NASCAR WCUP: Talladega 500 Post Race Notes, Johnny Benson

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

April 22, 2001

JOHNNY BENSON, NO. 10 VALVOLINE PONTIAC GRAND PRIX (7th):

(ON RUNNING IN THE BACK MOST OF THE DAY TO HOPEFULLY HAVE A CHANCE AT THE WIN) "That's what our goal was and it worked out pretty good. I thought we were going to have a shot at it right there at the end, but it was just too difficult to do anything. I just wanted to make sure I didn't come off the bottom and that's what we did, and ended up seventh."

(HOW ABOUT RUNNING CAUTION-FREE TODAY?) "It's perfect. You can't get any better than that."

(ANY THOUGHTS ON THE RULE CHANGE TO THE FORD FOR THIS RACE?) "Well, I guess they didn't win, so I'm sure they'll be screaming for more."

(WERE YOU SHORT OF HELP AT THE END OF THE RACE?) "I had all the help in the world, but they were all on the outside and I wasn't going to go to the outside. I was going to stay in the bottom groove, no matter what. I didn't want to get shoved out. We lost four spots for it, but it's not that often that the outside wins."

(DID YOUR SCRIPT WORK OUT FOR YOU TODAY?) "It worked out perfect - with the exception of six spots - but, we couldn't have planned it any better. That was our game plan. We were worried about getting back to the front. But, we watched a couple guys do it early on and it looked like it only took them eight or 10 laps to get there. It took us 12, so we were pretty happy."

(ON THE LAST FEW LAPS) "I was trying to get around [Kurt Busch], but he was wanting the bottom, too. He was just too loose to do it. I just stayed there. I wasn't going to come off the bottom. I had something for them if they hadn't been two-wide. Once they got two-wide - especially beside me - I was pretty much stuck because they were slowing Mark [Martin] up, and if Mark could have stayed with me, we had a shot at her. But it didn't work out that way. They got beside him and it slowed him down. They got beside me and I couldn't do anything. We were starting pretty good. Everybody was sliding around really bad - the last eight laps, especially - because everybody was right on your tail trying to push you. The last thing I wanted to do was wreck, too, so I wasn't going to do anything bold. "I had a run on him (Busch) once, but I started to go out of bounds. It's one of those 'catch 22's' - I shouldn't do it, we were told not to do it and I didn't do it. We played the game fair. I just hope everybody else did."

Text Provided By Al Larsen

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