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BENSON BELIEVES DARLINGTON
HAS BECOME EVEN TOUGHER
In recent years, Darlington
Raceway has been called “The Track Too Tough To Tame.”
Johnny Benson prefers the old nickname of “The Lady In
Black,” but wonders if it now should be changed to “The
Mean Lady In Black.”
“I love Darlington because it is such a tricky place to
drive,” says Benson, driver of the Yellow Transportation
Dodge in the NASCAR Busch Series. “It is one of my
favorite places on the circuit. I just think it is going
to be even harder now.”
The reason why Benson feels this way is because of the new
safety barriers that have been added at Darlington. “I’ve
got to believe that is going to become a little bit of an
issue there,” adds Benson. “The more tracks that add the
safety barriers, the better it is for all of us. But as
high as you run there, you run basically right against the
wall, and now the wall is 24 inches further out.
“The racing groove at Darlington has always been real
narrow, and now it is even narrower. There are going to
be some guys that are going to get into the barriers
without realizing where they are on the race track.”
Benson has not run a Busch Series race at Darlington since
his championship season of 1995. But he remembers
finishing second in both races at Darlington that year.
“We had a chance to win both races,” says Benson. “And
with the record the Yellow team had last year at
Darlington, I can’t wait to get to Darlington. I think
we’ve got a chance to have a real good day – if we can
stay off the wall.”
And that is why Benson feels “racing the race track” will
become even more important this year. “Drivers always
talk about that when we run Darlington,” says Benson.
“What we mean by that is if you know you are a little
faster than the guy out ahead of you, you don’t need to
race that guy. Just keep on doing what you are doing, and
he’ll come back to you as opposed to saying ‘I’m going to
go after him.’ If you race that way at Darlington, you
are going to abuse your tires that much more. And you
can’t afford to do that at Darlington. They fall off fast
enough without you abusing them.”
Because of the new safer barriers, Benson believes “you
are probably going to enter the corners a little bit
differently.” To crew chief Jon Wolfe, that means
“we may need to change the shock and spring combination
that we ran there last year. I don’t think we will need
to make much of a change. But because of the way you may
now have to enter the corner, we may need to tweak it a
little."
“But I think we will probably go there with the same setup
we ran last year,” adds Wolfe. “We ran well in both races
in the Yellow Transportation Dodge. Unfortunately in the
fall, we didn’t get to run too long. Jamie (McMurray)
qualified second and was running second, right on (Kevin)
Harvick’s tail end, when he got in some oil and got up in
the fence. In the spring race, we finished second so we
definitely feel good about going back there. Johnny likes
Darlington, and runs well there. So we feel the Yellow
team is going to have a good day.”
Wolfe says he is glad “we are on the same tire as we ran
at Rockingham. We are taking the same car we ran at
Rockingham. We won the pole down there and ran well in
the race. So we feel pretty good about Darlington.”
Benson and Wolfe realize they need a “good finish” to
start their climb up the points ladder. With two DNFs
(did not finish) in their first three races, Benson sits a
distant 28th in the race for the Busch Series
championship.
“Luckily, it is early in the season so we have plenty of
time to catch up,” says Benson. “But we also know we have
got to start putting together some top fives and tens in
the Yellow Dodge if we are going to be in the hunt. We
can’t afford to let guys like Bobby Hamilton Jr. and David
Green get too far ahead of us.”
Harvick, who will not run the full Busch schedule, is the
early series point leader. Benson trails Harvick by 281
points. Of the drivers expecting to run all 34 Busch
Series events, Hamilton sits the highest in the point
standings after three races -- third behind Harvick and
Michael Waltrip -- with 426 points or 187 more than
Benson.
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