Benson 26th
at NHIS
After 300 laps on the Magic Mile of New Hampshire
International Speedway most of the 43 NASCAR Winston Cup
drivers didn't really know if they had a good car or not.
Passing is so difficult that a fast car could get bogged
down behind a slow car for a dozen laps or more.
For Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny Benson the answer to how
good was his car depended on which part of the race you were
asking about.
Benson looked good when he was at the front of the 43-car
Nascar Winston Cup field. And he looked like a slow car
mired in traffic when he was at the back of the field.
While running by himself he was fast. In traffic he was
slow. On some sets of tires he look good and on others not
so good.
"You know we were good on one set of tires and then bad on
the next set," Benson said. "Sometimes we had track position
and then sometimes we didn't."
At the end of the race he didn't have track position. Or
brakes. And that's what led to his 26th-place finish.
"It was real hard to pass," Benson said. "I think we had a
good car most of the day, but there at the end we ran out of
brakes so I just kind of brought it home."
Because passing was so difficult, teams tried to keep their
driver on the track as long as possible. And when the
drivers did come to pit road the teams tried to get them in
and out of the pits even faster than normal. Sometimes that
meant taking on just gas, or just gas and two tires.
Benson used that strategy all day long moving from his 26th
place starting place up as high as 11th.
He was about 18th on lap 211 when many of the leaders came
to the pits for fuel during a caution. Benson was forced to
stay on the track because the team knew he couldn't make it
to the end of the race without another stop for fuel.
On lap 234 Benson pitted when Christian Fittipaldi brought
out the yellow. The stop dropped Benson back to about 30th.
When the race restarted Benson began climbing through the
field but then the brake problems curtailed his drive to the
front.
At the 300-lap mark, he crossed the finish line in 26th.
"Yeah, I would have loved to have climbed back up there. We
had four new tires and I think we would have been OK."
Jimmie Johnson won Sunday's race edging Kevin Harvick.
Benson and his Valvoline teammates will test at the Virginia
International Raceway on Tuesday then travel to Pocono for
Sunday's race.
Race Results
1. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 180 - 5 bonus points
2. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 175 - 5 bonus points
3. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 170 - 5 bonus points
4. (12) Ryan Newman, Dodge, 165 - 5 bonus points
5. (31) Robby Gordon, Chevrolet, 155
6. (8) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 155 - 5 bonus points
7. (88) Dale Jarrett, Ford, 146
8. (30) Steve Park, Chevrolet, 142
9. (99) Jeff Burton, Ford, 143 - 5 bonus points
10. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 134
11. (97) Kurt Busch, Ford, 130
12. (21) Ricky Rudd, Ford, 127
13. (77) Dave Blaney, Ford, 124
14. (18) Bobby Labonte, Chevrolet, 121
15. (7) Jimmy Spencer, Dodge, 123 - 5 bonus points
16. (41) Casey Mears, Dodge, 115
17. (2) Rusty Wallace, Dodge, 112
18. (6) Mark Martin, Ford, 109
19. (54) Todd Bodine, Ford, 106
20. (5) Terry Labonte, Chevrolet, 103
21. (32) Ricky Craven, Pontiac, 100
22. (20) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 97
23. (4) Johnny Sauter, Pontiac, 94
24. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 101 - 10 bonus points
25. (22) Ward Burton, Dodge, 88
26. (10) Johnny Benson, Pontiac, 85
27. (38) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 82
28. (15) Michael Waltrip, Chevrolet, 79
29. (25) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 76
30. (1) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 73
31. (9) Bill Elliott, Dodge, 70
32. (45) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 67
33. (74) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, 64
34. (19) Jeremy Mayfield, Dodge, 61
35. (37) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 58
36. (49) Ken Schrader, Dodge, 55
37. (43) Christian Fittipaldi, Dodge, 52
38. (23) Kenny Wallace, Dodge, 49
39. (40) Sterling Marlin, Dodge, 46
40. (42) Jamie McMurray, Dodge, 48 - 5 bonus points
41. (0) John Andretti, Pontiac, 40
42. (01) Mike Wallace, Pontiac, 37
43. (89) Morgan Shepherd, Ford, 34
Points
1. Matt Kenseth, 2848
2. Jeff Gordon, 2614
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 2575
4. Bobby Labonte, 2472
5. Jimmie Johnson, 2429
6. Michael Waltrip, 2373
7. Kevin Harvick, 2316
8. Kurt Busch, 2243
9. Tony Stewart, 2226
10. Jeff Burton, 2200
11. Rusty Wallace, 2198
12. Mark Martin, 2179
13. Ryan Newman, 2178
14. Robby Gordon, 2178
15. Sterling Marlin, 2144
16. Terry Labonte, 2131
17. Ricky Craven, 2019
18. Elliott Sadler, 1993
19. Bill Elliott, 1972
20. Greg Biffle, 1944
21. Ricky Rudd, 1895
22. Ward Burton, 1884
23. Jamie McMurray, 1843
24. Johnny Benson, 1804
25. Joe Nemechek, 1801
26. Dave Blaney, 1786
27. Jeremy Mayfield, 1784
28. Dale Jarrett, 1772
29. Jimmy Spencer, 1704
30. Kenny Wallace, 1685
31. Todd Bodine, 1649
32. Jeff Green, 1541
33. Steve Park, 1530
34. Casey Mears, 1473
35. Kyle Petty, 1371
36. Ken Schrader, 1346
37. Jack Sprague, 1284
38. Tony Raines, 1272
39. John Andretti, 1177
40. Mike Skinner, 1004
41. Jerry Nadeau, 844
42. Larry Foyt, 686
43. Mike Wallace, 677
44. Derrike Cope, 350
45. Christian Fittipaldi, 341
46. Brett Bodine, 308
47. Boris Said, 155
48. Johnny Sauter, 152
49. Ron Fellows, 151
50. Hermie Sadler, 128 |
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