#10 Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny Benson and his Crew Chief James Ince could barely contain their laughter as the slapped hands in the hauler’s lounge after the race.

The pair along with teammates had just posted a 10th-place finish Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.  It wasn’t the home state driver’s best finish of the year, but a tenth-place run on a day that started with the Valvoline Pontiac so slow it looked like a caboose at the end of a very long line of rail cars was a mighty fine if unexpected surprise.

It isn’t the fastest car that always finishes first.

“We sure aren’t going to apologize for this,” laughed Benson. “We’ve run really well before at some place and not finished like we should. So, we are going to take our tenth place finish and go to Bristol with smiles on our faces. I think you could say we earned our finish this afternoon.”  There should be lots of smiles after a day like this. 

Three factors determined Sunday’s success..

First, the Valvoline team never gave up working on its Pontiac all race long. While others came to pit road for two-tires or just a gas and go, Benson and Ince asked their pit crew to change bars, tire pressures, add rubbers to the coil spring, add or remove wedge, plus a host of other minor changes to make the car faster.

It took time, but it worked.

“We probably would have changed everything on the car but the number if we had more time during the race,” Ince said. “I think from the time the race began to the time the race ended we might have changed the attitude of the car 100 percent. We threw everything plus the kitchen sink to it today and it turned out it liked the kitchen sink because we got faster and faster as the day went along.”

The second factor was superb race strategy.

At the end of the race while others opted for the prime track position at the front of the pack, Ince brought Benson to pit road three times during the final caution making sure gasman Jimmy Watts packed as much fuel as the Valvoline Pontiac could hold.

When the race resumed Benson was mired at the back, but he was told drive as hard as he could - except for one caveat.  “Man, you better save us a good bit of fuel, because it is going to be closer than close,” Ince radioed.

Benson’s driving became the third factor in the success.

The leaders raced away while he tried to climb through the field heeding Ince’s advice by drafting everything in front of him, getting off the throttle a little earlier in the corners, and doing everything he could to save fuel while still trying to race.

“That isn’t real easy to do when you are out there racing,” Benson said. “As a racer you want to pass anything and everything. But I knew if we burned up too much fuel we’d get a bad finish. I did what I thought was right and hoped it would work out in the end.”

As the laps would down Benson was about 15th when the leaders who had yet to pit peeled off for pit road and a splash of gas.  Benson battled and finally slipped past Ward Burton, Elliott Sadler and dueled with Jeff Burton as the laps trickled down.  A few laps later those who had pitted at the same time as Benson began experiencing problem. Jimmie Johnson ran out of gas as did leader Kurt Busch.

“Johnny you got two more laps, just bring it in,” said Ince. “The others are running out, so make sure it gets here. If you do make it your probably aren’t going to make it back to the garage its so close.”

The pit crew held it’s breath. Preparations were made if Benson need to make a last second stop for a splash of fuel.

But it wasn’t needed.

With Burton on his back bumper Benson appeared out of turn four and eked it over the finish line for the 10th-place finish – the second best finish of the season.

“I don’t know how close we were, but it got us to the flag and that’s as far as it needed to go,” Benson said after the race. “We ran out of fuel at Sonoma so I guess you could say we got back even today. This was pretty awesome considering how tough this race began for us.”

The finish moved Benson into 22nd place in the driver’s point standings. It makes him the second highest scoring Pontiac trailing Ricky Craven by 44 points.

Despite what the team regard as a “frustrating season” the Valvoline Pontiac is ahead of cars fielded by some of the sport’s top teams including Richard Childress Racing, Dale Earnhardt Inc., Robert Yates Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, The Wood Brothers, Evernham Motorsports and two cars from Ganassi Racing and Petty Enterprises.

“We know we can do better and I hope this propels us for the rest of the season,” Benson said. “This sport grows tougher every year and it seems you have to fight harder and harder just to keep even.”

Ryan Newman inherited the victory after Busch ran out of gas. It was Newman’s season leading fifth victory of the season. Benson and his teammates return to action on Saturday night in Bristol Tenn.

