NASCAR WCUP: Johnny Besnon gets top ten finish at Rockingham

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

* Johnny Benson's sixth place finish is his best ever at North Carolina Speedway. Benson has improved that mark in three straight races here, posting a career best 14th in February 2000, an 11th in October 2000 and now a sixth. The Valvoline Grand Prix driver clinched his Busch Series championship here in October 1995, starting from the pole and finishing third.

JOHNNY BENSON, NO. 10 VALVOLINE PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

"That wasn't too bad. We started out tight and then we got it pretty good. With it being decent we hated to get too far off, so we just tried little things. I thought we were going to be good to go - maybe not to win, but I think top three. But that last set of tires got just a little tight and as they wore down they got tighter and tighter. I fell back, but it was a good run for everybody on the Valvoline Pontiac. We're real happy."

(WERE YOU CONSERVING FUEL AT THE END?) "No, I wasn't. He (James Ince) told me not to. He said to 'just go, and we'll be OK making it.' I ran as hard as I could."

(WHAT DOES THIS DO FOR YOUR OUTLOOK ON 2001?) "I'm looking forward to it. I thought that going through the winter. I thought that the last race of 2000 and I still feel that way today.

"Last year when we were here, we didn't have as good of a run as what we wanted to see. But we came back, worked on it and ran a lot better today than we did then."

(WHAT DO YOU THINK DALE EARNHARDT IS THINKING RIGHT NOW?) "I think he is probably a little sad he's not racing and not here. But in the same token, he is in a better place and had the best seat in the house to see one of his cars win."

JAMES INCE, CREW CHIEF, NO. 10 VALVOLINE PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

(ON THE LAST HALF OF THE LAST RUN) "We got in a situation there. It was close on gas for everybody, I know. I know everybody backed down a little bit. We were conserving a little bit. The car wasn't as good the last run as it had been all day. It got a little bit tighter that what we had anticipated. But all in all it wasn't a bad day for us. This isn't one of our best racetracks, so we'll take a sixth on go on to Vegas."

(WHAT ABOUT THE IMPROVEMENT JOHNNY HAS SHOWN HERE SINCE YOU TWO WERE TEAMED UP AT THE START OF LAST YEAR?) "I think we're learning. This is the first opportunity we've had to come back to these places for a second year to where we're regrouped and kind of have our eggs in a row. I look for a better performance every where we go than what we had last year."

Text Provided By Al Larsen

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