Johnny Benson climbed out of his car on
pit lane seconds after finishing fifth at Dover
International Speedway on Sunday and summed up the general
feeling of his #10 Valvoline Pontiac team for the television
camera crews that had gathered.
“Its about time,” laughed Benson.
“Everyone was starting to wear me out about us not having a
top-10 finish. Now we have that out of the way we can start
looking to do even better. But I wouldn’t mind if we added a
few more races at Dover to our schedule.”
For Benson, it is his first top-10
finish of the 2003 season and best run since winning
Rockingham in October about 15 races ago. Sunday’s run amid
the raindrops in Delaware was even more impressive
considering he started 30th of the 43 cars.
“We were pretty good today,” he said.
“(Crew Chief) James Ince told me before the weekend that
this car would be a lot better race car than it qualifies.
And he was right. We didn’t qualify real well but it raced
pretty good today.”
Benson said the car was good but the
Valvoline team’s pit stops were even better. “We came
from the back of the pack because every time we pitted we
gained a couple of spots getting out of the pits. Our crew
has worked hard getting the pit stops right. As tight and
difficult as it is to pit here we had to make up the most
spots of anyone on pit road today.”
Benson began Sunday’s race in 30th and
moved to 16th by the lap 114 mark avoiding a series of
crashes on the high-speed mile oval. While the leaders
stretched out the lead, Benson battled back in traffic
slowly picking off spots.
By the lap 255 mark, Benson passed
Robby Gordon to move into tenth. “JB this car can do it.
Keep after it and keep doing what you are doing,” Ince said
as the team made a series of chassis adjustments throughout
the race to inch Benson closer to the car he needed to run
down the leaders.
By lap 278 he moved to seventh and
just a few laps later he passed Rusty Wallace to claim the
sixth spot then worked his way around Matt Kennseth to
fourth by lap 314.
Tony Stewart passed Benson on lap 364
and Rusty Wallace beat the Valvoline Pontiac out of the pits
during a caution. But, Benson regained the spot and stayed
in fifth the rest of the race that included six-lap shootout
at the end that saw Ryan Newman hold off Jeff Gordon to win
the race.
Benson was happy with his and the
team's performance.
“We didn’t have enough to go up there
and battle the leaders but we were able to hold our own,” he
said. “You know, fifth isn’t this team’s goal but it’s a
huge step in the right direction. We should have had some
better finishes this season but either something broke or we
crashed so we aren’t going to complain. But I hope this gets
us going in the direction we need to go. We haven’t lost
faith in ourselves and we know we can run like this more
often than not.”
Benson and his teammates return to
action Sunday in Pocono, Pa.
Sunday's race results and points
awarded
1. (12) Ryan Newman, Dodge, 185 - 10
bonus points
2. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 175 -
5 bonus points
3. (18) Bobby Labonte, Chevrolet, 170
- 5 bonus points
4. (20) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 165 -
5 bonus points
5. (10) Johnny Benson, Pontiac, 155
6. (2) Rusty Wallace, Dodge, 155 - 5
bonus points
7. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 146
8. (32) Ricky Craven, Pontiac, 142
9. (8) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet,
143 - 5 bonus points
10. (31) Robby Gordon, Chevrolet, 139
- 5 bonus points
11. (5) Terry Labonte, Chevrolet, 130
12. (54) Todd Bodine, Ford, 127
13. (42) Jamie McMurray, Dodge, 124
14. (99) Jeff Burton, Ford, 121
15. (97) Kurt Busch, Ford, 123 - 5
bonus points
16. (15) Michael Waltrip, Chevrolet,
120 - 5 bonus points
17. (21) Ricky Rudd, Ford, 112
18. (6) Mark Martin, Ford, 109
19. (01) Mike Wallace, Pontiac, 106
20. (77) Dave Blaney, Ford, 103
21. (19) Jeremy Mayfield, Dodge, 100
22. (9) Bill Elliott, Dodge, 97
23. (23) Kenny Wallace, Dodge, 94
24. (25) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 91
25. (1) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 88
26. (49) Ken Schrader, Dodge, 85
27. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 82
28. (14) Larry Foyt, Dodge, 79
29. (7) Jimmy Spencer, Dodge, 76
30. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 73
31. (74) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, 70
32. (30) Steve Park, Chevrolet, 67
33. (38) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 64
34. (43) John Andretti, Dodge, 61
35. (40) Sterling Marlin, Dodge, 58
36. (4) Mike Skinner, Pontiac, 55
37. (22) Ward Burton, Dodge, 52
38. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 54
- 5 bonus points
39. (88) Dale Jarrett, Ford, 46
40. (41) Casey Mears, Dodge, 43
41. (0) Jack Sprague, Pontiac, 40
42. (11) Brett Bodine, Ford, 37
43. (45) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 34
Updated Winston Cup driver standings
1. Matt Kenseth, 1945
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 1774
3. Jeff Gordon, 1758
4. Bobby Labonte, 1716
5. Kurt Busch, 1698
6. Michael Waltrip, 1631
7. Jimmie Johnson, 1606
8. Rusty Wallace, 1556
9. Kevin Harvick, 1539
10. Robby Gordon, 1473
11. Sterling Marlin, 1463
12. Ricky Craven, 1445
13. Joe Nemechek, 1432
14. Jeff Burton, 1432
15. Mark Martin, 1427
16. Tony Stewart, 1395
17. Terry Labonte, 1377
18. Ryan Newman, 1376
19. Dave Blaney, 1333
20. Elliott Sadler, 1325
21. Jamie McMurray, 1305
22. Greg Biffle, 1297
23. Bill Elliott, 1295
24. Dale Jarrett, 1278
25. Ward Burton, 1277
26. Ricky Rudd, 1275
27. Johnny Benson, 1274
28. Kenny Wallace, 1187
29. Jimmy Spencer, 1183
30. Jeff Green, 1129
31. Steve Park, 1077
32. Todd Bodine, 1074
33. Jeremy Mayfield, 1071
34. John Andretti, 1043
35. Ken Schrader, 1037
36. Mike Skinner, 943
37. Kyle Petty, 923
38. Jack Sprague, 922
39. Casey Mears, 921
40. Tony Raines, 904
41. Jerry Nadeau, 844
42. Larry Foyt, 540
43. Mike Wallace, 387
44. Brett Bodine, 308
45. Derrike Cope, 215
46. Christian Fittipaldi, 107
47. Hermie Sadler, 68
48. Jason Keller, 67
49. Hideo Fukuyama, 64
50. Kevin Lepage, 0
