Benson Dover NASCAR Preview
The Nascar Winston Cup Series visits Dover, Del. this weekend bringing its usual assortment of drivers, teams, exciting racing and of course rain. Reports say rain has altered racing during 8 of the 14 Nascar weekends in 2003. On Sunday, Nascar stopped the 600-mile race in Charlotte after 276 of the 400 scheduled laps. And there’s a 30 percent chance of showers every day in Dover this weekend. #10 Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny Benson looks forward to racing at Dover, but is satisfied to leave any of the decision making up to the Nascar officials. Although he wouldn’t mind if Nascar changed the official completion of a race from the halfway point to the two-thirds mark. Benson On Rain Policy: “Rain makes it tough. Nobody in the garage wants to stay overnight and finish the race the next day because we usually have to be somewhere in a few days and the hotel costs are normally pretty high. Plus you have to bring the police, track workers and all the folks behind the scene back another day. But by the same token we want to make our fans as happy as possible. I’m sure making a race official after two-thirds instead of half way would make the fans happier so maybe we should think about that. If we did two-thirds then nobody could complain that they didn’t get a chance to race for the win. “By having more night races and moving the starting times back on the day races we have less time for delays and increased our chances of having rainouts. If you started these races earlier we would have more time in the day or the night, but I know the television folks want to start later to help the audience. So, I don’t know the answer. I’m glad it’s Nascar and not me who has to decide that. Maybe the answer is rain tires. I wouldn’t dare drive, but I’d pay money to sit in the stands and watch.” Benson On Dover: “For a track its size, it’s amazing how important qualifying at Dover has become. Most of your race winners start up front. We look at it as the race starts on Friday. We’ve got to get a good lap in and get a good starting spot. It also helps in picking a pit. If we qualify well then we get to choose a pit before the other teams. We finished second here in 2000 and it’s a track I like. I think the major key is to start out front, avoid trouble and race the last 100 miles.” Benson Dover Record Race Start Finish Fall 2002 22 10 Spring 2002 DNS Injury Fall 2001 37 31 Spring 2001 4 41 Fall 2000 3 2 Spring 2000 34 15 Fall 999 24 18 Spring 1999 28 7 Fall 1998 25 15 Spring 1998 14 41 Fall 1997 29 28 Spring 1997 29 21 Fall 1996 30 24 Spring 996 23 17 THE RACE: MBNA Armed Forces Family 400 Winston Cup Race #13 of 36 for the 2003 Winston Cup season Race: Sunday, June 1, 2003 in Dover, DE TV: Fox - 1:00pm/et Pre-Race Show: FX - 12:30pm/et - with hosts Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond Race Re-Air: June 4th at 8:00pm/et on Speed Channel, June 5th at 1:00am/et and 3:00pm/et on Speed Channel Announcers: Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip, Larry McReynolds Pit Reporters: Dick Berggren, Matt Yocum, Steve Byrnes, Jeanne Zelasko Hollywood Hotel: Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond NASCAR on TV and Fox Sports Purse/Race Awards: $? (was $4,171,566 in 2002) 2002 Race Winner: Jimmie Johnson, 117.551mph, started 10th Track Race Record: Mark Martin, Sept 1997, 132.719mph Track/Race Length: 1.0 concrete oval, 400 laps, 400 miles Pit Road Speed: 35mph ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Practice Practice: Friday, May 30th, 11:05am - 1:00pm/et; and Saturday, May 31st, 9:30 - 10:15am/et Happy Hour Practice: Saturday, May 31st, 11:10 - 11:55am/et on TV-FX via tape at 3:00pm/et. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Qualifying Qualifying Draw: Friday, May 30th, 10:05am/et First Round Qualifying: 2 laps for positions 1-36, Friday, May 31st at 2:35pm/et, TV-Speed Channel live, re-air at 8:00pm/et and on Saturday, May 31st at 1:00am/et, and live via MRN radio/internet Track Qualifying Record: Rusty Wallace, Sept 1999, 159.964mph May 2002 Pole Sitter: #17-Matt Kenseth, 154.939, finished 40th ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Track Specs: Superspeedway: 1.0-mile oval Banking: turns: 24 degrees; straights: 9 degrees Straights: Frontstretch - 1,076 feet; Backstretch - 1,076 feet Pit Stalls: 42 (1 shared) 15" wide x 28" long Attendance: ~147,000 10 Valvoline Pontiac Team Television Information Pit Contact: James Ince or Drew Brown Owners: Valvoline (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 Stop Coach: Gary Smith PR Rep: Drew Brown