Benson Ends
Long Richmond Weekend In 15th Place
Considering everything that happen this weekend at Richmond
International
Raceway, Johnny Benson and his Valvoline teammates were
pleased with their
15th-place finish on a rainy Saturday night in Virginia in
front of 100,000
fans.
Benson’s success came mainly from perseverance while dodging
raindrops and
wrecks in a race that saw track record-setting 15 cautions
for 91 laps including one that ended the race six laps
before the scheduled finish.
But racing wasn’t what mattered this weekend.
Before the green flag dropped and immediately after the
checkered flag fell the
team’s thoughts remained squarely on teammate Jerry Nadeau
who is in critical
condition in a Richmond hospital after he crashed in
practice Friday afternoon.
Benson spoke for the team.
“Sure it’s difficult to race on a night like this, but that
is our job. It’s what we do in life. When I’m not in the car
or when the guys aren’t doing their jobs we are thinking
about Jerry and (wife) Jada. Their our teammates, but more
importantly they are a friends and people we care about.”
Benson said everyone worked hard to make the weekend
bearable.
“You know our guys kept their heads, did their jobs and we
leave here with a
decent finish. We know we can run better and will run
better. But I think you
saw the character of this team this weekend. James used some
good pit strategy and we can go to Charlotte feeling pretty
good about ourselves.”
Benson began the race in 13th place with his Eagle One paint
scheme and seemed like a yo-yo going up and down the scoring
pylon. Half the field was using one pit strop strategy while
the other half used another. Benson was down as far as 26th
and climbed as high at 7th at one point late in the race.
Near the end Benson appeared destined for about a 20th place
finish but over
the final laps Benson passed a few cars and a series of
cautions took out
several of the cars in front of him.
“It was pretty wild out there at the end,” Benson said. “We
were trying to pass
everyone we saw but the main thing was to avoid getting
wrecked.”
Benson moved to 15th when the final caution fell with just
six laps to go.
Nascar hoped to restart the race but as the rain increased
that appeared
impossible and called an early end to the night.
“If we had gone green that would have been a wild finish.
But we probably would
have sat forever waiting on the rain to pass. Nascar made
the right call.”
Joe Nemechek appeared to have the fastest car of the evening
and benefited from the early caution to earn his first
victory of the season.
Jason Keller substituted for Nadeau and finished 32nd.
Benson and his teammates will return to action in two weeks
in the Winston Open in Charlotte.
###
Race Results
1. (25) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 185 - 10 bonus points
2. (18) Bobby Labonte, Chevrolet, 175 - 5 bonus points
3. (8) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 170 - 5 bonus points
4. (31) Robby Gordon, Chevrolet, 165 - 5 bonus points
5. (6) Mark Martin, Ford, 160 - 5 bonus points
6. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 155 - 5 bonus points
7. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 146
8. (97) Kurt Busch, Ford, 147 - 5 bonus points
9. (99) Jeff Burton, Ford, 138
10. (2) Rusty Wallace, Dodge, 134
11. (22) Ward Burton, Dodge, 130
12. (15) Michael Waltrip, Chevrolet, 127
13. (40) Sterling Marlin, Dodge, 124
14. (74) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, 118
15. (10) Johnny Benson, Pontiac, 121
16. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 115
17. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 117 - 5 bonus points
18. (77) Dave Blaney, Ford, 109
19. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 106
20. (9) Bill Elliott, Dodge, 108 - 5 bonus points
21. (5) Terry Labonte, Chevrolet, 105 - 5 bonus points
22. (54) Todd Bodine, Ford, 97
23. (42) Jamie McMurray, Dodge, 94
24. (49) Ken Schrader, Dodge, 91
25. (19) Jeremy Mayfield, Dodge, 88
26. (0) Jack Sprague, Pontiac, 85
27. (23) Kenny Wallace, Dodge, 82
28. (45) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 79
29. (41) Casey Mears, Dodge, 76
30. (43) John Andretti, Dodge, 73
31. (11) Brett Bodine, Ford, 70
32. (01) Jason Keller, Pontiac, 67
33. (14) Larry Foyt, Dodge, 64
34. (21) Ricky Rudd, Ford, 61
35. (4) Mike Skinner, Pontiac, 58
36. (88) Dale Jarrett, Ford, 55
37. (38) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 52
38. (32) Ricky Craven, Pontiac, 49
39. (12) Ryan Newman, Dodge, 51 - 5 bonus points
40. (30) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 43
41. (20) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 40
42. (7) Jimmy Spencer, Dodge, 37
43. (1) Steve Park, Chevrolet, 34
2003 Points
1. Matt Kenseth, 1619
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 1599
3. Kurt Busch, 1452
4. Jeff Gordon, 1438
5. Bobby Labonte, 1376
6. Jimmie Johnson, 1372
7. Michael Waltrip, 1361
8. Kevin Harvick, 1328
9. Rusty Wallace, 1274
10. Sterling Marlin, 1259
11. Ricky Craven, 1254
12. Mark Martin, 1242
13. Robby Gordon, 1218
14. Joe Nemechek, 1211
15. Jeff Burton, 1202
16. Elliott Sadler, 1201
17. Tony Stewart, 1182
18. Terry Labonte, 1143
19. Bill Elliott, 1113
20. Greg Biffle, 1112
21. Dave Blaney, 1109
22. Ricky Rudd, 1099
23. Dale Jarrett, 1094
24. Ward Burton, 1091
25. Jamie McMurray, 1090
26. Kenny Wallace, 1062
27. Ryan Newman, 1031
28. Johnny Benson, 1031
29. Jimmy Spencer, 947
30. Jeremy Mayfield, 937
31. John Andretti, 936
32. Jeff Green, 935
33. Steve Park, 928
34. Ken Schrader, 873
35. Todd Bodine, 856
36. Jerry Nadeau, 844
37. Casey Mears, 817
38. Kyle Petty, 813
39. Mike Skinner, 785
40. Jack Sprague, 785
41. Tony Raines, 779
42. Larry Foyt, 400
43. Brett Bodine, 271
44. Derrike Cope, 215
45. Mike Wallace, 211
46. Christian Fittipaldi, 107
47. Hermie Sadler, 68
48. Jason Keller, 67
49. Hideo Fukuyama, 64
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