Race Results

1. (12) Ryan Newman, Dodge, 180 - 5 bonus points

2. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 175 - 5 bonus points

3. (20) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 165

4. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 165 - 5 bonus points

5. (30) Steve Park, Chevrolet, 155

6. (31) Robby Gordon, Chevrolet, 150

7. (15) Michael Waltrip, Chevrolet, 146

8. (49) Ken Schrader, Dodge, 142

9. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 138

10. (10) Johnny Benson, Pontiac, 134

11. (99) Jeff Burton, Ford, 130

12. (38) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 127

13. (5) Terry Labonte, Chevrolet, 124

15. (9) Bill Elliott, Dodge, 118

16. (45) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 115

17. (6) Mark Martin, Ford, 112

18. (97) Kurt Busch, Ford, 114 - 5 bonus points

19. (40) Sterling Marlin, Dodge, 106

20. (25) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 103

21. (1) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 100

22. (01) Mike Skinner, Pontiac, 97

23. (88) Dale Jarrett, Ford, 99 - 5 bonus points

24. (74) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, 91

25. (77) Dave Blaney, Ford, 88

26. (7) Jimmy Spencer, Dodge, 90 - 5 bonus points

27. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 92 - 10 bonus points

28. (19) Jeremy Mayfield, Dodge, 79

29. (21) Ricky Rudd, Ford, 76

30. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 73

31. (57) Kevin Lepage, Ford, 70

32. (8) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 67

33. (43) Christian Fittipaldi, Dodge, 64

34. (37) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 61

35. (0) Jason Leffler, Pontiac, 58

36. (42) Jamie McMurray, Dodge, 55

37. (18) Bobby Labonte, Chevrolet, 57 - 5 bonus points

38. (2) Rusty Wallace, Dodge, 49

39. (50) Larry Foyt, Dodge, 46

40. (32) Ricky Craven, Pontiac, 43

41. (41) Casey Mears, Dodge, 40

42. (23) Kenny Wallace, Dodge, 37

43. (54) Todd Bodine, Ford, 34

Winner's average speed: 127.310 mph.

Time of race: 3 hours, 8 minutes, 31 seconds.

Margin of victory: 1.652 seconds.

Caution flags: 8 for 46 laps.

Lead changes: 14 among 8 drivers.

Lap leaders: B.Labonte 0; R.Newman 1-17; B.Labonte 18-20; J.Johnson 21-43;

K.Harvick 44-77; R.Newman 78-89; J.Johnson 90-108; G.Biffle 109-127; J.Johnson

128-135; K.Harvick 136-147; J.Spencer 148-149; K.Busch 150-151; D.Jarrett

152-156; K.Busch 157-197; R.Newman 198-200.

Standings

1. Matt Kenseth, 3432

2. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 3103

3. Jeff Gordon, 2971

4. Kevin Harvick, 2953

5. Michael Waltrip, 2923

6. Jimmie Johnson, 2908

7. Bobby Labonte, 2825

8. Ryan Newman, 2816

9. Kurt Busch, 2810

10. Robby Gordon, 2777

11. Tony Stewart, 2715

12. Jeff Burton, 2642

13. Terry Labonte, 2625

14. Mark Martin, 2608

15. Rusty Wallace, 2568

16. Sterling Marlin, 2479

17. Bill Elliott, 2465

18. Elliott Sadler, 2396

19. Greg Biffle, 2369

20. Ward Burton  2346

21.  Ricky Craven, 2296

22. Johnny Benson, 2252

23. Jamie McMurray, 2249

24. Joe Nemechek, 2214

25. Dave Blaney, 2179

26. Ricky Rudd, 2171

27. Dale Jarrett, 2163

28. Jimmy Spencer, 2132

29. Jeremy Mayfield, 2067

30. Todd Bodine, 1977

31. Steve Park, 1976

32. Kenny Wallace, 1941

33. Jeff Green, 1819

34. Casey Mears, 1719

35. Kyle Petty, 1627

36. Tony Raines, 1606

37. Ken Schrader, 1573

38. John Andretti, 1381

39. Jack Sprague, 1284

40. Mike Skinner, 1164

41. Larry Foyt, 875

42. Jerry Nadeau, 844

43. Mike Wallace, 771

44. Christian Fittipaldi, 539