Benson 18th
at Charlotte
#10 Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny Benson finished a lot
better than he started Sunday’s rain-delayed 500-mile Nascar
Winston Cup race in Charlotte.
Benson’s Pontiac started slow but turned faster and faster
laps before taking the checkered flag in 18th place.
"We struggled early in the race, but there at the end we
were probably one of the six or seven fastest cars on the
track," said Benson who slowed in the final 20 laps
preserving a misfiring engine. "We changed shock settings,
rubbers, half rubbers, tire pressure, track bar, and you
name it before we finally got the car to handle the way we
wanted it to near the end."
Benson started the race in 26th because rain washed out
qualifying on Thursday and Friday. Rain delayed Sunday’s
race by three hours.
Benson held his position in the early laps but then began to
fall back through the field with handling problems. At lap
72 Benson lost a lap to leader Jimmie Johnson
Crew Chief James Ince and the Valvoline crew began making
significant chassis changes bringing Benson to pit road
three consecutive laps under yellow to work on the car
around the lap 137 mark.
Benson lost another lap after pitting just before a caution.
But that’s when the day or evening started to get better.
Benson was no longer loose in traffic and his lap times
showed the improvement.
"There are only four cars on the track faster than you,"
Ince told Benson over the team radio. "Keep doing what you
are doing."
Benson slowly climbed up the scoring pylon by turning the
faster laps as well as avoiding wrecks on the high-speed
oval.
On lap 231, Todd Bodine's Ford got into the slick, wet
infield grass and slipped back up onto the track into Ward
Burton's Dodge. Burton's car then pinched Jeff Green's
Chevrolet into the outside wall, starting a wreck that wound
up gathering 10 cars into a heap down in Turn 1.
"We didn’t have too many close calls," Benson said. "On that
big one we were back a few seconds and managed to get slowed
down before we got there."
Benson remained two laps behind the leaders despite the
quick lap times and nursed his engine near the end.
While Benson was doing that, Jamie McMurray, making just his
second career Winston Cup Series start substituting for
injured Sterling Marlin, won the race making him the
quickest winner in Nascar's modern era. Bobby Labonte
finished second, followed by championship points leader Tony
Stewart in third, Jeff Gordon in fourth and Rusty Wallace in
fifth.
Benson and his Valvoline teammates return to racing Sunday
on the flat half-mile of Martinsville, Va.
Race Results
Sunday's UAW-GM 500 race results
Results from Sunday's UAW-GM 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway:
1. (5) Jamie McMurray, Dodge, 334, $215,717.
2. (18) Bobby Labonte, Pontiac, 334, $152,678.
3. (1) Tony Stewart, Pontiac, 334, $136,628.
4. (8) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 334, $125,778.
5. (6) Rusty Wallace, Ford, 334, $111,100.
6. (3) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 334, $81,225.
7. (14) Jeff Burton, Ford, 334, $98,267.
8. (4) Ryan Newman, Ford, 334, $80,800.
9. (13) Dale Earnhardt Jr, Chevrolet, 334, $69,300.
10. (21) Dave Blaney, Ford, 334, $78,975.
11. (15) Michael Waltrip, Chevrolet, 334, $61,025.
12. (11) Kurt Busch, Ford, 334, $68,650.
13. (39) Jerry Nadeau, Dodge, 333, $68,075.
14. (12) Dale Jarrett, Ford, 333, $77,025.
15. (34) Steve Park, Chevrolet, 333, $80,925.
16. (2) Mark Martin, Ford, 333, $81,433.
17. (37) Mike Wallace, Pontiac, 332, $46,825.
18. (26) Johnny Benson, Pontiac, 331, $73,025.
19. (28) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 331, $62,189.
20. (22) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 331, $48,950.
21. (24) Terry Labonte, Chevrolet, 331, $74,833.
22. (20) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 331, $87,103.
23. (30) John Andretti, Dodge, 329, $71,408.
24. (36) Mike Skinner, Chevrolet, 328, $43,980.
25. (31) Kenny Wallace, Dodge, 328, $44,050.
26. (40) Brett Bodine, Ford, 321, $43,350.
27. (29) Bobby Hamilton, Chevrolet, 319, $50,470.
28. (25) Jeremy Mayfield, Dodge, 314, $50,450.
29. (17) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 290, $39,775.
30. (38) Casey Atwood, Dodge, 285, $39,650.
31. (32) Ken Schrader, Pontiac, 269, engine failure,
$48,025.
32. (23) Jimmy Spencer, Dodge, 269, engine failure, $39,400.
33. (27) Ward Burton, Dodge, 258, $82,325.
34. (7) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 254, engine failure, $62,680.
35. (9) Bill Elliott, Dodge, 241, $65,301.
36. (16) Ricky Craven, Ford, 232, crash, $47,160.
37. (33) Todd Bodine, Ford, 229, crash, $64,302.
38. (19) Robby Gordon, Chevrolet, 227, crash, $65,136.
39. (10) Ricky Rudd, Ford, 220, crash, $83,462.
40. (35) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 165, engine failure,
$47,000.
41. (43) Hermie Sadler, Chevrolet, 146, engine failure,
$38,970.
42. (42) Stacy Compton, Dodge, 86, engine failure, $38,940.
43. (41) Jason Hedlesky, Ford, 31, handling, $39,160.
Average speed of race winner: 141.586 mph.
Time of race: 3 hours, 32 minutes, 19 seconds.
Margin of victory: 0.350.
Caution flags: 5 for 33 laps.
Lead changes: 23 among 11 drivers.
Lap leaders: T. Stewart 1-16; J. Johnson 17-59; R.
Wallace 60-61; K. Busch
62-64; M. Kenseth 65-66; J. Johnson 67-85; K. Busch 86-128;
M. Kenseth 129-133; J. Johnson 134-137; M. Kenseth 138-157;
B. Labonte 158-202; R. Wallace 203-205; D. Earnhardt Jr
206-211; J. McMurray 212-216; B. Labonte 217-223; J.
McMurray 224-227; B. Labonte 228; J. McMurray 229-284; T.
Stewart 285-290; R. Wallace 291-292; J. Burton 293-295; D.
Jarrett 296-300; M. Martin 301-303; J. McMurray 304-334.
|
|
Johnny's
Official Facebook
Follow
Us
on Twitter
|
_small.jpg)
