NASCAR WCUP: Johnny Benson happy with another top five at Michigan
Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
August 20, 2001JOHNNY BENSON, NO. 10 VALVOLINE PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:
(ON POSTING HIS THIRD TOP FIVE FINISH IN FOUR RACES) "I'm real happy, but we're having to work way too hard to stay with the Dodges on this type of racetrack. We had a so-so car. I drove my hind end off and still couldn't catch them. They were walking away two or three tenths a lap. We tried hard. This Valvoline Pontiac was awesome, but we still couldn't stay with them.
"Everybody on this race team is working extremely hard. They've been putting great race cars under me. The last couple of weeks we've been good, but even before that, we weren't really struggling. We just had some bad luck and were trying to figure out how to get around the bump stops and all that. James [Ince] is just doing a hell of a job."
(DID THE FIRST RAIN DELAY ALLOW YOU TO GET TRACK POSITION?) "It didn't give us track position. By the time everybody pitted and got done with, we moved up about five spots. We just made some adjustments and got it good. We just did what we could."
(HOW ABOUT BEING THE ONLY PONTIAC TO FINISH ON THE LEAD LAP?) "Well, we're obviously happy that it was us, but that's not saying a whole lot for the Pontiacs right now. We're all trying to do the best we can and we ended up as the only one on the lead lap, so I think it's about time we got some help.
"We'll do what we can to get our car better and we'll see what happens. But there is only so much that we can do. There is only so much anybody can do. This car was new in '96 and it's as good as it's going to get.
"They (NASCAR) moved the nose out to help the Dodges and that's the same thing that the Pontiac needs right now. They gave it to Chevrolet last year and it proved to be very good. They gave it to Dodge and it's already shown that it's going to be very good for them, too."
Text provided by Al Larsen
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