Darlington Raceway is known as “The Track
Too Tough To Tame”. On Sunday, some of the
rookie competitors were tougher than the old track.
That was true for #10 Valvoline
Pontiac driver Johnny Benson.
Benson followed Jeff Gordon into the
turn three on lap 165 running about 15th. Following the
six-time Southern 500 winner is normally a fairly safe
position as Benson bided his time approaching the half-way
mark in the 367-lap race.
But Casey Mears, who was a lap down,
drove into the side of Gordon triggering a multi-car melee
that ended up damaging the cars of Gordon, Benson, Ken
Schrader, Dave Blaney and Kenny Wallace .
“I saw Casey wreck Gordon and got on
the brakes thinking we were going to be OK, but then all of
a sudden I got hit from behind pretty good,” Benson said.
The Valvoline Pontiac got up on two
wheels and was fairly close to flipping over before landing
right side up. Benson was fortunate the wreck was no worse
but the damage was too great to continue racing.
Benson ended the race in 40th place.
“That’s disappointing,” Benson said.
“There really wasn’t any need for that wreck. It looked like
Casey just turned right into Jeff. We were decent. A lot
better than what we were showing that early in the race. But
that’s Darlington.”
Earlier in the race, rookies Christian
Fittapaldi and Jason Leffle trigged a multi-car wreck that
took out several cars in a wreck similar to Benson’s.
While the rookies struggled it was
veteran Terry Labonte who led the final 33 laps to win for
the first time since 1999. Labonte’s won his first race at
Darlington in 1978.
Benson and his teammates return to
action at Richmond Saturday night.
Race Results
1. (5) Terry Labonte, Chevrolet, 180 -
5 bonus points
2. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 175
- 5 bonus points
3. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 170
- 5 bonus points
4. (42) Jamie McMurray, Dodge, 165 - 5
bonus points
5. (9) Bill Elliott, Dodge, 155
6. (19) Jeremy Mayfield, Dodge, 150
7. (18) Bobby Labonte, Chevrolet, 146
8. (32) Ricky Craven, Pontiac, 142
9. (38) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 138
10. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 139 - 5
bonus points
11. (99) Jeff Burton, Ford, 135 - 5
bonus points
12. (20) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 127
13. (97) Kurt Busch, Ford, 124
14. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 126 - 5
bonus points
15. (4) Kevin Lepage, Pontiac, 123 - 5
bonus points
16. (21) Ricky Rudd, Ford, 120 - 5
bonus points
17. (54) Todd Bodine, Ford, 112
18. (1) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 109
19. (22) Ward Burton, Dodge, 106
20. (30) Steve Park, Chevrolet, 103
21. (25) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 100
22. (7) Jimmy Spencer, Dodge, 102 - 5
bonus points
23. (12) Ryan Newman, Dodge, 104 - 10
bonus points
24. (23) Kenny Wallace, Dodge, 91
25. (8) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet,
88
26. (0) Jason Leffler, Pontiac, 85
27. (45) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 87 - 5
bonus points
28. (31) Robby Gordon, Chevrolet, 79
29. (01) Mike Skinner, Pontiac, 76
30. (77) Dave Blaney, Ford, 73
31. (40) Sterling Marlin, Dodge, 70
32. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 67
33. (6) Mark Martin, Ford, 64
34. (88) Dale Jarrett, Ford, 61
35. (41) Casey Mears, Dodge, 58
36. (2) Rusty Wallace, Dodge, 55
37. (15) Michael Waltrip, Chevrolet,
52
38. (49) Ken Schrader, Dodge, 49
39. (37) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 46
40. (10) Johnny Benson, Pontiac, 43
41. (02) Hermie Sadler, Pontiac, 40
42. (74) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, 37
43. (43) Christian Fittipaldi, Dodge,
34
Unofficial Points
1. Matt Kenseth, 3718
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 3329
3. Kevin Harvick, 3303
4. Jimmie Johnson, 3233
5. Jeff Gordon, 3127
6. Kurt Busch, 3114
7. Ryan Newman, 3075
8. Bobby Labonte, 3053
9. Michael Waltrip, 3012
10. Tony Stewart, 2936
11. Terry Labonte, 2935
12. Robby Gordon, 2914
13. Jeff Burton, 2844
14. Bill Elliott, 2735
15. Mark Martin, 2732
16. Sterling Marlin, 2666
17. Rusty Wallace, 2657
18. Greg Biffle, 2605
19. Elliott Sadler, 2583
20. Ricky Craven, 2580
21. Jamie McMurray, 2579
22. Ward Burton, 2576
23. Joe Nemechek, 2420
24. Johnny Benson, 2416
25. Dale Jarrett, 2370
26. Ricky Rudd, 2355
27. Jeremy Mayfield, 2351
28. Dave Blaney, 2325
29. Jimmy Spencer, 2234
30. Steve Park, 2155
31. Kenny Wallace, 2150
32. Todd Bodine, 2141
33. Jeff Green, 1976
34. Casey Mears, 1877
35. Kyle Petty, 1775
36. Ken Schrader, 1749
37. Tony Raines, 1746
38. John Andretti, 1381
39. Mike Skinner, 1354
40. Jack Sprague, 1284
41. Larry Foyt, 921
42. Jerry Nadeau, 844
43. Mike Wallace, 771
44. Christian Fittipaldi, 613
45. Derrike Cope, 549
46. Brett Bodine, 308
47. Jason Leffler, 292
48. Kevin Lepage, 266
49. Johnny Sauter, 240
50. Scott Pruett, 236
