BENSON, TEAM YELLOW EARN
 FIRST TOP-FIVE OF SEASON

A Yes We Can Attitude paid great dividends Saturday for Johnny Benson and the Yellow Transportation team as Benson finished fourth in the O’Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway.

This was Benson’s first top-five of the season.

Despite starting 39^th after encountering problems during qualifying, Benson and Team Yellow went into the event in an optimistic mood.   “We knew we had a great car as we were fast before qualifying and afterwards,” said Benson.  “We just had a problem during qualifying that forced us to start in the back.”

The quick release value fitting for the engine cooling system failed during Benson’s qualifying run. ‘We were blowing water from underneath the car,” said Benson.   “That made it really hard to get the car up to speed.  But we still felt we had a chance to have a real good day, and thanks to the crew we were able to get us a top-five finish,” added Benson.

Two caution flags during the first 15 laps enabled the Yellow Transportation crew to make several key chassis changes to the car.   And then during the third yellow flag on lap 33, crew chief Jon Wolfe decided to change only two tires.

“That was a brilliant decision,” said Benson as he vaulted from 27^th to seventh because of Wolfe’s strategy.   “Passing that many cars on pit road was the key.   It got us in position to battle for a top-five finish.”

Benson had just moved into the top five when a yellow flag was waved on lap 135 for oil from the blown engine suffered by Greg Biffle.    Benson admitted he was lucky to miss the spinning Biffle as “I couldn’t see a thing,” said Benson.   “I was right behind him, and all the oil and smoke just blinded me.  I mean I couldn’t see a thing.  I really had to call on my spotter (Marc Reno).   He guided me until I got to the point where I could at least see in front of the car.”

With several cars deciding to take on only two tires during the ensuing yellow flag, Benson dropped to 12^th.  But ten laps after the green flag waved again, Benson had moved into seventh place.

He was running sixth on lap 195 when the 200-lap event was red-flagged after an accident involving Tracy Hines, Michael Waltrip and Kasey Kahne brought out the seventh caution flag of the day.  NASCAR quickly elected to stop the race to ensure a green-flag finish.

“The red flag actually turned out to be a benefit,” said Benson, “as it allowed me to cool my tires.   And then I was able to get a great jump on the restart when the green flag came out with four laps to go.”

Benson passed two cars in the next two laps and was closing on third-place Robby Gordon when the final yellow flag of the race was waved on the final lap of the race.  “It is hard to believe that this is our first top-five of the year as well as we have run this year,” said Benson.   “Our luck just hasn’t been too good.  But today brilliant work by the Yellow Transportation team and a fortunate red flag helped us get one (a top-five finish).

“This was a big day for us point-wise, too,” added Benson, who moved into 15^th place in the race for the 2004 NASCAR Busch Series championship.  Following the race, Benson was named the Mobil 1 Command Performance Driver of the Race for the second time this year.

The next race for the Yellow Transportation team is the Pepsi 300 at Nashville (Tn.) Superspeedway on April 10.