Benson 19th In Daytona 500
Benson 19th In Daytona 500 #10 Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny Benson’s 19th-place finish in the rain-shortened Daytona 500 on Sunday might not garner headlines or capture the attention of a lot of Nascar Winston Cup fans. But when you consider all the obstacles his Valvoline Racing team overcame during its almost two-week stint in Daytona Beach, Fla. the finish is more than respectable. Benson and his teammates finished in the top half of the field in a backup car that saw less than 90-minutes of practice on Saturday. It also came after starting in the back of the 43-car field Sunday and overcoming an early fuel vent problem. “You know that might not look all that great on paper,” Benson said of Sunday’s finish. “But if you knew how hard these guys worked and the obstacles they overcame just to finish this race is pretty impressive. We could have given up when we had to race our backup car but we never did. We never gave up. We earned some points today and we can go on to Rockingham without a torn-up race car like we’ve had here before.” Benson began Sunday’s race in the rear of the field because of a practice crash on Friday that forced him into the backup car. Nascar rules mandate anyone in a backup car must start at the rear of the field. When the green flag dropped Benson remained near the back of the field as cars raced three and sometimes four abreast on the highbanks. “We started to go up through the field there and things got pretty wild,” Benson said. “It was early and we were biding our time.” The crew discovered a fuel vent problem on the first pit stop and spent the next stop making the repairs. Once the problem was fixed Benson joined the rest of the field alternating between two and four-tire stops with occasional gas-only stops. Things got interesting quickly. On Lap 58, Ryan Newman took a scary ride, flipping over and over through the infield grass in an incident that began off Turn 4 when Ken Schrader got contact from behind from Ward Burton, bounced off the wall and turned back into Newman's Dodge. Newman was not injured. Under the yellow the rain began to fall and delayed action more than an hour. When the race restarted leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. needed a push start from a safety truck because of a bad battery. The problem forced him to make an unscheduled pit stop on lap 88. The field began to scramble with Earnhardt falling out of the lead and the half-way mark approaching as quickly as the storm clouds off turn two. Then Jeff Green lost a tire and spun, knocking Jimmy Spencer into the wall with him. Jimmie Johnson took the lead when the race restarted and held it through lap 106 when Michael Waltrip used the drafting help of the lapped car of Earnhardt’ s to drive past Johnson and take the lead. Benson used a two-tire stop to jump up in the field and held on against the cars with four new tires. Ward Burton crashed and by lap 109 the rain had returned. Rain throughout the late afternoon eventually forced Nascar to cancel the race and declare Waltrip the winner and credit Benson with a 19th place finish. Counting last year's Pepsi 400, Waltrip has three victories in the last five races at Daytona International Speedway. Those are the only ones in his 535 career starts. “That’s cool for Mikey,” Benson said. “I’m sure he will enjoy it. He has Daytona figured out.” Benson and his teammates now move on to the North Carolina Motor Speedway next Sunday where he earned his first career victory in November. “Daytona and Talladega are unlike all the other tracks we race,” Benson said. “Daytona is fun, it has tradition but the season really starts next weekend in Rockingham. If you do well at tracks like Rockingham you will do well in the points.” Sunday's Daytona 500 results Results from Sunday's rain-shortened Daytona 500 NASCAR Winston Cup race at Daytona International Speedway: 1. (4) Michael Waltrip, Chevrolet, 109, $1,410,706. 2. (36) Kurt Busch, Ford, 109, $1,022,451. 3. (10) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 109, $702,876. 4. (31) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 109, $564,980. 5. (26) Mark Martin, Ford, 109, $439,959. 6. (3) Robby Gordon, Chevrolet, 109, $359,026. 7. (8) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 109, $310,804. 8. (20) Jeremy Mayfield, Dodge, 109, $240,376. 9. (18) Mike Wallace, Dodge, 109, $215,401. 10. (11) Dale Jarrett, Ford, 109, $240,670. 11. (9) Jeff Burton, Ford, 109, $230,537. 12. (13) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 109, $233,998. 13. (30) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 109, $193,526. 14. (24) Jack Sprague, Pontiac, 109, $180,251. 15. (5) Ricky Rudd, Ford, 109, $215,945. 16. (21) Kenny Wallace, Dodge, 109, $179,770. 17. (7) Sterling Marlin, Dodge, 109, $223,012. 18. (6) Todd Bodine, Ford, 109, $190,401. 19. (40) Johnny Benson, Pontiac, 109, $203,970. 20. (35) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 109, $195,695. 21. (27) Greg Biffle, Ford, 109, $172,845. 22. (15) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 109, $175,945. 23. (16) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 109, $185,001. 24. (39) Dave Blaney, Ford, 109, $196,026. 25. (38) Rusty Wallace, Dodge, 109, $185,625. 26. (25) Ricky Craven, Pontiac, 109, $181,220. 27. (29) Casey Mears, Dodge, 109, $190,270. 28. (42) Jerry Nadeau, Pontiac, 109, $180,265. 29. (32) Steve Park, Chevrolet, 109, $196,995. 30. (41) Terry Labonte, Chevrolet, 109, $198,703. 31. (19) Jamie McMurray, Dodge, 109, $166,545. 32. (14) Bill Elliott, Dodge, 109, $204,057. 33. (33) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, 109, $167,201. 34. (12) John Andretti, Dodge, 108, $203,164. 35. (34) Christian Fittipaldi, Chevrolet, 108, $173,206. 36. (2) Dale Earnhardt Jr, Chevrolet, 108, $215,976. 37. (43) Mike Skinner, Pontiac, 108, $163,220. 38. (17) Ward Burton, Dodge, 105, crash, $206,045. 39. (1) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 94, crash, $198,070. 40. (23) Jimmy Spencer, Dodge, 94, crash, $161,970. 41. (22) Bobby Labonte, Chevrolet, 81, $198,179. 42. (28) Ken Schrader, Dodge, 57, crash, $161,826. 43. (37) Ryan Newman, Dodge, 56, crash, $169,138. Time of race: 2 hours, 2 minutes, 8 seconds. Margin of victory: Under Caution. Winner's average speed: 133.870 mph. Caution flags: Five for 23 laps. Lead changes: Eleven among 8 drivers. Lap leaders: Green 0; Waltrip 1-34; Kenseth 35-36; Stewart 37-42; Earnhardt Jr. 43-64; Mears 65; M.Waltrip 66-95; Johnson 96; Bodine 97; Craven 98; Johnson 99-105; Waltrip 106-109. Point standings: 1. Waltrip, 185. 2. Busch, 170. 3. Johnson, 170. 4. Harvick, 160. 5. Martin, 155. 6. Stewart, 151. 7. R.Gordon, 150. 8. Mayfield, 142. 9. M.Wallace, 138. 10. Jarrett, 134. ### Drew Brown drewbrown@bellsouth.net 704-650-0428 cell 704-895-3651 home
