Benson's_Luck Runs Out At Texas

For most of Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway Johnny Benson and his #10
Pontiac teammates were leading a charmed life. Benson avoided several
accidents on the high-speed, quad-oval and parlayed some good pit strategy into
a top-five spot as the end of the race quickly approached.

But it all came to an end amidst the smoke of an engine problem with just 20
laps left in the 500-mile race ruining what appeared to be a sure top-10 and
possibly even better finish.

“We are pretty disappointed,” Benson said after the race. “To run that good all
day. We really thought we were going to have something at the end. But there
isn’t much you can do about that. We showed we can run good at this place and
we will just have to build on that and go on to Talladega next week.”

Benson limped around the track after the problem developed but successive black
flags ended his day and left him with a 32nd-place finish. Benson is now 16th
in the Winston Cup point standings.

Benson started Sunday’s race in 13th spot and remained in that position for
most of the first 150 laps on the treacherous one-groove Texas track. Leader
Elliott Sadler was setting a blistering pace and was less than a second from
lapping Benson when a caution came out for a piece of metal from Greg Biffle’s
car.

“That was a break for us,” Benson said. “The leaders were getting around pretty
good. We were good but once you get in traffic it’s tough to turn the laps the
leaders do who are in clean air.”

Benson restarted the race on the lead lap in 13th and during the next segment
pitted for tires and fuel whenever there was a yellow. That strategy paid off
as he stayed on the track while the leaders pitted under green for fuel. At lap
226 the yellow came out allowing Benson to make his stop under yellow
propelling him into fifth place.

“Keep doing what you are doing and we are going to come out of here with a
great finish,” said Crew Chief James Ince. “In fact we might be celebrating
here if things go well.”

On the restart Benson held his own before climbing to fourth then eventually
dropping to sixth amid several cautions for accidents. A pit stop at lap 285
saw Benson drop to seventh, but it appeared he was sure to hang on for a top-10
finish.

Then the luck ran out.

The Valvoline Pontiac began smoking at lap 300 only 34 miles short of the
finish. Benson limped around the track hoping to stay in the top 15 but the
black flags ended his day just laps from the finish.

“That was a bummer, but we have a good race car and we learned a lot today.
There will be other days.”

As Benson’s machine sat in the garage, Ryan Newman passed Dale Earnhardt Jr.
with 10 laps to go to claim the victory.



Results.
1. (12) Ryan Newman, Dodge, 180 - 5 bonus points
2. (8) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 175 - 5 bonus points
3. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 170 - 5 bonus points
4. (01) Jerry Nadeau, Pontiac, 160
5. (6) Mark Martin, Ford, 155
6. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 155 - 5 bonus points
7. (30) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 151 - 5 bonus points
8. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 142
9. (97) Kurt Busch, Ford, 138
10. (420 Jamie McMurray, Dodge, 134
11. (54) Todd Bodine, Ford, 130
12. (22) Ward Burton, Dodge, 127
13. (88) Dale Jarrett, Ford, 129 - 5 bonus points
14. (2) Rusty Wallace, Dodge, 121
15. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 118
16. (5) Terry Labonte, Chevrolet, 115
17. (15) Michael Waltrip, Chevrolet, 112
18. (31) Robby Gordon, Chevrolet, 109
19. (43) John Andretti, Dodge, 106
20. (99) Jeff Burton, Ford, 103
21. (32) Ricky Craven, Pontiac, 105 - 5 bonus points
22. (0) Jack Sprague, Pontiac, 97
23. (23) Kenny Wallace, Dodge, 94
24. (49) Ken Schrader, Dodge, 91
25. (19) Jeremy Mayfield, Dodge, 88
26. (21) Ricky Rudd, Ford, 85
27. (41) Casey Mears, Dodge, 82
28. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 79
29. (40) Sterling Marlin, Dodge, 76
30. (14) Larry Foyt, Dodge, 73
31. (11) Brett Bodine, Ford, 70
32. (10) Johnny Benson, Pontiac, 67
33. (7) Jimmy Spencer, Dodge, 69 - 5 bonus points
34. (20) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 61
35. (25) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 58
36. (77) Dave Blaney, Ford, 55
37. (18) Bobby Labonte, Chevrolet, 52
38. (45) Christian Fittipaldi, Dodge, 49
39. (1) Steve Park, Chevrolet, 51 - 5 bonus points
40. (4) Mike Skinner, Pontiac, 43
41. (38) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 50 - 10 bonus points
42. (74) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, 37
43. (9) Bill Elliott, Dodge, 39 - 5 bonus points
Average speed of race winner: 134.517 mph.
Time of race: 3 hours, 43 minutes, 28 seconds.
Margin of victory: 3.405.
Caution flags: 10 for 52 laps.
Lead changes: 19 among 11 drivers.
Lap leaders: B. Labonte 0; E. Sadler 1-3; B. Elliott 4-46; E. Sadler 47-88; J.
Gordon 89-102; M. Kenseth 103; R. Newman 104-105; J. Green 106-107; J. Spencer
108; S. Park 109; R. Craven 110-111; E. Sadler 112-157; M. Kenseth 158-220; J.
Gordon 221-222; M. Kenseth 223; R. Newman 224-285; D. Jarrett 286; R. Newman
287-288; D. Earnhardt Jr 289-323; R. Newman 324-334.

2003 Point Standings

1. Matt Kenseth, 1090
2. Kurt Busch, 935
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 924
4. Michael Waltrip, 898
5. Jimmie Johnson, 885
6. Jeff Gordon, 864
7. Tony Stewart, 849
8. Ryan Newman, 848
9. Ricky Craven, 840
10. Kevin Harvick, 802
11. Bobby Labonte, 784
12. Ricky Rudd, 780
13. Mark Martin, 773
14. Rusty Wallace, 771
15. Dale Jarrett, 752
16. Johnny Benson, 748
17. Joe Nemechek, 741
18. Jeff Burton, 740
19. Robby Gordon, 737
20. Elliott Sadler, 725
21. Jamie McMurray, 708
22. Dave Blaney, 707
23. Sterling Marlin, 695
24. Jimmy Spencer, 691
25. Greg Biffle, 682
26. Steve Park, 652
27. Jeff Green, 646
28. Kenny Wallace, 644
29. Jeremy Mayfield, 634
30. Jerry Nadeau, 628
31. Terry Labonte, 625
32. Ward Burton, 622
33. Bill Elliott, 587
34. Casey Mears, 582
35. Todd Bodine, 540
36. John Andretti, 522
37. Jack Sprague, 517
38. Ken Schrader, 511
39. Mike Skinner, 496
40. Kyle Petty, 464
41. Tony Raines, 412
42. Larry Foyt, 287
43. Brett Bodine, 201
44. Derrike Cope, 144
45. Mike Wallace, 138
46. Christian Fittipaldi, 107
47. Hideo Fukuyama, 64