NASCAR WCUP: Benson Posts Third Consecutive Top-10 Under Richmond Lights

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

September 10, 2001

Imagine what #10 Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny Benson could have done with a little luck and the race car he really wanted to race in Saturday night’s NASCAR Winston Cup race at Richmond International Raceway.

Benson drove a backup car from his 27th starting position to take the checkered flag in tenth – his third consecutive top-10 finish at Richmond. But the Valvoline team’s ability to overcome problems was the story of Benson’s 400-lap race on the .75-mile oval.

"It was a good night for us,” Benson said after the race. “We worked our tails off to get what we got.”

That worked started on Friday minutes after Benson posted one of the quickest practice speeds. Going into turn three and four the Valvoline Pontiac swapped ends and backed into the concrete wall. The damage was enough to force the unloading of the backup car.

With only two practice laps, Benson managed to put the backup car 27th on the starting grid for Saturday’s race. But, it didn’t take long to see the James Ince-led crew brings some pretty good race cars to the track as backups.

When the green flag dropped Benson charged to the front. By lap 100, Benson had climbed up to tenth. On lap 116, a multi-car accident on the front stretch saw a spinning Mike Wallace nearly take out the field. That included Benson as smoke from Wallace’s tires obstructed the view of all drivers who were forced to brake to avoid the spinning cars.

Bobby Labonte came within inches of crashing into Benson.

“That was pretty lucky,” Benson said. “That was like driving through a big white cloud you see when you are in an airplane. I couldn’t see much of anything and I’m sure that is what the other drivers were experiencing.”

Benson resumed his march to the front climbing to eighth by lap 172 utilizing 15-second pit stops by his Valvoline crew. Then Benson reported his first handling problems of the night. He dropped two spots as he told Ince about a “loose” condition that made the car feel like it was going to spin.

On lap 236, under caution, the field came in for pit stops. Benson entered the pits in 12th and returned to the track in the same position but was forced to return to pit road the next lap to tighten loose lug nuts.

The extra stop dropped him to 23rd and it looked bleak for Benson getting back up to the front of the field. But Benson began slicing through his competitors passing a car almost every few laps. By the lap 360 mark he moved to tenth. As the laps wound down Benson made a series of pit stops trying to get the optimal set of tires for the final run. The extra tire stop moved him back to 13th but in the closing laps he worked his way back into tenth.

A respectable performance for the team considering the obstacles.

“We had a little problem on pit road that put us to the back and we worked our way back up to ninth. Then we had one set of tires that was just bad. We had to come in, went to the back again and ended up 10th,” Benson said.

“I'm real happy, though. The Valvoline Pontiac was good. That tells you a lot about this team when we can roll out a backup car and finish pretty decent.”

As many times as Benson moved up and down the scoring pylon, he might have passed as many cars as any driver.

"It was very hard to pass this time,” he said. “The track was wearing out on the bottom. You could get underneath them - you could really be fast - but you couldn't pass them. It made for a long day. I'm pretty tired."

At the front of the field, Ricky Rudd and Kevin Harvick traded paint a few times before Rudd slipped past and won the race.

Benson dropped from 10th to 11th in the 2001 Winston Cup points race.

Benson and his teammates will test at the new track and Kansas City on Monday and Tuesday then fly to New Hampshire for next weekend’s race.

Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit The Racing Photo Museum and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.