Benson Pre-Rockingham Quotes & Teleconference Transcript of Benson, Ince

#10 Pontiac driver Johnny Benson and his crew chief James Ince were
“tickled to death” to walk out of Daytona on Sunday with a 19th place finish.
Not only is the season’s first restrictor plate race behind them, but the duo
now gets to race at the North Carolina Motor Speedway where the team earned its
first victory in November.

Note: Benson & Ince were guests on the Tuesday RJR teleconference. A transcript
of that teleconference follows Benson’s quotes on Rockingham

Johnny Benson:

How Has Your Life Changed Since Rockingham Victory?

“It hasn’t changed much. I sure get asked about it a lot and that’s great. I
got tired of people asking when I was going to win or if I’m feeling better.
Now it seems like everyone asks about the victory and I think we could talk all
day about that.”

What Are Your Memories?

“I just remember racing hard there at the end and then the party we had
afterward at the track and then back at our shop in Concord. We had
come so close so many times and the guys in our shop had deserved that win. We
say it all the time, but the fans need to know just how hard and how many hours
those guys who work for these teams put in every week.

“The sponsors were pretty pumped too. They took a heck of a chance on
this team two years ago and became a co-owner and supported me and James then
came out looking pretty good.”

Does It Make You Want More?

“You bet. I hope what they say about the first one being the hardest and that
the rest will come easier is true. If that happens it will be fine by me.”

First- And Third-Place Finishes At The Rock In Last Three Races:

“I like Rockingham. Obviously, Part of it is that it’s fast and kind of medium
banked which fits my driving style. The other part is something I can’t
explain. I just feel comfortable there. We clinched the Busch Series title
there in 1995 and then to get our first Cup victory makes Rockingham a really
special place to me.”

Some Have Speculated There Might Be Only One Rockingham In The Future:

“I hope we always run two races at Rockingham, Heck, I’d run ten races a year
at Rockingham if I were in charge of Nascar. It’s a neat place and well run and
it’s close to home. I understand we need to expand the sport but I hope
Rockingham will always be a part of Nascar.”

The Following is Transcript of Tuesday’s Teleconference with Crew Chief James
Ince and Benson:

Q&A's WITH JAMES INCE:

(ON THE CHALLENGE OF GOING FROM A RESTRICTOR PLATE RACE AT DAYTONA TO THE RACE
AT ROCKINGHAM) "More than anything, I think it's kind of a relief. Daytona is
our biggest race of the year and we probably put more effort into Daytona than
we have anything else. But this weekend is not about restrictor plates. It's
not about having a buddy on the race track or making sure the right guy drafts
with you. It's about taking your race team that you worked extremely hard on
with your driver and the crew chief and all the guys on it to build the best
cars. Let the driver drive the car. Let the guys pit the car and work on the
springs and the shocks. You have more opportunity to control more of your own
destiny. You've still got to do all the right things at Daytona and Talladega,
but you're also at everybody else's mercy. So it just gives us the opportunity
to kind of stretch our legs a little bit as a race team and see where we're
really at."

(SINCE YOU'VE OBVIOUSLY FOUND YOUR WAY AROUND IT, WOULD YOU BE HAPPY IF THERE
WERE MORE THAN TWO RACES AT ROCKINGHAM?) "Well, I feel like we've found our way
around a lot of places. We did get our first win at Rockingham and that's
always going to be special to us. But there are lots of other race tracks where
we also feel we're good at as a race team. I think for us and for the future of
the sport that we go to a lot of different places. We look forward to the
opportunity of the schedule maybe expanding to take us to more venues. Not
necessarily more dates, because I don't know that we could do any more dates.
But we enjoy racing everywhere we go. There's always place where you have a
better confidence level, but we're not fearful of going anywhere now."

(DO OTHER RACES REQUIRE AS MUCH OR MORE PREPARATION THAN THE DAYTONA 500?)
"Actually, we work hard for all the races. Daytona is a special creature just
because it is our Super Bowl. It's very important to run well there. It kicks
off your season for your momentum. The only other place that I can think of
where we put that extra effort into because it's almost as important as Daytona
is Indianapolis. I think every single Winston Cup team tests at Indy and
everybody usually builds new cars for Indy. It comes in the middle of the
season. I think the reason the emphasis is there is because it's close to the
halfway point in the season. As you learn things throughout the year, you start
applying and start building that special car to go to Indy because it's such a
prestigious and high-paying race. Almost as much effort goes into that car as
it does going to Daytona."

