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BENSON PRAISES CREW;
OVERHEATING ENGINE ENDS EVENING
The Yellow Transportation team
worked overtime to keep Johnny Benson in position to try
and win Saturday night’s Charter 250 at Gateway
International Raceway.
But an overheating engine ended Benson’s evening on lap
132 of the 200-lap event. As a result, Benson finished
29th.
Despite the disappointing finish, Benson had nothing but
praise for the Yellow team. “The boys really lived up to
the Yellow Yes We Can motto tonight,” said Benson. “And
despite all our problems, we were still in good shape
until the engine got up to 250 degrees. I knew it was not
going to last at those temperatures.”
The problems began early in the race when on lap 15 Benson told crew chief
Jon Wolfe via the team radio “the whole shifter fell
off. I’ve got the shifter in my hand. It came off the
transmission.”
Seven laps later the yellow flag came out allowing the
crew to try and get the shifter back in place. Benson
made two long stops during the caution period as car chief
Chuck Myers climbed inside the car to try and get the
shifter back in place. Even though Myers wasn’t able to
get the problem fixed during this yellow, he and the rest
of the crew were confident they could get the job done
during the next caution period.
And even though Benson was forced to run in high gear
only, he was still able to move up from his 37th
starting position. By lap 57, he was 20th.
Six laps later, the yellow flag was waving again and this
time Myers was able to get the shifter back in place.
But as quickly as the Yellow team thought they had fixed
their major problem, another one popped on the scene when
on the restart several cars slowed dramatically right in
front of Benson as they tried to avoid a car that made
missed a shift. Benson was left with nowhere to go but
slam into the back of Mark Green. The contact bent in the
nose on the Yellow Dodge.
Again, the Yellow crew went to work to try and fix the
damage. During the next two caution periods, Benson
again made repeated stops. And the Yellow team was able
to fix most of the damaged grill and nose area.
By the halfway point of the race, Benson had raced all the
way up to 18th. “We had a good car,” said
Benson. “Even with everything else that was going on,
they were able to make several real good changes to the
car to help its handling. And I really thought we were
still going to have a good day. But the water temperature
kept climbing and climbing. And when it got to 250
(degrees), I knew our chances of making it to the end
weren’t very good. But we kept after it in hopes it
might last. But it didn’t.
“But I can’t say enough about the Yellow team,” added
Benson. “The entire crew deserves a big pat on the
back. They did everything they could do to keep us in the
hunt.”
The next race for the Yellow team is the Funai 250 at
Richmond (Va.) International Raceway on May 14th . |
