Benson Quotes From GM Johnny Benson hopes the Nascar Winston Cup race in Michigan holds to form this weekend.

That's because In the last five races at Michigan International Speedway, the #10 Valvoline Pontiac driver has posted four top-eight finishes.

The Grand Rapids, Mich. native has proved in each of those races that qualifying doesn't mean that much on the two-mile, D-shaped oval.

Benson has yet to qualify better than 22nd in that stretch of good runs. On Friday he qualified 26th.

"Based on how we unloaded, yeah we are happy with that," Benson said after climbing from the car. "We’ve struggled a little bit. This car ran at Charlotte and it was really good. It seemed like halfway through the race, something happened to it and it got a little demon in it. When we unloaded here, it was there again. We were able to get it out of it, and that was our main goal, to figure out what it was. That was quite a bit quicker than what we practiced, so we’re happy with that. We’ll get it set up for the race and we’ll be OK."

Benson has no doubts he can race to the front.

"This track is pretty wide and if your car is working you are going to go to the front," Benson said. "You can go three-wide and drive down low so where you start doesn't really mean it's where you will finish."

Benson has trouble explaining why he races so much better than he qualifies at Michigan.

"You know we don't ever qualify well here and today wasn't too bad but Sunday is when they pay the most money and that's when we want to be our best."

Benson and his Valvoline teammates will participate in two 45-minute practice sessions Saturday morning.

Sunday's race begins 1:30 p.m.


Qualifying results

1. (18) BobbyLabonte,Chevrolet,190.365mph
2. (20) TonyStewart,Chevrolet,189.464
3. (8) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 189.091
4. (97) Kurt Busch, Ford, 188.783
5. (5) Terry Labonte, Chevrolet, 188.689
6. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 189.091
7. (38) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 188.496
8. (12) Ryan Newman, Dodge, 188.294
9. (15) Michael Waltrip, Chevrolet, 188.191
10. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 188.186
11. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 188.044
12. (25) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 188.044
13. (1 ) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 187.999
14. (0 ) Jack Sprague, Pontiac, 187.823
15. (6) Mark Martin, Ford, 187.798
16. (9) Bill Elliott, Dodge, 187.793
17. (2) Rusty Wallace, Dodge, 187.720
18. (02) Hermie Sadler, Pontiac, 187.671
19. (31) Robby Gordon, Chevrolet, 187.661
20. (19) Jeremy Mayfield, Dodge, 187.612
21. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 187.529
22. (41) Casey Mears, Dodge, 187.446
23. (99) Jeff Burton, Ford, 187.441
24. (23) Kenny Wallace, Dodge, 187.432
25. (88) Dale Jarrett, Ford, 187.193
26. (10) Johnny Benson, Pontiac, 187.052
27. (11) Brett Bodine, Ford, 186.994
28. (49) Ken Schrader, Dodge, 186.911
29. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 186.887
30. (40) Sterling Marlin, Dodge, 186.848
31. (22) Ward Burton, Dodge, 186.761
32. (21) Ricky Rudd, Ford, 186.620
33. (30) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 186.562
34. (01 ) Mike Wallace, Pontiac, 186.442
35. (37) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 186.374
36. (43) Christian Fittipaldi, Dodge, 186.282

Failed to qualify on speed

37. (45) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 186.234
38. (42) Jamie McMurray, Dodge, 186.191
39. (74) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, 186.138
40. (4) Mike Skinner, Pontiac, 185.907
41. (54) Todd Bodine, Ford, 185.816
42. (77) Dave Blaney, Ford, 185.476
43. (14) Larry Foyt, Dodge, 185.004
44. (32) Ricky Craven, Pontiac, 184.139
45. (7) Jimmy Spencer, Dodge, 153.853