(IS DAYTONA JUST IT'S OWN DEAL - MEANING THAT THE SEASON REALLY BEGINS AT
ROCKINGHAM?) "I think so. Our season definitely begins at Daytona and they hand
out the same amount of points there as they do at Rockingham. But it's totally
different. At Daytona, you're so dependent on what the other teams have done.
You're so dependent on getting the right draft and being in the right pack.
When you go to Rockingham, you're basically seeing what your race team is. At
Daytona, the cars are so close now that you can be off a little bit, but the
templates can kind of keep you in line. But when you go to Rockingham, it all
falls back on the team. We're going to know this week pretty much where we
stand for the rest of the season. It's a while before we go back to a
restrictor plate race. But we know if we put the right pit crew together and we
know if we hung the body correctly and if we brought the right race car. The
one thing that I know going into the year is that I've got a great race car
driver. Other than that, there's always changes on your team. As you go into
the winter, you try to improve your race team. There's always going to be a few
people that leave or your want to make additions. You always want to make the
team better. You don't really know that until you get to the Rockingham and
Atlanta and Las Vegas and start getting into your year. Daytona is just a
little different animal."

(SO A 19TH PLACE FINISH ISN'T THAT DEBILITATING AS YOU HEAD TO THE ROCK,
RIGHT?) "I'm tickled to death and doing back flips over a 19th place finish for
us as a race team. We finished 10th at Daytona last year and of course we want
to win that race. But if you look at our stats at the other three restrictor
place races, we finished 40th or worse (because of) wrecks and one engine
failure. We kind of joked all week that I was going to call the green and then
run to the Infield Care Center because that's kind of the way our seasons have
been the last two years at speedways. Looking at the big picture for the
points, 19th is good for us. If we average out our year from where we were last
year, yes we did get a top 10 finish at Daytona, but the other three
(restrictor plate) races weren't that good to us. So, we'll take our 19th place
finish and go back to Rockingham where we have a lot of confidence and really
kick off our year there."

(WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'LL BE WITH THE NEW GRAND PRIX IN A COUPLE OF MONTHS?)
 "The biggest thing that we're excited about is that right now - even with the
new matching aero templates and the things that NASCAR has changed for us - is
that right now we are equal to where the older Pontiac was last year. I've got
pretty much the same downforce and the same drag. We're pretty much in the same
area and we've got a brand new car. The old Pontiac was developed in 1996. All
the development was used up in that car. We got all the potential out of it.
We're excited going into the year knowing that I have basically the same aero
package going into Rockingham this week as I had going to Rockingham last fall.
And yet, we have all this time left to develop it. And even though the rules
are going to change and things are going to happen, this is still a new car.
So, we're excited because the future is a lot brighter for us. Even if we're
off a little bit now (and) if there's a possibility that the other teams have
done a better job, we at least know that we've got time on our side to improve
on our car as we go."

(ON TIRE STRATEGY FOR THIS SEASON) "I don't know what Goodyear is planning to
do later on. They build an extremely good tire. They're harder than what we'd
probably like to see and it makes calling the race and the strategy a whole lot
easier. On one hand, as a crew chief, you think you really like that and it
makes it easier to decide that we don't always have to put tires on the car.
Personally, I'd like to see it get back to where we do have to put tires on and
that you’re really gambling and that you have to have a good car to do no tires
or two tires. Calling a race is a little bit easier in my
opinion right now than what it used to be because the tires are so good and
Goodyear has done a great job. The tires will last all day long. And that's a
good thing for the safety side of it and everything that goes on. But I would
like to see it revert back in the other direction so we could have more
strategy and maybe you could do something more on pit road to determine the win
or the loss of the race."

Q&A's WITH JOHNNY BENSON:

(ON HIS OUTLOOK FOR THE SEASON LEAVING DAYTONA AND HEADING TO ROCKINGHAM)
"We're looking forward to the 2003 season and just moving on. We've got a new
Grand Prix and we're trying to get back into the swing that we ran in 2001 and
how we ended up in 2002."

