Benson New
Hampshire Preview:
#10
Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny Benson isn’t a political
person. But he
does have a favorite governor.
It’s the
governor of New Hampshire where the NASCAR Winston Cup
Series races this weekend. The race at New Hampshire
International Speedway is the state’s largest sporting
event.
Why does a Michigan native and North Carolina resident favor
the New Hampshire Governor?
It’s all in the name.
New Hampshire Governor Craig Benson is in his first term as
leader of the
Granite State. He and Johnny Benson met in driver
introductions when NASCAR raced at Loudon in July.
Benson hopes he can put on as good a show for Governor
Benson this year as he did last year at NHIS when he led 53
laps. He was leading Ryan Newman by a few seconds on lap 140
with rain closing in when Newman’s teammate Rusty Wallace,
who was a lap down, hit Benson sending the Valvoline Pontiac
into
a slide
and allowing Newman to take the lead and eventually win the
race. Benson finished fourth.
Benson On Favorite Governor:
“Yeah we have had a lot of fun with that. Last year when he
was running for
governor there were tons of “Benson For Governor” signs all
over the place.
Fans were coming up giving me signs and asking me if it is
me they are talking
about. I think we had a banner in our pit box.
I don’t know him really. When we were going through driver
introductions at the
last race they were all teasing me about meeting him. We
spoke and joked about the names. He seems like a nice man.
I’m sure he isn’t any relation. But the Benson name isn’t
too common. It’s kind of cool thing. If we win at New
Hampshire
then maybe I’ll move to New Hampshire and vote for him.”
“I have no desire to ever get near politics. I admire the
folks that do that,
but that just isn’t for me. I don’t know if Governor Benson
ever wanted to
drive a race car. We’d let him try if he wanted to. You know
our Governor in
North Carolina took a few laps around Lowes Motor Speedway
in May and hit the wall pretty good. It was a pretty hard
hit. So I think we’ll keep the
politicians in politics and keep the racers in race cars.”
New Hampshire
“I like the track. We had a really good run here last
year and kind of got
messed up by the team cars. We had the fastest car that day,
but that’s the way it is sometimes. I don’t know if the race
this year will be any different. The
SAFER barrier is an improvement and NASCAR and the Bahre
family deserve a lotof credit for getting them in place. I
think you will see a pretty good race.
Benson’s New Hampshire Record
Year S F
2003 First Race 26 26
2002 Second Race 2 4
2002 First Race DNS - Injuries
2001 Second Race 15 36
2001 First Race 10 12
2000 Second Race 27 11
2000 First Race 38 14
1999 Second Race 24 18
1999 First Race 27 17
1998 Second Race 38 21
1998 First Race 39 21
1997 Second Race 19 20
1997 First Race 32 18
1996 Only Race 38 9
THE RACE: SYLVANIA 300
Winston Cup Race #27 of 36 for the 2003 Winston Cup season
Race: Sunday, September 14, 2003 in Loudon, NH
TV: TNT - 1:00pm/et
Pre-Race Show: TNT - 12:30pm/et - hosted by Bill Weber
Scheduled Race Re-Air: there will be a one-hour recap of the
race on Wednesday,
September 17th at 7:00pm/et and again on September 18th at
1:00am/et; a full
three-hour race show will re-air at 3:00pm/et on Thursday,
September 18th
Announcers: Allen Bestwick, Benny Parsons, Wally Dallenbach
Pit Reporters: Bill Weber, Matt Yocum, Marty Snider, Dave
Burns
War Wagon: Bill Weber and many guests
Purse/Race Awards: $? (was $4,129,738 in 2002)
2002 Race Winner: Ryan Newman, 105.081mph, started 1st
Track Race Record: Jeff Burton, July 1997, 117.134
Event Speed Record: Jeff Gordon, Sept 1998, 112.078
Track/Race Length: 1.058 mile oval, 300 laps, 317.4 miles
Slowest Race Record: Ricky Rudd, July 1994, 87.599mph
Oldest Winner: Dale Jarrett, 44 years, 7 months, 26 days,
Sept 2001
Youngest Winner: Jeff Gordon, 23 years, 11 months, 21 days,
April 1961
Most Laps Led: Jeff Burton, Sept 2000, ALL 300 laps
Most Cautions: 17 July 1994
Fewest Cautions: 2, July 1997
Most Caution Laps: 78 July 1994
Worst Starting Spot to Win: Jeff Burton, July 1999, started
38th
Pit Road Speed: 35mph
Practice
Practice: Friday, September 12th, 11:20am - 1:20pm/et; and
Saturday, September 13th, 9:30 - 10:15am/et
Happy Hour Practice: Saturday, September 13th, 11:10 -
11:55am/et on TV-Speed Channel live.
Qualifying
Qualifying Draw: Friday, September 12th, 10:20am/et
First Round Qualifying: 2 laps for positions 1-36, Friday,
September 12th at
3:05pm/et, TV-TNT live
Track/Event Qualifying Record: Ryan Newman, Sept 2002,
132.241mph
Last Year's Pole Sitter: Ryan Newman, 132.241, finished 1st.
