BENSON RUNS OUT OF GAS, FINISHES 21ST AT CALIFORNIA

A late-race gamble did not pay off for the Yellow Transportation team Saturday in The Stater Brothers 300 at California Speedway.

As a result, Johnny Benson finished 21st after running in the top 10 for most of the race.

Crew chief Jon Wolfe, in a move to try and win the race, decided to try and run the final 58 laps on one tank of gas. "I really thought we had a chance to run that far," said a dejected Wolfe after the race. "I knew if we were the only team that ran to the finish without stopping we would win the race. But our calculations (on the team's fuel mileage) must have been a little off."

With six laps left in the 150-lap event, Benson told Wolfe via the team radio "I am out of gas." At the time, he was halfway down the backstretch on the two-mile facility. Benson coasted into the pits. With one crewmember spraying ether into the carburetor and another adding fuel, Benson was finally able to get the car restarted. But by this time, he was a lap down.

"Trying to run the rest of the way on one tank of gas was our only chance to win the race," said Benson. "It just didn't pay off.

"We had about a tenth-place car, and that was probably where we were going to finish," added the driver of the Yellow Transportation Dodge. "It would have been nice to get another top-10 finish. But Wolfie wanted to gamble. So we did.

"The Yellow team wants to win races, and that was our only chance to do that today."

Benson did think the team learned some valuable lessons during the race that will help them when they return to California Speedway in early September. "Wolfie and the Yellow team made some real good changes to the car, and we were a lot better during the middle of the race then we were at the start," said Benson. "So we've got a good starting point for when we come back later this year."

The next race for the Yellow team is a 250-lap event at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill. on May 8. The night race will start at 8 p.m. (EDT) with the telecast beginning at 7:30 on FX.