Benson 24th at Charlotte

Benson 24th at Charlotte

#10 Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny Benson’s race at Charlotte Sunday night
seemed right on schedule.

He was in the top-15 biding his time near the halfway mark waiting for the sun
to go down and cool the track. Once the track changed, then the team could make
the chassis changes necessary for Benson to go to the front of the field.

But thoughts of the front of the field went away in two disastrous events that
came in rapid succession.

Near the 200-lap mark, with leader Matt Kennseth a few seconds behind, Benson
came in for his routine tire and gas stop. Quick work by the Valvoline crew
returned him to the track.

When Kennseth pitted a few laps later Benson had stretched the gap and appeared
in no threat to lose a lap. But then disaster.

Ricky Rudd spun down the front stretch and after failing to restart his car,
Nascar threw the yellow flag. Bobby Labonte and two others had yet to pit
putting Benson down two laps.

“There isn’t much you can do about that,” Benson said. “That’s all about luck”

Things got worse.

Benson reported something significantly wrong with the handling of the
Valvoline Pontiac. Benson brought the car to pit road and the crew made
extensive efforts to find the problem, but rain ended the race at the 414-mile
mark of the scheduled 600 miles.

“We’ll take the car back to the shop and see if something broke,” Benson said.
“It’s a shame because I think we were pretty good tonight.”

Jimmie Johnson won the race and the purse that combined with last weekend’s
winning of the $1 million prize meant his take from the Charlotte race weekends
exceeded $1.2 million.

Benson and his teammates return to action Sunday in Dover, Del.

Results

1. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 180 - 5 bonus points
2. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 180 - 10 bonus points
3. (18) Bobby Labonte, Chevrolet, 170 - 5 bonus points
4. (7) Jimmy Spencer, Dodge, 160
5. (12) Ryan Newman, Dodge, 160 - 5 bonus points
6. (15) Michael Waltrip, Chevrolet, 150
7. (40) Sterling Marlin, Dodge, 146
8. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 142
9. (88) Dale Jarrett, Ford, 138
10. (22) Ward Burton, Dodge, 134
11. (25) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 130
12. (2) Rusty Wallace, Dodge, 127
13. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 129 - 5 bonus points
14. (77) Dave Blaney, Ford, 121
15. (97) Kurt Busch, Ford, 123 - 5 bonus points
16. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 115
17. (31) Robby Gordon, Chevrolet, 112
18. (99) Jeff Burton, Ford, 109
19. (1) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 106
20. (4) Mike Skinner, Pontiac, 103
21. (5) Terry Labonte, Chevrolet, 100
22. (0) Jack Sprague, Pontiac, 97
23. (54) Todd Bodine, Ford, 94
24. (10) Johnny Benson, Pontiac, 91
25. (42) Jamie McMurray, Dodge, 88
26. (9) Bill Elliott, Dodge, 85
27. (30) Steve Park, Chevrolet, 82
28. (49) Ken Schrader, Dodge, 79
29. (6) Mark Martin, Ford, 76
30. (45) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 73
31. (01) Mike Wallace, Pontiac, 70
32. (71) Kevin Lepage, Ford, 67
33. (21) Ricky Rudd, Ford, 64
34. (14) Larry Foyt, Dodge, 61
35. (41) Casey Mears, Dodge, 58
36. (38) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 60 - 5 bonus points
37. (74) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, 52
38. (32) Ricky Craven, Pontiac, 49
39. (43) John Andretti, Dodge, 46
40. (20) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 48 - 5 bonus points
41. (8) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 40
42. (23) Kenny Wallace, Dodge, 37
43. (19) Jeremy Mayfield, Dodge, 34
2003 Driver Points

1. Matt Kenseth, 1799
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 1639
3. Jeff Gordon, 1583
4. Kurt Busch, 1575
5. Jimmie Johnson, 1552
6. Bobby Labonte, 1546
7. Michael Waltrip, 1511
8. Kevin Harvick, 1457
9. Sterling Marlin, 1405
10. Rusty Wallace, 1401
11. Joe Nemechek, 1341
12. Robby Gordon, 1330
13. Mark Martin, 1318
14. Jeff Burton, 1311
15. Ricky Craven, 1303
16. Elliott Sadler, 1261
17. Terry Labonte, 1243
18. Dale Jarrett, 1232
19. Tony Stewart, 1230
20. Dave Blaney, 1230
21. Ward Burton, 1225
22. Greg Biffle, 1224
23. Bill Elliott, 1198
24. Ryan Newman, 1191
25. Jamie McMurray, 1181
26. Ricky Rudd, 1163
27. Johnny Benson, 1119
28. Jimmy Spencer, 1107
29. Kenny Wallace, 1093
30. Jeff Green, 1041
31. Steve Park, 1010
32. John Andretti, 982
33. Jeremy Mayfield, 971
34. Ken Schrader, 952
35. Todd Bodine, 947
36. Kyle Petty, 889
37. Mike Skinner, 888
38. Jack Sprague, 882
39. Casey Mears, 878
40. Jerry Nadeau, 844
41. Tony Raines, 834
42. Larry Foyt, 461
43. Mike Wallace, 281
44. Brett Bodine, 271
45. Derrike Cope, 215

Drew Brown
drewbrown@bellsouth.net
704-650-0428 cell
704-895-3651 home