Track Specs:
Superspeedway: 1.058 mile oval
Turns: Banking: 12 degrees; Straights: 2 degrees
Length of Straights: Front stretch - 1500ft; Backstretch -
1500ft
Grandstand Seating: 91,000
#10 Valvoline Pontiac Team Television Information
Pit Contact: James Ince or Drew Brown
Owners: Valvoline (Jim Rocco)/MB2 Motorsports (Tom Beard,
Nelson Bowers, Read Morton)
Crew Chief/Car Chief: James Ince
Engine Builder: Hendrick Motorsports
Spotter (Race Day) Jay Guy
Spotter (Practice Only) Russell Hoekwater
Engine Tuner John Kendrach
Over The Wall Pit Crew
Front Tire Changer Rick (Fuzz) Burgdoff
Front Tire Carrier Shane Cooke
Rear Tire Changer Greg Burkhart
Rear Tire Carrier Steve Genenbacher
Gasman Jimmy Watts
Tire Specialist Skippy Johnson
Catch Can Steve Mann
Jackman Brian Perry
Other Crew Members
Truck Driver: Jerry Hess
Mechanic: David Baum
Shocks: Mike Cluka
Tires: Jeff (Skippy) Johnson
Engineer: Tim Turner
Computers & Gas Runner: John Hayes
Scorer: Terry Lane
Pit Stop Coach: Gary Smith
PR Rep: Drew Brown
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2010
Truck Schedule
|
02/12 |
Daytona - #95
S - 9th F - 8th
Led 8 laps |
|
03/06 |
Atlanta |
|
03/27 |
Martinsville - #15
S - 9th F - 5th |
|
04/02 |
Nashville |
|
05/02 |
Kansas - #15
S - 13th F - 5th
Led 7 Laps |
|
05/14 |
Dover - #15
S - 4th F - 10th |
|
05/21 |
Lowes |
|
06/04 |
Texas - #18
S - 13th F - 10th |
|
06/12 |
MIS |
|
07/11 |
Iowa |
|
07/16 |
Gateway |
|
07/23 |
Indy |
|
07/31 |
Pocono |
|
08/07 |
Nashville |
|
08/14 |
Darlington |
|
08/18 |
Bristol |
|
08/27 |
Chicagoland |
|
09/03 |
Kentucky |
|
09/18 |
Loudon |
|
09/25 |
Las Vegas |
|
10/23 |
Martinsville |
|
10/30 |
Talladega |
|
11/05 |
Texas |
|
11/12 |
Phoenix |
|
11/19 |
Homestead |
|
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2010
Nationwide
Schedule |
|
02/13 |
Daytona |
|
02/20 |
California |
|
02/27 |
Las Vegas |
|
03/20 |
Bristol |
|
04/03 |
Nashville |
|
04/09 |
Phoenix |
|
04/17 |
Texas |
|
04/24 |
Talladega |
|
04/30 |
Richmond |
|
05/07 |
Darlington |
|
05/15 |
Dover |
|
05/29 |
Lowes |
|
06/05 |
Nashville |
|
06/12 |
Kentucky |
|
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|
06/26 |
Loudon |
|
07/02 |
Daytona |
|
07/09 |
Chicago |
|
07/17 |
Gateway |
|
07/24 |
Indy |
|
07/31 |
Iowa |
|
08/07 |
Watkins Glen |
|
08/14 |
MIS |
|
08/20 |
Bristol |
|
08/29 |
Montreal |
|
09/04 |
Atlanta |
|
09/10 |
Richmond |
|
09/25 |
Dover |
|
10/02 |
Kansas |
|
10/09 |
California |
|
10/15 |
Lowes |
|
10/23 |
Gateway |
|
11/06 |
Texas |
|
11/13 |
Phoenix |
|
11/20 |
Miami |
|
|
2010
Sprint Cup
Schedule |
|
02/14 |
Daytona |
|
02/21 |
California |
|
02/28 |
Las Vegas |
|
03/07 |
Atlanta |
|
03/21 |
Bristol |
|
03/28 |
Martinsville |
|
04/10 |
Phoenix |
|
04/18 |
Texas |
|
04/25 |
Talladega |
|
05/01 |
Richmond |
|
05/08 |
Darlington |
|
05/16 |
Dover |
|
05/30 |
Lowes |
|
06/06 |
Pocono |
|
06/13 |
MIS |
|
06/20 |
Sonoma |
|
06/27 |
New Hampshire |
|
07/03 |
Daytona |
|
07/10 |
Chicago |
|
07/25 |
Indy |
|
08/01 |
Pocono |
|
08/08 |
Watkins Glen |
|
08/15 |
MIS |
|
08/21 |
Bristol |
|
09/05 |
Atlanta |
|
09/11 |
Richmond |
|
09/19 |
Loudon |
|
09/26 |
Dover |
|
10/03 |
Kansas |
|
10/10 |
California |
|
10/16 |
Lowes |
|
10/24 |
Martinsville |
|
10/31 |
Talladega |
|
11/07 |
Texas |
|
11/14 |
Phoenix |
|
11/21 |
Miami |
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