of what the
track is like. Now he has to get
comfortable and get up to a competitive speed.”
THE RACE: MBNA All-American Heroes 400
Winston Cup Race #28 of 36 for the 2002 Winston Cup season
Race: Sunday, September 22, 2002 in Dover, DE
TV: TNT - 1:00pm/et
Race re-air: TNT on Tues, Sept 24th at 1:00am/et; Speed
Channel on Wed, Sept 25th, 8:00pm/et; Thurs, Sept 26th,
1:00am/et
Pre-Race Show: TNT - 12:30pm/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: $3,920,256 (was $3,321,928 in 2001)
2001 Race Winner: Dale Earnhardt Jr, 101.559mph, started 3rd
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, September 20th, 10:20am - 12:20pm/et;
Saturday, September
21st, 9:30 - 10:15am/et.
Happy Hour Practice: Saturday, September 21st, 11:15am -
12:00noon/et on TV-TNT at 12:00noon/et.
Qualifying
Qualifying Draw: Friday, September 20th, 9:20am/et
Qualifying: 2 laps for positions 1-36, Friday, September
20th at 2:05pm/et,
TV-TNT and live via MRN Radio, XM Satellite Radio and via
NASCAR.com's Racecast (paid). No re-air date/time found.
Track Qualifying Record: Rusty Wallace, Sept 1999,
159.964mph
Last Year's Pole Sitter: #88-Dale Jarrett, 154.919, finished
12th.
Track Specs:
Superspeedway: 1.0-mile oval
Banking: turns: 24 degrees; straights: 9 degrees
Straights: Frontstretch - 1,076 feet; Backstretch - 1,076
feet
Pit Stalls: 42 (1 shared) 15" wide x 28" long
Attendance: ~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/Car Chief: James Ince
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
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
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