#10 Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny
Benson wouldn’t change a thing if he had to do last
October's Martinsville NASCAR Winston Cup race all over
again. But, that doesn’t mean he hasn’t thought about it.
Benson finished second at Martinsville
last fall. In the final few laps he chose to race leader and
eventual winner Kurt Busch instead of wrecking Busch.
The 2003 season has seen several
examples of rough driving where roughing up the car you are
passing is almost the norm. Two weeks after finishing second
to Busch at Martinsville, Benson earned his first career
victory at Rockingham.
Sunday's race should prove to be just
as interesting. With no racing back to the yellow, and
NASCAR’s new rule limiting only the top running car a lap
down to get back on the lead lap at each caution should make
for some interesting racing.
Benson on Martinsville Last Year
“You know at the end of the
race I thought I had some opportunities where I thought I
would be quick enough to get by Kurt but we just ran out of
laps. At the time I didn’t want to run in to him, hit him or
spin him out. But, you know looking back with all the stuff
that has happened this year with people taking each other
out for the lead, and how knocking each other out of the way
is accepted; I say to myself ‘Man, I wish I could go back
and relive all that.’
But the more I think about it the more
I think I still did it right and we waited to Rockingham to
win the race clean. I’ll just live with that.
“If I would have tried Kurt on the
outside a little earlier it might have been different. Who
knows? If there were 10 or 15 laps left in the race it might
have been different. I did everything I knew how to do. We
raced clean and he finished first. Like I said maybe another
ten or fifteen laps and things might have been different.”
Benson on Martinsville This Year
“Martinsville has always been
a fun place to race but going back there with all the
beating and banging with the new rules that says you can’t
race back to the start finish line will make it really
interesting to see how it unfolds. No matter what rules you
create, Martinsville will always be about beating, banging
and bumping and this weekend will probably be not
different."
Benson On Liking Martinsville After
Success:
“It’s still a place I don’t
particularly care for but it is a bit better. They cut the
track on the inside and that made it a little better to race
with. Before they did that, all of us just raced on
the bottom and knocked whoever was in front of you out of
the way. Now once the race gets going you can kind of use
two grooves there. I mean I love watch the races there and
if I were a fan I’d buy a ticket. It’s just my driving
style doesn’t really go with Martinsville. When I was
growing up we had to pay for everything we wrecked so
wrecking a race car meant you had a lighter wallet.”
Key To Martinsville Success:
“Wish I knew. I guess it’s not
to tear your car up and stay on the lead lap so you can get
yourself in position at the end. You also have to listen to
your crew chief. The driver spends a lot of time starting at
the bumpers in front of him. The Crew Chief knows what’s
going on. If he says pit I pit and if he says stay out I
stay out.”
The audio segment
below is Johnny Benson
discussing the upcoming race at Martinsville
Click Play to Listen
The audio segment
below is Johnny Benson
discussing the close racing with Kurt Busch in 2002
Click Play to Listen
Benson Career At Martinsville
Race Year S F
Spring 2003 28 32
Fall 2002 11 2
Spring 2002 39 19
Fall 2001 5 6
Spring 2001 26 20
Fall 2000 33 19
Spring 2000 25 16
Fall 1999 40 28
Spring 1999 40 35
Fall 1998 24 9
Spring 1998 37 38
Fall 1997 26 19
Spring 1997 22 17
Fall 1996 22 17
Spring 1996 18 25
THE RACE: Subway 500
Winston Cup Race #32 of 36 for the
2003 Winston Cup season
Race: Sunday, October 19, 2003 in
Martinsville, VA
TV: NBC - 12:30pm/et
Pre-Race Show: NBC - 12:00pm/et -
hosted by Bill Weber
Scheduled Race Re-Air: on Speed
Channel a one-hour recap [ scheduled for: Wednesday,
October 22nd at 7:00pm/et and again on October 23rd at
1:00am/et; and a full three-hour race show will re-air at
3:00pm/et on Thursday, October 23rd
Announcers: Allen Bestwick, Benny
Parsons, Wally Dallenbach
Pit Reporters: Bill Weber, Matt Yocum,
Marty Snider, Dave Burns
War Wagon: Bill Weber and many guests
NASCAR on TV
Purse/Race Awards: was $3,657,565 in
2002
2002 Race Winner: Kurt Busch,
74.651mph, started 36th
Track/Event Race Record: Jeff Gordon,
Sept 1996, 82.223mph
Track/Race Length: 0.526 mile oval,
500 laps, 263 miles
Pit Road Speed: 35mph
Most Wins - Active Driver: Rusty
Wallace, 6
Most Wins - All Time: Richard Petty,
15
Most Poles - Active Driver: Ricky
Rudd, 4
Most Poles - All Time: Darrell
Waltrip, 8
Slowest Race Record: Lee Petty, 1959,
59.440mph
Oldest Winner: Harry Gant, 51 years, 8
months, 12 days, 9/22/91
Youngest Winner: Richard Petty, 22
years, 9 months, 8 days, 4/10/60
Most Cautions: 18 - Oct 2000
Fewest Cautions: 1 - 3 times, most
recent;y, 4/25/71
Most Caution Laps: 111, 4/9/2000
Fewest Caution Laps: 3, 4/25/71
Most Running at the Finish: 42 - April
1999
Fewest Running at the Finish: 4 - May
1951
Worst Starting Spot to Win: Kurt
Busch, Oct 2002, started 36th
Most Lead Changes: 25 - Sept 1980
Fewest Lead Changes: 1 - 3 times, most
recently April 1961
Practice: Friday, October 17th,
11:20am - 1:20pm/et; and Saturday, October 18th, 9:30 -
10:15am/et
Happy Hour Practice: Saturday, October
18th, 11:10 - 11:55am/et on TV-Speed Channel tape delay at
6:00pm/et.
Qualifying: Friday, October 17th
at 3:05pm/et, TV-Speed Channel live, re-air at 8:00pm/et and
on Oct 18th at 1:00am/et. And live via MRN radio/internet
NASCAR Online will have live
lap-by-lap coverage of Cup qualifying via the web (NOTE:
this is a paid subscription service).
Track Qualifying Record: Tony Stewart,
Sept 2000, 95.371mph
Event Qualifying Record: Tony Stewart,
Apr 1999, 95.275mph
Last Year's Pole Sitter: #12-Ryan
Newman, 92.837, finished 15th
April 2003's Pole Sitter: #24-Jeff
Gordon, 94.307, finished 1st
Track Specs:
Degree of Banking: Turns: 12 degrees
Straightaways: Banking: 0 degrees(flat)
Straights: 800 feet
Grandstand Seating: 91,000
Pit Stalls: 43 pits, 14-feet wide by
28-feet long
#10 Valvoline Pontiac Team Television
Information
Pit Contact: Jay Guy or Drew Brown
Owners: Valvoline (Jim Rocco)/MB2
Motorsports (Tom Beard, Nelson Bowers, Read Morton)
Crew Chief/Car Chief: Jay Guy
Engine Builder: Hendrick Motorsports
Spotter (Race Day) Keith Barnwell
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