(HAVING TESTED THE NEW PONTIAC, HOW DOES IT COMPARE TO THE OLD GRAND PRIX?)
"We haven't tested a whole lot of places yet. But we got in one decent test out
in Las Vegas. How it stacks up to other cars, we don't know until we get it
into race trim and run with the other manufacturers. The balance of the car
seems to be a little bit better than what we had last year. And it's running
about the same speed. So that, to us, is a positive - knowing that the new
Pontiac has a lot of potential in it yet. We've got to do a lot of work to get
the potential out of it to get it as fast as we can as quick as we can. We feel
good about it."

(ARE YOU CONFIDENT ABOUT RETURNING TO ROCKINGHAM AFTER WINNING THERE LAST
FALL?) "Absolutely. Rockingham has always been a track where we've ran pretty
decent at. Sometimes we haven't had good finishes, but by the same token we've
always ran good there. We're comfortable with the race track. It's the type of
race track that I like to race on. I was finally glad we
were able to win. We've been close in the Busch Series and had had a bunch of
top fives in Winston Cup too. Now we'll go down there and see how the Spring
(race) works for us. I feel good going into it."

(IS A TRACK LIKE ROCKINGHAM TOUGHER ON YOUR BODY THAN AT DAYTONA?) "Daytona,
probably yes. A lot of that is a mental factor - dealing with the traffic you
have to deal with. You could go down through all the tracks on a list and
probably say that most all the tracks are mentally challenging and some are
more physical than others. I would say that Rockingham is probably more
physical than Daytona. There's other tracks that are more physical. Rockingham
is a track where you do a lot of slipping and sliding and have to do a lot of
sawing on the steering wheel. So yeah, it can tire you out. But it's a neat
race track to race on."

(WHEN YOU WAKE UP ON A MONDAY MORNING AFTER A RACE ON A SHORT TRACK OR AN
INTERMEDIATE TRACK, CAN YOU TELL WHETHER OR NOT YOUR CAR WAS HANDLING RIGHT
BASED ON SORE POINTS YOU HAVE ON YOUR BODY?) "No, not really. Sometimes if your
car is not handling well and you're at the mid-pack or at the back, it seems
like you have to work harder. But by the same token, being up front at any of
the Winston Cup races nowadays, you're working just as hard to keep up front. I
don't know if there is technically a difference because you're still sliding
the car around to either catch a car or keep it from pushing. So physically
you're doing the same thing running up front as you are in the back except for
the fact that maybe your car is a little quicker as opposed to a little
slower."

(IF THE CAR IS NOT RUNNING RIGHT, DO YOUR LEGS AND ARMS HURT FROM HAVING TO
STRUGGLE WITH THE HANDLING?) "That's hard to say. It's like walking up steps.
The longer the steps are, the more your legs are going to hurt. So if you're
pedaling the gas more, your leg should hurt more. So I guess if you want to
look at it that way then, sure. You're going to feel some difference."

(HAVE YOU HAD A CHANCE TO WATCH THE VIDEO OF YOUR VICTORY AT ROCKINGHAM?)
"Actually, no. I have seen a couple of clips of it - at least the last 10 laps
of it. As far as the race goes, the important one was the last one (lap). I
watched a little bit of it at the end. You always watch certain things to see
what you could do differently. It was one of those days that everything went
right for us. There wasn't a lot to look at to learn from. But it was
definitely a great race for us. A lot of people have commended us for winning
that race and a lot of that has to do with the team. They gave us a good race
car for that day. James Ince did a tremendous job on the calls he made for the
race."

(WHEN DID YOU REALIZE THAT YOU COULD BE A RACE CAR DRIVER?) "I don't know. I
started racing when I was 19 years old. So I started kind of late. But I did
work in the racing business. My dad's got a parts business called 'Benson's
Speed Equipment' up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I built a lot of race chassis
and components for him and I've been involved with that since I was about
seven years old. I really didn't start thinking about the driving end of it
until my dad decided to retire in '81. When he decided to retire, I was kind of
wondering who was going to race for the company. At that point in time I
decided to build a dirt car, of all things, as opposed to an asphalt car. We
were selling dirt cars and asphalt cars, but nobody had raced for the business
on the dirt side so I chose that to start with. I had a lot of fun with it."

