Benson &
Valvoline Team Never Give Up In Season-Ending Race & Season
As #10 Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny Benson crossed the
finish line for a 13th-place finish Sunday at
Homestead-Miami Speedway, his crew chief James Ince might
have summarized the entire day better than anyone.
"See what happens when you don’t give up," said Ince on the
Valvoline team’s radio.
Sunday’s season-ending Nascar Winston Cup race saw Benson
start 40th, lose a lap to the leader, regain it, lose it
again before finally regaining it late in the race. Then he
staged a furious rally at the end to claim the 13th spot and
probably would have captured four more spots if the race had
lasted about 20 more laps.
Benson was pleased.
"What can I say about this team," Benson said after the
race. "We never gave up today. We ran at the back of the
field, but when it was time to go we had the right strategy
and got the Valvoline Pontiac running pretty good and raced
up there."
Sunday’s race and Ince’s statement about his team not giving
up were indicative of the 36-race 2002 season that Benson
and the team closed out as the checkered flag fell in South
Florida.
After surviving wrecks in May and July that forced Benson to
miss five points races with broken ribs and put the team
deep in the points, the driver and team battled back over
the final third of the season earning their first victory
and finished the 2002 season 21st in owner points.
"No, this season sure hasn’t been what we wanted," Benson
said. "But we did reach our goal of wining a race and we
finished ahead of some teams in the points that you wouldn’t
think we would have considering all that happened to us.
But, we overcame adversity better than I think most teams
out here would and that makes me think we have a pretty
bright future."
Adversity was the key word at the start of Sunday’s race.
Benson began the race on the 1.5-mile oval in 40th and moved
up to 28th by the lap-53 mark. However the leaders were
setting a blistering pace and put Benson down a lap.
"The first set of tires weren’t as good as the second set
and we just kind of got caught out," Benson said.
By lap 126 he passed leader Joe Nemechek to put himself back
on the lead lap but just six laps later Jimmie Johnson
passed Nemechek and then passed Benson dropping him back
down a lap.
Then Benson managed to avoid a fiery crash when Jimmy
Spencer blew a tire.
"I could tell he blew a right rear tire, but I was glad he
got out because that looked scary."
At lap 196 Benson and Tony Stewart jumped ahead of the race
leaders on a restart and ran that way until lap 228 when
Matt Kenseth’s blown engine brought out the yellow and
allowed Benson regain the lap.
In the final 40 laps Benson dodge debris and smoke from John
Andretti’s blown engine then when the race restarted passed
several cars and appeared ready to pass four more when the
checkered flag fell.
"If we were as good at the beginning as we were at the end I
think we could have finished even higher today," Benson
said. "But we worked with what we had. I have never had a
good finish on this track so today is a start."
Homestead was a happy place after the race.
While Benson and his crew were changing out their race car
for the 2003 Pontiac test cars they will test here in
Homestead on Monday and Tuesday, fellow Pontiac driver
Stewart was celebrating his 2002 championship while Kurt
Busch celebrated his race win.
"Tony deserved it," said Benson who went to congratulate the
new champion minutes after the checkered flag fell. "Those
guys had an pretty awesome year and I just wanted to tell
Tony how happy we are for him."
Benson and his teammates return to their Concord, N.C. race
shop on Wednesday and then take some time off before
beginning testing for the 2003 season that holds its first
official test in Daytona on Jan. 7 and 8.
###
Sunday's Ford 400 race results
Results from Sunday's Ford 400 at the 1.5-mile
Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, Fla.:
1. (1) Kurt Busch, Ford, 267,
$297,100.
2. (4) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 267, $221,875.
3. (7) Jeff Burton, Ford, 267, $195,342.
4. (34) Mark Martin, Ford, 267, $148,083.
5. (37) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 267, $152,278.
6. (15) Ryan Newman, Ford, 267, $100,250.
7. (10) Bill Elliott, Dodge, 267, $92,056.
8. (16) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 267, $58,900.
9. (24) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 267, $74,600.
10. (17) Bobby Hamilton, Chevrolet, 267, $73,450.
11. (20) Mike Wallace, Pontiac, 267, $47,400.
12. (26) Ward Burton, Dodge, 267, $86,100.
13. (40) Johnny Benson, Pontiac, 267, $72,450.
14. (18) Rusty Wallace, Ford, 267, $86,050.
15. (19) Dale Jarrett, Ford, 267, $76,375.
16. (28) Ted Musgrave, Dodge, 267, $41,825.
17. (23) Steve Park, Chevrolet, 267, $76,050.
18. (6) Tony Stewart, Pontiac, 267, $88,553.
19. (9) Ricky Rudd, Ford, 267, $86,292.
20. (36) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 267, $88,953.
21. (2) Dale Earnhardt Jr, Chevrolet, 267, $60,825.
22. (14) Jamie McMurray, Dodge, 266, $82,492.
23. (8) Kenny Wallace, Dodge, 266, $43,475.
24. (27) Ricky Craven, Ford, 266, $51,175.
25. (5) Greg Biffle, Dodge, 266, $51,664.
26. (39) Robby Gordon, Chevrolet, 265, $68,631.
27. (22) Ken Schrader, Pontiac, 265, $50,275.
28. (30) Terry Labonte, Chevrolet, 265, $70,808.
29. (35) Bobby Labonte, Pontiac, 264, $84,553.
30. (32) Jack Sprague, Chevrolet, 264, $39,075.
31. (33) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 264, $41,375.
32. (42) Geoffrey Bodine, Ford, 264, $65,862.
33. (31) Jeremy Mayfield, Dodge, 264, $45,975.
34. (43) Derrike Cope, Dodge, 264, $37,775.
35. (29) Jason Leffler, Dodge, 263, $37,575.
36. (41) Mike Skinner, Chevrolet, 263, $37,375.
37. (12) Casey Atwood, Dodge, 261, $37,175.
38. (38) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 253, engine failure,
$36,975.
39. (21) John Andretti, Dodge, 235, engine failure, $63,858.
40. (13) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 223, engine failure, $54,550.
41. (11) Michael Waltrip, Chevrolet, 211, $44,350.
42. (3) Jimmy Spencer, Dodge, 194, crash, $36,050.
43. (25) Dave Blaney, Ford, 19, crash, $44,089.
Average speed of race winner: 116.462 mph.
Time of race: 3 hours, 26 minutes, 20 seconds.
Margin of victory: 2.070.
Caution flags: 6 for 41 laps.
Lead changes: 12 among 6 drivers.
Lap leaders: K.Busch 1-10; D.Earnhardt Jr 11-43; J.Nemechek
44-57; K. Busch
58-62; D.Earnhardt Jr 63-75; J.Nemechek 76-133; J.Johnson
134-160; K.Busch
161-162; J.Nemechek 163-196; D.Jarrett 197-223; J.Nemechek
224-228; R.Newman
229-256; K.Busch 257-267.
|
