NASCAR WCUP: Johnny Benson ready for better day of racing at Michigan
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
June 10, 2001
JOHNNY BENSON, NO. 10 VALVOLINE PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:
(ON THE FRUSTRATION OF LAST WEEK'S DNF) "Dover was a situation where somebody else's problem became our problem, and it just snowballed from there. But in the same token, we had a good race car. We had a fast race car and feel like we might have been the only car that could have stayed with the '24' (race winner Jeff Gordon), so we feel good about that part. Obviously, we didn't feel good about our results and everything that happened - hitting a tire on pit road, damaging the car and later having more problems that eventually broke the engine. But if you can look at it and say, 'We had a good race car, we'll be good when we go back there in the fall and we'll worry about it then, ' I guess that's all you can do."
(IS THERE A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF TEAMS LEAVING TIRES OUT ON PIT ROAD?) "It's one thing to have a tire that gets away from somebody and rolls out in the grass - OK, then go to the end of the longest line. But, if you actually get a tire out there, people start hitting it and start endangering other people on pit road, maybe the penalty should be stiffer. But then it becomes a judgment call and we know they (NASCAR) don't like judgment calls, so it's a tough situation. It's just something that happened and there is not a whole lot we can do about it."
(ARE YOU APPROACHING THE POINTS RACE THE SAME AFTER THE PAST TWO WEEKS?) "We're in the same place that we were. We've always concentrated more on winning races and that hasn't changed. Obviously, it was a nice benefit to be sitting fourth in the points [last week], but we're still eighth. We're still solidly in the top 10. We've got to do a little bit of work now to get back up to where we were, but we feel that we can do that. We're going to try extremely hard to still reach our goals throughout the year. We're still in a lot better situation right now with where we're at in the points compared to where we were a year ago - trying to get back into the top 10. We're fine with everything. We're worry about the points later on."
(HAVE YOU GIVEN ANY THOUGHT TO RUNNING A HANDFUL OF BUSCH SERIES RACES AGAIN?) 'I don't foresee going and running any more Busch races. We're going to concentrate on our Winston Cup program. If we could see a huge benefit to doing it, then we would. But right now we don't see the need to do that. It's a deal where you would spend as much money to go run a Busch race as you would a Winston Cup race. The payout - both in money and advantages - doesn't give a good enough return to make you invest the money. I guess in the future, you never know. But right now, I just want to concentrate on this>
(IS THERE ANY INFORMATION TO BE GATHERED IN A BUSCH RACE THAT CAN HELP YOU THE NEXT DAY IN A WINSTON CUP RACE?) "I think you can get some benefit out of it. But it's just that the amount of benefit you get for the risk is hard to justify. If I could run for our team? Maybe. But if somebody else called me and asked me to do it? I don't know if I'd be all that interested.
"This is my normal job. I would hate to go race for somebody else in the Busch Series, get hurt and not be able to do what I do in the Valvoline Pontiac."
(JEFF GORDON IS ON A ROLL RIGHT NOW...DOES MOMENTUM PLAY MUCH OF A ROLE IN THAT?) "That has a lot more to do with the fact that is a good race team. They're doing their homework, getting things done and running good. They've got the whole package. We believe we have all that. We just have to make it happen. It's just little things that make the difference. We've just got to keep working hard and it will come our way. We just have to make it happen."
(HOW MUCH DOES A GOOD RUN ONE WEEK OR A BAD RUN ONE WEEK STAY WITH YOU AS YOU HEAD INTO THE NEXT WEEKEND?) "We just go week to week. If it stayed with you, I'd feel really bad coming in here after our experience in Dover, but that's not the case. We unloaded a good race car. We knew when we left the shop that it was going to be pretty decent and so far, it's been working out that way."
(WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR TOMORROW?) "We expect to be competitive. That's what you've got to expect every week. We should be there, but you never know. I thought Dover was going to go good. I think we'll be good Sunday, but we'll just have to see where it all shakes out at the end of the race."
Text provided by Al Larsen
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