2003 Johnny Benson Fan Club -

Benson Kansas Preview

The audio segment below is Johnny Benson
discussing the upcoming race at Kansas Speedway

Click Play to Listen

#10 Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny Benson can’t wait to get to Kansas Speedway. Especially after the way his luck continued Sunday at Talladega where Benson was caught up in a lap 10 multi-car wreck ruining his day. In April at Talladega the same thing happened on lap 3.

Benson knows he’s less likely to endure that kind of problem at Kansas where the field is more spread out than Talladega and isn’t at the mercy of other driver’s problems. Benson and his Valvoline team tested at Kansas Speedway last week.

Benson On Going To Kansas?
“Hey I’d be glad to go race a road course this weekend as long as we could get away from Talladega with the luck we have had at that place this season. But Kansas is a good place to go after Talladega. We have run a lot better there than our results have shown. But our luck hasn’t been all that good at Kansas. The first year we were second when we blew up then we were running good until we got in a wreck in the final laps last year. If we can get to the finish then we will be fine. Our plan is to get a good run there and then we won’t even remember Talladega.”

Do You Like Kansas?
“It’s the type of track I like and (Crew Chief) James (Ince) gave us a really good setup the first two years there. James is from Springfield, Missouri which isn’t that far from Kansas Speedway so maybe all of us are motivated a little extra to do well in front of James’s family and friends. We know we have a lot of support in Kansas.”

Kansas Testing:
“We used our final test of the year there last week. We tried some things that worked and some things that didn’t work. I don’t know if we left there thinking we had the place figured out, but we left with an idea of what we want to do as far as race setup and that kind of stuff so you could say it was a successful test.”

Do You Like The New Yellow Flag Rule?
“It seems to be working pretty well. Everyone is doing a good job of slowing down after the yellow and that makes it safer. I think NASCAR has figured it out pretty good. I don’t mind if we give the lapped cars their lap back. I think it will be fine the rest of the year. I mean if there wasn’t problems in Talladega where everyone is side-by-side when the yellow comes out then I doubt there will be too many problems at the rest of the races.”

Benson Kansas Record

Year S F

2002 25 24

2001 6 37

THE RACE: Banquet 400

Winston Cup Race #30 of 36 for the 2003 Winston Cup season

Race: Sunday, October 5, 2003 in Kansas, KS

TV: NBC - 2:00pm/et

Pre-Race Show: NBC - 1:30pm/et - hosted by Bill Weber

Scheduled Race Re-Air: there will be a one-hour recap of the race scheduled for: Wednesday, October 8th at 7:00pm/et and again on October 9th at 1:00am/et;

There is NO full race re-air scheduled on Speed Channel on Thursday, October 9th.

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 $4,601,173 in 2002)

2002 Race Winner: Jeff Gordon, 119.394mph, started 10th

Track/Event Race Record: Jeff Gordon,, Sept 2002, 119.394mph

Track/Race Length: 1.5 mile oval, 267 laps, 400.5 miles

Slowest Race Record: Jeff Gordon, Sept 2001, 110.576mph

Most Wins: 2 - Jeff Gordon

Most Top 5s: 2 - Jeff Gordon [both wins], Ryan Newman, Rusty Wallace

Most Top 10s: 2 - Jeff Gordon [both wins], Ryan Newman, Rusty Wallace, Tony

Stewart

Oldest Winner: Jeff Gordon, 31 years, 1 months, 25 days, Sept 2002

Youngest Winner: Jeff Gordon, 30 years, 1 months, 26 days, Sept 2001

Most Cautions: 13 - Sept 2001

Fewest Cautions: 11 - Sept 2002

Most Caution Laps: 70, Sept 2001

Fewest Caution Laps: 52, Sept 2002

Most Running at the Finish: 30 - Sept 2001

Fewest Running at the Finish: 27 - Sept 2002

Worst Starting Spot to Win: Jeff Gordon, Sept 2002, started 10th

Most Lead Changes: 19 - Sept 2001

Fewest Lead Changes: 13 - Sept 2002

Pit Road Speed: 45mph

Practice: Friday, October 3rd, 12:20 - 2:20pm/et; and Saturday, October 4th, 10:30 - 11:15am/et

Happy Hour Practice: Saturday, October 4th, 12:10 - 12:55pm/et on TV-Speed Channel live.

Qualifying Draw: Friday, October 3rd, 11:20am/et

First Round Qualifying: 2 laps for positions 1-36, Friday, October 3rd at 4:05pm/et, TV-Speed Channel tape delay at 8:00pm/et and re-aired at 1:00am/et on Saturday, October 4th. And live via MRN radio Track/Event Qualifying Record: Dale Earnhardt Jr., September 2002, 177.924mph

Last Year's Pole Sitter: Dale Earnhardt Jr., 177.924mph, finished 6th.

Track Specs:

Superspeedway: 1.5-mile quad-oval

Banking: turns: 15 degrees; frontstretch: 10.4 degrees; backstretch: 5 degrees

Straights: Frontstretch - 2,721 feet; Backstretch - 2,207 feet

Attendence: 75,000

#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