Benson Second at Rockingham Qualifying

#10 Pontiac driver Johnny Benson walked out of the North Carolina
Motor Speedway in first place last November. When the Winston Cup Series
returns to action in Rockingham on Sunday Benson will be start the race near
the same spot.

Benson will flank polesitter Dave Blaney on the front row of the 400-mile race
on Sunday – his best starting spot since he earned the pole at Atlanta in 1996
and Michigan in 1997.

Benson’s run came after posting the 38th best practice speed on Friday. But he
and Crew Chief James Ince did some tinkering.

"I was real happy with that,” Benson said. “James Ince - he's the man. We did a
little bit of race practice this morning and a little bit in qualifying trim
right at the end, and I was actually a little faster in race trim. He said, 'I'll take a
stab at it. We'll be OK.' The Pontiac is in pretty good shape. I'm
looking forward to the race."

Rain came early Friday and delayed practice until 2 p.m. Knowing more rain is
scheduled for Saturday, Benson and Ince elected to concentrate on race setup
for Sunday.

“I asked Johnny if he wanted to go fast on Friday or fast on Sunday,” Ince
said. “Obviously, we focused on getting the car best for Sunday. What happened
today is just a bonus.”

Benson explained the strategy further.

"The thought was that we weren't sure about tomorrow. It's an unknown. This car
is an unknown. It's a brand new race car. The new Grand Prix - we haven't
tested on this style racetrack. All of it is a little unknown, so we wanted to
go out there and at least get 20 or 30 laps to let us start a book, saying,
'OK, this is what
we think is going to happen.'"

Benson was the second of the 43 cars to take to the track in Friday qualifying.

"I don't know if it was an advantage or not. It was starting to rain a little
bit. At
first  when I started the car up, he (the official) stopped me. I thought,
'Well, maybe it is raining.' But, I don't know if it matters here a whole lot.
It does if the sun is out. But, I guess if it's overcast -- it's overcast here.
It's cool and not real windy, so I don't know if it mattered if you went first,
last, in the middle - not as much as it would on a normal week."

The key now is for Benson and Ince to make the new 2003 Pontiac run like the
race-winning car did in November.

"This is a new car. It takes a little bit of time. When we unloaded we were
ready for qualifying. Then, we watched the weather and switched everything over
to race trim just because the car has never been on the racetrack and we were
concerned about the weather for tomorrow. We spent probably 25 or 30 laps just
messing with it for race trim just to see what we were going to have. But, it
didn't matter. We didn't qualify that good last year. We started back in the
fall. Like Mark (Martin) said - it's not really a huge deal where you qualify
here, although it's nice if you're up on the front row. We were just going to
take our chances. I took it and made one run in qualifying trim and wasn't that
happy with the car, so we made some changes. I guess the changes were right. It
was pretty good."

With the rain in Rockingham this week coupled with Daytona storms last Sunday,
Benson and the rest of the Winston Cup Series seem to spend as much time
looking at the weather radar as they have their race cars. But, it hasn’t
changed his focus.

"We get here on Thursday night and leave here on Sunday, so I guess it doesn't
matter what it does in between there. Obviously, we would like to see some
track-time with all the new cars and new templates and things of this nature.
But, other than that, you're here the same amount of hours. We'd prefer it to
be a little nicer weather, though."


Rockingham Starting Lineup

Friday's Subway 400 qualifying results

1. (77) Dave Blaney, Ford, 154.683 mph.
2. (10) Johnny Benson, Pontiac, 154.553.
3. (6) Mark Martin, Ford, 154.429.
4. (40) Sterling Marlin, Dodge, 154.422.
5. (9) Bill Elliott, Dodge, 154.416.
6. (32) Ricky Craven, Pontiac, 154.377.
7. (42) Jamie McMurray, Dodge, 154.279.
8. (2) Rusty Wallace, Dodge, 154.201.
9. (88) Dale Jarrett, Ford, 154.182.
10. (18) Bobby Labonte, Chevrolet, 154.046.
11. (38) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 154.039.
12. (8) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 154.033.
13. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 153.916.
14. (25) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 153.884.
15. (22) Ward Burton, Dodge, 153.819.
16. (41) Casey Mears, Dodge, 153.696.
17. (23) Kenny Wallace, Dodge, 153.683.
18. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 153.542.
19. (31) Robby Gordon, Chevrolet, 153.509.
20. (4) Mike Skinner, Pontiac, 153.471.
21. (12) Ryan Newman, Dodge, 153.439.
22. (15) Michael Waltrip, Chevrolet, 153.336.
23. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 153.310.
24. (01) Jerry Nadeau, Pontiac, 153.035.
25. (1) Steve Park, Chevrolet, 153.022.
26. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 152.958.
27. (97) Kurt Busch, Ford, 152.932.
28. (21) Ricky Rudd, Ford, 152.811.
29. (19) Jeremy Mayfield, Dodge, 152.798.
30. (45) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 152.792.
31. (5) Terry Labonte, Chevrolet, 152.754.
32. (43) John Andretti, Dodge, 152.728.
33. (20) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 152.715.
34. (0) Jack Sprague, Pontiac, 152.614.
35. (49) Ken Schrader, Dodge, 152.607.
36. (7) Jimmy Spencer, Dodge, 152.556.
37. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, provisional.
38. (99) Jeff Burton, Ford, provisional.
39. (30) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, provisional.
40. (54) Todd Bodine, Ford, provisional.
41. (14) Larry Foyt, Dodge, provisional.
42. (74) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, provisional.
43. (37) Derrike Cope, Dodge, provisional.