BENSON LOOKING FORWARD TO
FIRST BUSCH START AT CALIFORNIA

Johnny Benson hopes his first NASCAR Busch Series start at California Speedway goes as well as his first NASCAR Winston West race at the two-mile track.

 “I was fortunate enough to win a Winston West race there in my first and only try so it would be pretty neat to do the same thing in my first Busch Series race there,” says Benson. The 1-800-PitShop.com 300 is scheduled to start a few minutes past 4 p.m. (EDT) on Saturday, and the race will be televised live by FOX.

 “I really like the race track,” adds the driver of the Yellow Transportation Dodge.  “It doesn’t have as much banking as Michigan, but it widens out just as Michigan does once you get a few laps into the race."

“You usually have two and sometimes three-groove racing which is a dream for a race car driver.   You want options when you come up on somebody.  And at California, you have that.  That’s why I really look forward to running out there.”

The Yellow team plans to take the same car as it ran at Texas, and that too causes a smile to flash across Benson’s face.  “That car really ran well at Texas (as he finished fourth despite starting 39^th after encountering mechanical problems during qualifying),” says Benson.  “And we feel it will run well at California.  I feel we are going to have a good weekend."

 “Normally, you see long green flag racing at California,” adds Benson, who has competed in seven Cup events at the track.  “And that means it can turn into a fuel mileage race sometimes.  But the key to running well at California is to have the right body on the car and obviously, you need great horsepower.  Ernie Elliott has been doing a tremendous job for the Yellow team this year.  I’ve been real happy with our engines.”

Benson knows Team Yellow needs a good run at California to get back in the hunt for the 2004 Busch Series championship.  “We took a real hit (to his chances of winning a second title) at Talladega,” says Benson, the 1995 champion.  “It was just a typical Talladega weekend for me.”

With four top-10 finishes in six races, Benson entered the Talladega event in tenth place in Busch Series point standings.  But he was unable to escape the multi-car accident that every driver fears at the high-speed facility.  As a result, he finished 36^th to drop out of the top ten and fall 296 points back of leader Michael Waltrip. 

“Luckily, there are still a lot of races left (25), so the Yellow team has plenty of time to catch up,” says Benson.  “We just need another top-10 or better at California to get back on track.”