(WHAT, IF ANYTHING, DID YOUR FIRST WIN DO TO SOOTH YOUR PAST EMOTIONS ABOUT
RACING WELL AND ALMOST WINNING?) "I'd won in everything that I've raced -
except for the Winston Cup Series until last year. I just felt we could get it
done. If you keep knocking on that door, you're going to win one. There were so
many years we were so close. But I never thought we were never going to win
one. I still feel like we have more wins in us. We just have to do it maybe in
a little quicker manner than we did in the past."

(ON THE DAYTONA 500, WERE PEOPLE BEING TOO HARSH IN CRITICISING ABOUT HOW THE
RACE ENDED DUE TO RAIN?) "I actually heard very little about that. Obviously, I
was trying to get home. I really never gave it much thought. There have been
some questions on the show that we do on Monday nights at 7 o'clock on the
SPEED channel, we had some questions and thoughts about that. But at the same
token, we were down there and it was still raining at 10 o'clock at night. It
was raining at 8 o'clock in the morning when I was leaving Daytona to go home
to Charlotte. The right thing was done and so what do you do? The rules state
that once you're half way through, it's considered an official race if it
rains. We really couldn't stay down there. There are two sides to the coin.
Some people would say that the race had to be finished because it's the Daytona
500 and it's a huge race. There's no doubt. But, every race on the schedule is
huge. So, if you waited three days to run that race, then the same thing would
have to happen at every race you run. Then that changes the rule book. There
were a lot of people on planes going home Monday morning because they couldn't
stay anyway. It's a very tough decision. Do I believe it's right or wrong? I
think it depends on which fan you talk to. I think it's fine. There's nothing
you can do. You have to move forward. We have to go to Rockingham for the first
time a day early to get the cars through tech inspection. It's just putting
these teams way behind if you ended up being there on Tuesday. But yeah, I wish
the Daytona 500 would have been able to run in its entirety on Sunday."

(IS THAT LIKE COMPARING IT WITH A RED SOX PLAYER IN THE 7TH INNING WITH A
TWO-ONE LEAD OVER THE YANKEES PRAYING FOR RAIN SO THEY CAN WIN THE RACE?)
"I don't follow baseball. I don't know if their rule book says they can finish
in the 7th inning. Their rules might say they have to complete all 9 innings.
Ours states half way. We don't make the rules, we just follow the rules. I
think the question would be that if they changed the rules to say that Daytona
is completed when we run all 500 miles. What happens when you go to Rockingham
and it rains there? Or Charlotte, and it rains there. Then you're re-writing
the rule book. They saw what the weather was going to bring. Now the next
question is going to be, 'Is TV going to cover the race two days later?' Are
there going to be any fans there two days later to watch the race? We've had a
lot of races end under these circumstances, but not the Daytona 500. At least,
not that often. I think a lot of people are
maybe upset because it's the first race of the year."

(ON THE UNIQUE QUALIFYING PROCEDURE FOR THE DAYTONA 500) "That race has always
been that way since I've been there, so that's the only thing I'm accustomed
to. It's kind of a neat. Obviously, it's our biggest race of the year. They
throw out a couple of qualifying races you have to run. It gives you an idea of
what your race car is going to do for the 500. It gives you an opportunity to
get on the race track. But at times, you can go down there and be feeling
pretty stressful about it if things aren't going your way. For new teams coming
in, it gives them an opportunity to maybe not just
qualify the car - maybe not be fully prepared for qualifying, but give them an
opportunity to race in. But that's the Daytona 500. I don't foresee the 125's
ever changing or qualifying ever changing either."

(WHAT RACE STICKS OUT IN YOUR MIND AS THE 'WIN THAT GOT AWAY'?) "Well, there's
every one that you finish second, third, fourth, or fifth in that you could go
back and wish you would have done this or that......or, what could we have done
that could have made us better in that area. I think running the Brickyard back
in '96 in my rookie year was something. We had a pretty good control of the
race. We ran good and led a lot of laps. We were in position to win that race
that kind of got away from us on a pit stop. I can think of (a race at)
Darlington where the same thing happened. We were
running extremely well and leading the race when we had an issue where the pit
stop could have - it's really hard to say what would have happened - that cost
us some positions. Martinsville is another one where we ran extremely strong.
We were right there but weren't able to quite get in the lead there at the end.
You could sit there and probably do that for every race that you finished in
the top five and wish you would have done this or that."

