LOTS OF NEW FRIENDS OFF THE TRACK
HARD DAY ON THE TRACK AT LAS VEGAS

Johnny Benson won a lot of new fans for himself and the Yellow Transportation team last week while the team was in Las Vegas for the Sam’s Town 300.  However, things didn’t go as well on the race track for Benson and the Yellow team as multiple problems resulted in Benson finishing 34th.

“It was just one of those days that you have ever so often in this business,” said Benson. “The Yellow team will bounce back at Darlington (in the Diamond Hill Plywood Company 200 on March 20).”

A broken axle and a wheel bearing problem that the team discovered when Benson went into the garage area for repairs for the second time ended up forcing Phoenix Racing to call it a day well before the checkered flag was waved at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Handling problems and an ill-timed yellow flag had dropped Benson two laps behind the leader during the first half of the 200-lap event. But the Yellow team still had high hopes of getting back into contention. “We had made a lot of changes to the car,” said Benson. “And we felt if we could get around the leader and get one of our laps back, we could get right back in the hunt since a lot of cars were in the same situation as we were (losing a lap because of the yellow coming out before leader Matt Kenseth had pitted).”

But four laps after the green flag was waved, Benson told the crew “something broke.” It turned out be the rear axle. The Yellow team replaced the axle and decided to use the rest of the race as an experiment. “We knew we were too far behind to get a good finish, but we thought we would take advantage of the opportunity to make major changes to the car to see what we needed to run better the next time we run here,” said crew chief Jon Wolfe as the team changed the right rear shock on the car.

And after returning to the track, Benson quickly ran down and passed the car that eventually won the race (Kevin Harvick).  Five laps later, however, Benson informed the team “I’ve got a real bad vibration. We need to find out what is causing it.”

For the second time, Benson limped into the garage area to have repairs made. Wolfe quickly noted, “Whatever it is, it has just about burned up this axle.” The culprit turned out to be a bad wheel bearing forcing the team to park the Yellow Transportation Dodge. “Things didn’t turn out too well on the race track, but I had a lot of fun off it this week,” said Benson.

Three days before the race, Benson met with a number of Yellow employees at an Exact Express event and was an immediate hit. “That was a fun evening,” said Benson. “We met with a lot of nice people, and everyone seemed to have a good time when we went go-karting.”

Benson continued to add to his fan base on Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. After qualifying eighth in the Yellow Transportation Dodge, Benson surprised a lot of race fans when he sat on pit road and signed autographs and joked with them while waiting to qualify his Nextel Cup car for Phoenix Racing. As more than one fan pointed out, “you don’t see too many drivers do what Johnny did. That shows what a great guy he is.”

On Saturday morning, Benson visited the Yellow hospitality tent. “It is always nice to meet with Yellow’s consumers and race fans,” said Benson.