Grace &
Dignity Prevail With Benson Rockingham Victory
For seven years Johnny Benson raced in the Nascar Winston
Cup Series with a quiet grace and dignity.
He was polite to the media, took time with race fans and
sponsors, remained friendly with race officials and
competitors and was rarely controversial.
But he never finished first in 225 starts.
That changed Sunday in Rockingham, North Carolina when he
earned the hardest of hard-earned victories.
Just two weeks ago in Martinsville, Va. he could have
crashed Kurt Busch and easily won for the first time. But he chose to race fair-and-square and finish
second for the third time in his career.
At the race track and around his North Carolina home, fans
and racers teased him about being so close. They kept
telling "the best driver to never win a race" that bumping
and wrecking the other guy is part of racing.
But Benson never wavered from what he knew was right and
what he was taught by his father John Benson growing up in
Grand Rapids, Mich.
"I didn’t want to win that way," said Benson. "That’s just
me. It isn’t how I want to win."
On Sunday he won it his way.
He won it by cleanly passing Busch with 27 laps to go and
then he held off a ferocious effort from Mark Martin in the
closing laps edging Martin by .281 seconds in front of
50,000 cheering fans and a nationwide television audience.
The journey that began at age seven working in his father’s
race shop and included late model, ASA and Busch
Championships along the way culminated by the flag stand at
Rockingham late Sunday afternoon with 38-year-old Benson
taking the checkered flag for his first Winston Cup career
victory.
It was a celebration to say the least.
"There's so much I wish I could say and so many people to
thank," said Benson who led the final 28 laps then used his
Valvoline Pontiac to burn doughnuts in the grass on the
front stretch before running out of gas on the backstretch
and
needing a push to Victory Lane.
"We’ve waited so long for this. We have come so close so
many times. Was it all worth it? Yes, it was. I’m so
thankful for James Ince and everyone in this Valvoline
Pontiac organization tonight. Valvoline as a corporate owner
stood behind us and the folks at MB2 Motorsports gave us a
chance when things looked so bleak a few years ago."
Martinsville two weeks ago, Loudon last month, near wins at
Indy in 1996 and Daytona in 2000 were the furthest things
from Benson’s thoughts Sunday night. So were two accidents
earlier this season that sidelined him five races with
broken ribs.
Sunday night was all about a victory celebration that he
always knew would come some day some way.
"I never doubted myself or these guys," Benson said. "We
knew we had the ability, we knew by Valvoline owning us we
would have their support and we knew with Hendrick engines
and Pontiac support we were going to make it happen"
Standing in the corner of Victory Lane with the
proud-papa-like smile was 32-year old James Ince - one of
the youngest in the garage and on this night one of the
proudest.
Ince, the Springfield, Missouri native who has now won in
every series he has ever raced said he never wavered in his
belief that the Valvoline Pontiac would visit Victory Lane.
"We put this team together in 2000 and there were a lot of
days when because of finances it seemed things weren’t going
to workout. But we never lost faith in each other and the
guys on this team had plenty of opportunities to go
elsewhere and they didn’t," said Ince. "Over time we added a
lot of people and got this organization going in the right
direction and what you saw today is the first of what I know
will be a pretty regular thing."
For Benson, his thousands of fans in the Upper Midwest and
all over the nation the next victory is something to ponder
later. For now it’s time to bask in the celebration of
something that has been long overdue.
But something achieved in the way Benson wanted to achieve
it.
"Today we won it the right way," he said.
Sunday's Pop Secret 400
results
ThatsRacin.com Report
Results from Sunday's Pop Secret 400 NASCAR Winston Cup race
at North Carolina Speedway, Rockingham, N.C.:
1. (26) Johnny Benson, Pontiac, 393, $162,965.
2. (5) Mark Martin, Ford, 393, $130,923.
3. (7) Kurt Busch, Ford, 393, $80,400.
4. (29) Jeff Burton, Ford, 393, $106,267.
5. (18) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 393, $106,713.
6. (4) Mike Skinner, Chevrolet, 393, $69,625.
7. (11) Bobby Labonte, Pontiac, 393, $92,453.
8. (19) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 393, $64,175.
9. (23) Ricky Craven, Ford, 393, $60,175.
10. (6) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 393, $53,675.
11. (9) Robby Gordon, Chevrolet, 392, $74,981.
12. (37) Dale Jarrett, Ford, 392, $80,900.
13. (16) Kenny Wallace, Dodge, 392, $48,750.
14. (24) Tony Stewart, Pontiac, 392, $91,478.
15. (2) Jamie McMurray, Dodge, 392, $90,067.
16. (27) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 392, $68,100.
17. (30) Dave Blaney, Ford, 392, $65,200.
18. (35) John Andretti, Dodge, 392, $73,383.
19. (36) Michael Waltrip, Chevrolet, 392, $53,900.
20. (20) Ricky Rudd, Ford, 392, $89,567.
21. (17) Jeremy Mayfield, Dodge, 392, $53,500.
22. (12) Ken Schrader, Pontiac, 391, $61,239.
23. (1) Ryan Newman, Ford, 391, $60,050.
24. (40) Steve Park, Chevrolet, 391, $74,125.
25. (13) Greg Biffle, Dodge, 391, $44,350.
26. (32) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 391, $86,528.
27. (8) Rusty Wallace, Ford, 391, $84,785.
28. (21) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 391, $51,335.
29. (42) Casey Atwood, Dodge, 391, $42,650.
30. (14) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 390, $40,525.
31. (15) Jimmy Spencer, Dodge, 390, $39,875.
32. (38) Terry Labonte, Chevrolet, 390, $68,583.
33. (25) Hank Parker Jr., Dodge, 389, $39,625.
34. (22) Dale Earnhardt Jr, Chevrolet, 389, $59,100.
35. (28) Jack Sprague, Chevrolet, 386, $39,375.
36. (43) Brett Bodine, Ford, 386, $39,325.
37. (31) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 379, $39,275.
38. (39) Bobby Hamilton, Chevrolet, 341, $47,215.
39. (10) Bill Elliott, Dodge, 301, water pump, $65,221.
40. (34) Ward Burton, Dodge, 289, crash, $82,090.
41. (33) Hermie Sadler, Chevrolet, 260, engine failure,
$39,020.
42. (3) Todd Bodine, Ford, 256, crash, $64,322.
43. (41) Mike Wallace, Pontiac, 120, crash, $38,232.
Average speed of race winner: 128.526 mph.
Time of race: 3 hours, 6 minutes, 35 seconds.
Margin of victory: 0.261.
Caution flags: 4 for 22 laps.
Lead changes: 22 among 9 drivers.
Lap leaders: R. Newman # 1-40; M. Martin 41-42; R. Newman #
43; J. Green 44-67; M. Martin 68-105; J. Green 106-108; T.
Bodine 109; J. McMurray 110; B. Labonte 111-112; M. Martin
113-156; K. Busch 157-182; J. Green 183-191; K. Busch
192-197; M. Martin 198-200; B. Labonte 201-202; J. Green
203-229; K. Busch 230; B. Elliott 231; J. Green 232-236; K.
Busch 237-282; M. Martin 283-339; K. Busch 340-365; J.
Benson 366-393.
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