#10 Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny
Benson believes the most exciting qualifying session of the
2003 NASCAR Winston Cup season will be a little bit more
exciting Friday night at Atlanta. The ultra-fast track will
host qualifying under the lights - something Benson says
could make the speeds even faster. In March the pole winning
speed was 191.417 mph, which is faster than Daytona,
Talladega and only trails Texas at 193.514 mph this season.
Johnny Benson On Changes In
Qualifying At Atlanta
“Going qualifying at night in
Atlanta is something we haven’t done before so you are
always a little concerned whenever you do something for the
first time. What we do know is the track will be
really, really fast, and probably pretty slippery. It will
be a wild ride.
“Atlanta is about as on the edge as
you can get when it comes to qualifying. It is so fast.
Momentum is such a huge factor. You can get a lot of
momentum through one and two but carrying that speed down
into turn three is pretty hard. Sometimes you will see
drivers out of breath when they get out of the car from just
one or two qualifying laps. That’s because it is so intense
if you get right down to it. You put everything out there.
In qualifying you have no time to relax.”
Johnny Benson On Atlanta
Qualifying:
“Those two qualifying laps at
Atlanta are the most intense a driver is going to be during
the year. It’s a wild ride. But it only last for a short
time. I’d say it would be about a 9 on the 10 scale. When
you race there assuming your car is handling well it is
about a 6 on that scale.”
The audio segment
below is Johnny Benson
discussing the upcoming race at Atlanta
Click Play to Listen
GM RACING WINSTON CUP NOTES &
QUOTES
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY; OCT. 26, 2003
Johnny Benson, driver of the No. 10 Valvoline Pontiac Grand
Prix, spoke today on several topics, including the
circumstances of his replacement as driver by Busch Series
driver Scott Riggs.
THE NEWS CAME THIS WEEK. HOW DID
YOU FIND OUT THAT SCOTT RIGGS HAD BEEN HIRED? “Well,
they told me Thursday that I wouldn’t be back with the 10
car, and that’s fine. It was one of those deals where they
wanted to make a change, and I think there are other changes
going on there at the shop with some ownership program or
something like that. I was a little surprised, but by the
same token I’m looking forward to next year. I have another
year left on my deal, but I’m still looking forward to next
year and finding a good ride.”
WHAT WERE THE CIRCUMSTANCES?
“They pretty much just said they had somebody signed to come
into the car and at that point in time they had to work on
me getting out of the car. I think they had somebody signed
when it came time to move me out. That’s cool. That’s how
the business works. Hopefully I can find something that is
going to be worthwhile. If not, I’m not sure what I’ll do.
Maybe I’ll just hang out. I want to make sure I’m in
something that’s decent. I really kind of wish they had said
something in June as opposed to now, but I can’t control
that.”
YOU WON 30 RACES AGO. IS THIS A
SURPRISE? “It is. We have 13 top-five finishes and a win
for them in the last not too long here, so I guess part of
it is a shock. But they need to run it how they see fit and
I can’t do anything about it. They decided they needed
somebody else. I guess I didn’t actually ask why, because I
can’t change it. We’ll just deal with it.”
ANYTHING IN THE FIRE AS YET?
“I’ve only had seven days to work on it. I’ve talked to a
couple of people, but there’s either people already in the
car or circumstances that have not allowed them to move
forward on different things. There again, this is awful late
for them too. It’s not the best time of year to be doing
this. I think we’ll be fine in the future, and if not, I
still have a year left on my deal and they’re working that
out right now. We’ll go on from here.”
Benson Atlanta Record
Year S F
2003 Spring 23 11
2002 Fall 25 23
2002 Spring 10 27
2001 Fall 8 23
2001 Spring 19 7
2000 Fall 21 10
2000 Spring DNQ
1999 Fall 17 39
1999 Spring 36 22
1998 Fall 40 23
1998 Spring 15 9
1997 Fall 12 10
1997 Spring 40 11
1996 Fall 16 27
1996 Spring 1 38
THE RACE: Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500
Winston Cup Race #33 of 36 for the
2003 Winston Cup season
· Race: Sunday, October 26, 2003 in
Hampton, GA
· 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 of the race scheduled for:
Wednesday, October 29th at 7:00pm/et and again on October
30th at 1:00am/et; and a full three-hour race show will
re-air at 3:00pm/et on Thursday, October 30th
· 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: $5,051,229 (was
$4,765,544 in 2002)
· 2002 Race Winner: Kurt Busch,
127..519mph, started 8th
· Track/Event Race Record: Bobby
Labonte, Nov 1997, 159.904mph
· Track/Race Length: 1.54 mile oval,
325 laps, 500.5 miles
· Pit Road Speed: 45mph
· Most Wins - Active Driver: Bobby
Labonte and Bill Elliott, 5
· Most Wins - All Time: Dale
Earnhardt, 8
· Most Poles - Active Driver: Bill
Elliott, 5
· Most Poles - All Time: Buddy Baker,
7
· Slowest Race Record: Fred Lorenzen,
1962, 101.983mph
· Oldest Winner: Morgan Shepherd, 51
years, 4 months, 27 days, 3/20/93
· Youngest Winner: Jeff Gordon, 23
years, 7 months, 8 days, 3/12/95
· Most Cautions: 11 - 11/1993
· Fewest Cautions: 1 - 7/9/1961BR>
· Most Caution Laps: 99, 11/6/1961
· Fewest Caution Laps: 7, 11/2/1986
· Most Running at the Finish: 39 - Oct
2002
· Fewest Running at the Finish: 10 -
April 1964
· Worst Starting Spot to Win: Bobby
Labonte, Nov 2001, started 39th
· Most Lead Changes: 45 - Nov 1982
· Fewest Lead Changes: 6 - 3 times,
most recently June 1963
· Practice: Friday, October 24, 3:20am
- 5:20pm/et; and Saturday, October 25th, 9:30 - 10:15am/et
· Happy Hour Practice: Saturday,
October 25th, 11:10 - 11:55am/et on TV-TNT tape delay at
12:00pm/et.
Qualifying
· Qualifying Draw: Friday, October
24th, 2:20pm/et
· First Round Qualifying: 2 laps for
positions 1-36, Friday, October 24th at 7:05pm/et, TV-Speed
Channel live, re-air at 9:00pm/et and on Oct 25th at
1:00am/et. And live via PRN radio/internet (link below) and
XM Satellite - NASCAR Radio (Subscription Required).
Track/Event Qualifying Record:
Geoffrey Bodine, Nov 1997, 197.478mph
· Last Year's Pole Sitter: none,
qualifying rained out
· March 2003's Pole Sitter: #12-Ryan
Newman, 191.417mph, finished 10th
Track Specs:
Degree of Banking: Turns: 24 degrees
Straightaways: Banking: 5 degrees;
Straights: Frontstretch - 1471 feet;
Backstretch - 1380 feet.
Grandstand Seating: 124,000
#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