(WITH ALL THE PERSONNEL AND EQUIPMENT CHANGES, WILL THE FANS SEE A MORE
COMPETITIVE SEASON IN '03?) "I don't really know how it could be any more
competitive than what we saw last season. With the teams and the amount of
people they have, it's going to be extremely hard. Even James Ince can tell you
that he's working day and night trying to keep our team as competitive as
possible. But there's 50 other teams doing the same thing. It's going to
continue to be competitive. The closer they make the rules, the more
competitive it's going to be."


Transcription Courtesy of General Motors Racing.


THE RACE: Subway 400

Winston Cup Race #2 of 36 for the 2003 Winston Cup season

Race: Sunday, February 23, 2003 in Rockingham, NC

TV: Fox - 1:00pm/et

Race re-air: pee Channel on Wed, Feb 26th, 8:00pm/et; Thurs, Feb 27th,
1:00am/et and again at 3:00pm/et.

Pre-Race Show: Fox - 12:30pm/et - with hosts Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond

Announcers: Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip, Larry McReynolds

Pit Reporters: Dick Berggren, Matt Yocum, Steve Byrnes, Jeanne Zelasko

Hollywood Hotel: Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond

Purse/Race Awards: $? (was $3,571,637 in 2002)

2002 Race Winner: Matt Kenseth, 115.478mph, started 25th

Event Race Record: Bobby Labonte, Feb 2000, 127.875mph

Track Race Record: Jeff Burton, Oct 1999, 131.103mph

Track/Race Length: 1.017 mile oval, 393 laps, 399.681 miles

Pit Road Speed: 35mph

Practice
Practice: Friday, February 21st, 11:20am - 1:20pm/et; Saturday, February 22nd,
9:30 - 10:15am/et.
Happy Hour Practice: Saturday, February 22nd, 11:10 - 11:50am/et on TV-FX taped
at 3:00pm/et.

Qualifying
Qualifying Draw: Friday, February 21st, 10:30am/et


Qualifying: 2 laps for positions 1-36, Friday, February 21st at 3:05pm/et,
TV-Fox Sports Net (FSN) and live via MRN Radio, XM Satellite Radio and via
NASCAR.com's Racecast (paid). Re-aired on pee Channel at 8:00pm/et, Friday,
Feb 21st and at 1:00am/et on Sat, Feb 22nd.
Second-Round Qualifying: there is no longer a 2nd round of qualifying (since
the 2001 season)


Track Qualifying Record: Rusty Wallace, Feb 2000, 158.035mph
2002's Pole Sitter: Ricky Craven, 156.008, finished 5th.

Track Specs: North Carolina Speedway, know as 'The Rock':
Degree of Banking: Turns 1-2: 22 degrees; Turns 3-4: 25 degrees;
Straight-aways: 8 degrees
Width: Turns 55 feet wide; Straight-aways: 50 feet wide
Number of Pits: 45 on front straight (1,436 ft. long) pit road
Pit Stalls: 30 feet long; 16 feet wide
Length of Front Straight: 1,300 feet
Length of Back Straight: 1,367 feet
Length of Turns 1 & 2: 1,256 feet
Length of Turns 3 & 4: 1,437 feet

10 Pontiac Team Television Information

Pit Contact: James Ince or Drew Brown
Owners: Jim Rocco/MB2 Motorsports (Tom Beard, Nelson Bowers, Read
Morton)
Crew Chief/Car Chief: James Ince
Engine Builder: Hendrick Motorsports
Spotter (Race Day) Jay Guy
Spotter (Practice Only) Russell Hoekwater
Engine Tuner John Kendrach
Over The Wall Pit Crew
Front Tire Changer	Bobby Burrell
Front Tire Carrier Shane Cooke
Rear Tire Changer Greg Burkhart
Rear Tire Carrier Steve Genenbacher
Gasman	Jimmy Watts
Tire Specialist Skippy Johnson
Catch Can Steve Mann
Jackman 	Brian Perry
Other Crew Members
Truck Driver: Gale (Bandit) Wilson
Mechanic: Jerry Hess
Mechanic: David Baum
Shocks: Mike Cluka
Tires: Jeff (Skippy) Johnson
Engineer: Tim Turner
Computers & Gas Runner: John Hayes
Scorer: Terry Lane
Pit Scorer Denise Ince
Pit Stop Coach: Gary Smith
PR Rep: Drew Brown