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Johnny Benson Ready For Cold Season-Ender At NHIS #10 Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny Benson grew up in Michigan and is no stranger to cold weather. So Benson, like the rest of the NASCAR Winston Cup drivers, is curious about how his car will handle Friday when practice begins at 8:30 a.m. and the race starts at noon at New Hampshire International Speedway. The weather at the track is expected to be between 50 degrees and 20 degrees during the day. Benson On Racing In The Cold Weather: “We ran a Busch race at Richmond and I think it was snowing and of course as I was coming up we used to run late models in Ohio where it snowed a little bit. It’s just going to be cold. New Hampshire is a place that is extremely slippery and hard to get a hold of in the summer. So I imagine it’s going to be even worse on Friday. I think the start might be a little difficult.” Benson On The 8 a.m. Practice: “That practice is going to be so people can get on the track and make sure the setup and balance in the cars are OK. The main thing will be to get heat in the racetrack. That practice will give us a chance to get a little bit of an idea of what is going to happen at those temperatures.” Benson On One-Day Shows: “If we could do all of our races on Friday throughout the year that would be great. But I don’t think that will happen. As far as one-day show, I’m all for them.” Benson On New Hampshire Challenges: “You always seem to battle the sealer they use up there. I know they have some pretty tough winters and they need the sealer to make sure the track doesn’t break up. I’m not sure if I would seal it like they do. I think it makes the track pretty slick and makes for single file racing. The fans up there deserve a better race than just single file racing. Hopefully that sealer will wear off and we will be able to put on some good racing.” Crew Chief James Ince On New Hampshire Race: “I think New Hampshire will be fun. Goodyear is taking an old generation tire up there. So, we shouldn’t have any problems. It’s a tire we have run in the past and we are quite familiar with it. “As for the race, a week ago I thought the Pontiacs would spend all race following the Dodge’s around in the snow now with the rule change it seems like we will also be following Fords around.” THE RACE: New Hampshire 300 Winston Cup Race #36(was #27) of 36 for the 2001 season Race: Postponed from Sunday, September 16, 2001 it Friday, Nov 23rd, 2001 in Loudon, NH TV: NBC - 12:00noon/et, re-aired on TNT Tuesday, Sept 27, 1:00am/et NASCAR on TV and TNT TV Schedule and CNN/SI Schedule Announcers: Allen Bestwick, Benny Parsons and Wally Dallenbach Pit Reporters: Bill Weber, Matt Yocum, Marty Snider, Dave Burns Purse/Race Awards: $3,541,410 (last year $2,924,681) 2000 Race Winner: Jeff Burton, 102.003mph Event Race Record: Jeff Gordon, Sept 1998, 112.078mph Track Race Record: Jeff Burton, July 1997, 117.134mph Track/Race Length: 1.058 mile oval, 300 laps, 317.4 miles Pit Road Speed: 45mph ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Practice Practice: Friday, Nov 23rd 8:30 - 9:45am/et Happy Hour Practice: none ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Qualifying Qualifying Draw: CANCELLED Qualfying Order: CANCELLED First Round Qualifying: CANCELLED due to the NYC/Wash DC/PA Tragedies, Qualifying is set as follows: #1) - First 35 by current Owner Points as of Sept 13th, 2001 #2) - Race winners from the previous and current season not already in the field #3) - Past Winston Cup Champions not in by steps 1 and 2 #4) - Qualifying Attempts with Owners points as the tie breaker Lineup: New Hampshire 300 Lineup Second-Round Qualifying: there is no longer a 2nd round of qualifying Race/Event Qualifying Record: Rusty Wallace, Sept 1999, 129.820mph Track Qualifying Record: Rusty Wallace, July 2000, 132.089mph Last Year's Pole Sitter: Bobby Labonte, 127.632mph, finished 2nd ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Track Specs: Superspeedway: 1.058 mile oval Turns: Banking: 12 degrees; Striaghts: 2 degrees Length of Straights: Frontstretch - 1500ft; Backstretch - 1500ft Attendence: ~100,000 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PAST WINNERS of the 2nd Race at NHIS YEAR CAR# DRIVER MANU AVE SPEED STARTED 1997 24 Jeff Gordon Chevy 100.364 13 1998 24 Jeff Gordon Chevy 112.078 1 1999 42 Joe Nemechek Chevy 100.673 11 2000 99 Jeff Burton Ford 102.003 2 Drew Brown 1335 Torrence Circle Davidson, NC 28036 704-895-3651 H 704-906-7992 C drew_brown@mindspring.com