A Promising day turned frustrating for the #10 Valvoline Pontiac team on Monday at Atlanta Motor Speedway when a late pit stop dropped driver Johnny Benson to a 24th-place finish.

"That seems kind of how things have gone of late," Benson said after the race. "But we ran well today. Nobody on this team has given up. We have run well at Kansas, Charlotte and here at Atlanta but we don't have the finishes yet. We have three more races and all of us would like to go out on a positive note."

After rained stopped the race with just 32 laps complete on Sunday, the NASCAR Winston Cup Series returned to the track Monday on a cold and blustery day to finish the rest of the 323-lap race.

Benson started Monday's green flag segment in 25th place - five spots better than he started on Sunday.  With the rubber washed off the track, many cars including the Valvoline Pontiac struggled with handling problems. Kevin LePage and Benson collided on the backstretch after Michael Waltrip lost control triggering an accident that eliminated Todd Bodine and damaged Benson's left front fender.

"I was following (LePeage) and he just slammed on the brakes coming off two and there was nothing I could do. I'm sorry that happened," Benson told the crew on the team radio.

Benson pitted to repair the damage and returned to the race track in 37th place. Leader Tony Stewart set off on a blistering pace and lapped Benson on lap 98. Stewart then pitted immediately after passing Benson. In turn four Ricky Rudd spun bringing out a yellow allowing Benson to remain on the lead lap. After pitting he restarted the race in 8th.

"You could say we got lucky there but that was (crew chief) Jay Guy's strategy to hang out a few laps after the leaders pitted hoping we could get that yellow. And, we did. So yeah, it was luck but it was also part strategy."  Benson spent the next segment running in the top ten.

"Our tires take a long time to come in, once they come in we are OK," Benson said on the radio. When Benson was on a good set of tires he was one of the top ten on the track.  When he didn't he suffered.  Toward the end of the race Benson dropped back to about 15th and it appeared he would finish about there, but a late race unscheduled pit stop for a vibration around lap 303 relegated Benson back to 24th.  "That just kind of killed us," he said. "But it was something we had to do." 

Jeff Gordon edge Tony Stewart to earn his second consecutive victory. But the checkered flag wasn't the end of Benson's and the crew's day. After flying back to Charlotte Monday afternoon, crew members went home, repacked their suitcases and left Monday evening for a two-day tire test at the newly reconfigured track in Homestead, Fla.  Then the team flies to Phoenix on Thursday.

Results

1. (19) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 325, $249,978.

2. (24) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 325, $207,678.

3. (9) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 325, $122,800.

4. (5) Bill Elliott, Dodge, 325, $133,833.

5. (2) Bobby Labonte, Chevrolet, 325, $133,383.

6. (3) Dale Earnhardt Jr, Chevrolet, 325, $121,692.

7. (15) Jeremy Mayfield, Dodge, 325, $89,200.

8. (17) Kurt Busch, Ford, 325, $110,475.

9. (22) Jimmy Spencer, Dodge, 325, $92,450.

10. (8) Joe Nemechek, Pontiac, 325, $92,225.

11. (37) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 325, $95,825.

12. (31) Dale Jarrett, Ford, 325, $115,403.

13. (29) Ward Burton, Pontiac, 325, $74,125.

14. (12) Kevin Lepage, Pontiac, 325, $78,550.

15. (18) Jamie McMurray #, Dodge, 324, $74,400.

16. (40) Sterling Marlin, Dodge, 324, $111,150.

17. (6) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 324, $105,300.

18. (33) Tony Raines #, Chevrolet, 324, $70,550.

19. (21) Rusty Wallace, Dodge, 324, $104,692.

20. (10) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 324, $110,753.

21. (16) Robby Gordon, Chevrolet, 324, $94,712.

22. (11) John Andretti, Chevrolet, 324, $94,062.

23. (38) Jeff Burton, Ford, 324, $102,442.

24. (30) Johnny Benson, Pontiac, 323, $94,475.

