Benson's 25th-place finish on Sunday moved him to 25th in the 2003 Driver Standings.

"We struggled today," said Benson after the race. "We didn't get a happy hour on Saturday so we didn't get to run our brand new car. Now I wish we would have had some time to work on it, but you know 25th isn't terrible. We worked hard all day and moved up in the points. It could have been a lot worse."

Benson referred to three scary accidents by Ken Schrader, Dale Jarrett and Jeff Green.

"I'm glad those guys are OK. Those wrecks looked pretty serious from what I could see out on the race track. "

Schrader flipped and caught fire, Jarrett caught fire, and Green's car slammed the inside wall with tremendous force. All three drivers were uninjured.

Benson's day was fortunately uneventful.

He started 24th and except for a brief appearance in 14th after some pit strategy, Benson hung around the middle of the pack most of the race.

The high speeds at Pocono combined with the one groove turns made passing very limited. Drivers took turns leading the race and were able to stretch the lead because of the clean air.

Traffic seemed to slow everyone.

"We struggled getting off the corners all day," Benson said. "We have some work to do but we know in what direction we need to head when we come back here in July."

Benson said he plans to be higher than 25th when he returns to the Pennsylvania track.

"We go to some places we like in the next few weeks," he said. "We can take
some positives out of this race and move on."

Tony Stewart won his first race of the year holding off a charging Mark Martin. It appeared Martin would battle Stewart but Green's wreck in the closing laps forced the race to end under caution.

Benson and his Valvoline teammates return to action Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.



Results

1. (20) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 180 - 5 bonus points
2. (6) Mark Martin, Ford, 175 - 5 bonus points
3. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 170 - 5 bonus points
4. (8) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 165 - 5 bonus points
5. (12) Ryan Newman, Dodge, 160 - 5 bonus points
6. (40) Sterling Marlin, Dodge, 160 - 10 bonus points
7. (5) Terry Labonte, Chevrolet, 151 - 5 bonus points
8. (22) Ward Burton, Dodge, 147 - 5 bonus points
9. (38) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 143 - 5 bonus points
10. (32) Ricky Craven, Pontiac, 134
11. (54) Todd Bodine, Ford, 135 - 5 bonus points
12. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 132 - 5 bonus points
13. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 124
14. (99) Jeff Burton, Ford, 126 - 5 bonus points
15. (19) Jeremy Mayfield, Dodge, 118 - 5 bonus points
16. (2) Rusty Wallace, Dodge, 115
17. (18) Bobby Labonte, Chevrolet, 112
18. (15) Michael Waltrip, Chevrolet, 114 - 5 bonus points
19. (9) Bill Elliott, Dodge, 111 - 5 bonus points
20. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 103
21. (41) Casey Mears, Dodge, 100
22. (0) Jack Sprague, Pontiac, 97
23. (43) John Andretti, Dodge, 94
24. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 91
25. (10) Johnny Benson, Pontiac, 88
26. (77) Dave Blaney, Ford, 85
27. (45) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 82
28. (31) Robby Gordon, Chevrolet, 79
29. (23) Kenny Wallace, Dodge, 76
30. (74) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, 73
31. (01) Mike Wallace, Pontiac, 70
32. (42) Jamie McMurray, Dodge, 67
33. (1) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 69 - 5 bonus points
34. (4) Mike Skinner, Pontiac, 61
35. (30) Steve Park, Chevrolet, 58
36. (97) Kurt Busch, Ford, 55
37. (21) Ricky Rudd, Ford, 52
38. (25) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 49
39. (7) Jimmy Spencer, Dodge, 46
40. (91) Casey Atwood, Dodge, 43
41. (14) Larry Foyt, Dodge, 45 - 5 bonus points
42. (88) Dale Jarrett, Ford, 37
43. (49) Ken Schrader, Dodge, 34

2003 Points

1. Matt Kenseth, 2115
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 1939
3. Jeff Gordon, 1882
4. Bobby Labonte, 1828
5. Kurt Busch, 1753
6. Michael Waltrip, 1745
7. Jimmie Johnson, 1738
8. Rusty Wallace, 1671
9. Kevin Harvick, 1630
10. Sterling Marlin, 1623
11. Mark Martin, 1602
12. Ricky Craven, 1579
13. Tony Stewart, 1575
14. Jeff Burton, 1558
15. Robby Gordon, 1552
16. Ryan Newman, 1536
17. Terry Labonte, 1528
18. Joe Nemechek, 1481
19. Elliott Sadler, 1468
20. Ward Burton, 1424
21. Dave Blaney, 1418
22. Bill Elliott, 1406
23. Greg Biffle, 1400
24. Jamie McMurray, 1372
25. Johnny Benson, 1362
26. Ricky Rudd, 1327
27. Dale Jarrett, 1315
28. Kenny Wallace, 1263
29. Jimmy Spencer, 1229
30. Todd Bodine, 1209
31. Jeff Green, 1198
32. Jeremy Mayfield, 1189
33. John Andretti, 1137
34. Steve Park, 1135
35. Ken Schrader, 1071
36. Casey Mears, 1021
37. Jack Sprague, 1019
38. Kyle Petty, 1005
39. Mike Skinner, 1004
40. Tony Raines, 977
41. Jerry Nadeau, 844
42. Larry Foyt, 585
43. Mike Wallace, 457
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. Casey Atwood, 43