25. (25) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 323, $75,725.

26. (43) Ken Schrader, Dodge, 323, $67,025.

27. (36) Bobby Hamilton Jr., Ford, 323, $63,575.

28. (14) Casey Mears #, Dodge, 321, $82,864.

29. (1) Ryan Newman, Dodge, 320, accident, $107,900.

30. (28) Kenny Wallace, Dodge, 320, $66,585.

31. (42) Ricky Rudd, Ford, 319, $73,425.

32. (41) Scott Wimmer, Dodge, 316, $98,801.

33. (32) Terry Labonte, Chevrolet, 316, $89,531.

34. (27) Greg Biffle #, Ford, 314, transmission, $62,425.

35. (26) Ricky Craven, Pontiac, 222, accident, $70,300.

36. (20) Steve Park, Chevrolet, 221, accident, $70,225.

37. (35) Dave Blaney, Ford, 201, accident, $70,100.

38. (13) Michael Waltrip, Chevrolet, 170, engine failure, $80,050.

39. (39) Mark Martin, Ford, 159, engine failure, $95,833.

40. (23) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 132, engine failure, $61,950.

41. (34) Hermie Sadler, Chevrolet, 77, accident, $61,900.

42. (7) Todd Bodine, Ford, 44, accident, $61,850.

43. (4) Brian Vickers, Chevrolet, 18, engine failure, $62,059.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 127.769 mph.

Time of Race: 3 hours, 55 minutes, 2 seconds.

Margin of Victory: Under Caution.

Caution Flags: 10 for 63 laps.

Lead Changes: 28 among 12 drivers.

Lap Leaders: R. Newman 1-12; K. Harvick 13-33; D. Earnhardt Jr 34; E. Sadler

35; K. Harvick 36-55; B. Labonte 56-61; T. Stewart 62-99; D. Earnhardt Jr

100-101; K. Busch 102-104; D. Earnhardt Jr 105-128; T. Stewart 129-152; D.

Earnhardt Jr 153; T. Stewart 154-200; B. Labonte 201; J. Spencer 202-203; J.

Gordon 204-205; B. Labonte 206-224; J. Gordon 225-231; B. Labonte 232-239; D.

Earnhardt Jr 240-243; B. Labonte 244-274; J. Gordon 275; B. Labonte 276; J.

Gordon 277-285; J. Johnson 286; R. Newman 287; K. Lepage 288; T. Raines # 289;

J. Gordon 290-325.

Winston Cup standings

1 Matt Kenseth 4678

2 Dale Earnhardt 4420

3 Kevin Harvick 4416

4 Jimmie Johnson 4412

5 Jeff Gordon 4382

6 Ryan Newman 4248

7 Tony Stewart 4151

8 Bobby Labonte 4000

9 Bill Elliott 3845

10 Terry Labonte 3836

11 Kurt Busch 3813

12 Jeff Burton 3700

13 Rusty Wallace 3693

14 Michael Waltrip 3687

15 Jamie McMurray 3642

16 Robby Gordon 3613

17 Mark Martin 3531

18 Greg Biffle 3396

19 Jeremy Mayfield 3377

20 Ward Burton 3354

21 Sterling Marlin 3347

22 Ricky Rudd 3296

23 Elliott Sadler 3222

24 Ricky Craven 3158

25 Joe Nemechek 3156

26 Dale Jarrett 3148

27 Johnny Benson 3107

28 Dave Blaney 2942

29 Jimmy Spencer 2933

30 Kenny Wallace 2806

31 Steve Park 2710

32 Todd Bodine 2634

33 Jeff Green 2455

34 Casey Mears 2452

35 Tony Raines 2392

36 Ken Schrader 2314

37 Kyle Petty 2289

38 John Andretti 2154

39 Mike Skinner 1914

40 Jack Sprague 1284

41 Mike Wallace 1104

42 Larry Foyt 955

43 Christian Fittipaldi 857