Benson On NHIS Paving, Changes at Phoenix & Homestead
The recent paving at New Hampshire International Speedway should be a hot topic this weekend as the NASCAR Winston Cup Series visits the flat mile oval. The paving in the lower lanes of the turns is designed to increase the longevity of the surface that has broken up in recent races. New Hampshire joins Phoenix and Homestead as tracks where significant changes have been made to the track configuration or racing surface. The changes at these tracks will pose challenges for drivers and crew chiefs especially since most teams have already used up a significant portion of the five allotted tests for the season. Before NHIS, the #10 Valvoline Pontiac team will test at Indianapolis on Monday and Tuesday. On NHIS: “It will be interesting to see what the changes are. They have made a lot of changes up there in the past and it always seems to end up being the same way each year. I think they are searching, just trying something different to see if they can’t make it better than what it is. We will just have to see how it is when we get there. I think once we get the rubber on the track and get to running a while it will be the same old place. What Changes Would You Make At NHIS? “I’m not sure I want to be in charge of something like that. I don’t know what I would do. I guess the only thing you can really do is put a little bit more banking in the track. They keep going through all this work making track changes and none of it has made much of a difference so I guess changing the banking would be my next idea. I think a couple of degrees, maybe five or six degrees would make a difference.” Changes at Phoenix and Homestead: “I know why they want to change the tracks in New Hampshire and Homestead. The one that really baffles me is Phoenix. We have always had great races at Phoenix. I’m assuming they did that because of a different race series. I assume they didn’t make the changes because of Winston Cup. Everyone seems to like Phoenix because it is different on both ends. That one kind of surprises me. “As I said changing Homestead I understand. It’s fast and flat. That is one of the few places where the groove starts to move down the track and you start to run out of racetrack. Before you know it you are in the grass. That makes passing real difficult there. So I can see why they would want to change the track.” Would Testing Help? “We are half way through the year and most of our tests are used up so it is a problem. I hear that we are going in a day early to Homestead this year so we can test. At Loudon it is too late to go test so a lot of us are going to be in the same boat. I don’t know about Phoenix.” Indy Test: “Your goals are to do a good qualifying run and get it good and balanced with speed. The Indy test is important. It’s such a huge race and you can learn a lot when you test there. The attitude of the car is so important for the race that you spend a lot of time working on that.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Valvoline Informed Sources - Story Ideas Our New House #10 Valvoline Pontiac team moved into its new Featherlite race hauler this weekend. The team carries everything it needs on the hauler that crissccrosses the country going to race tracks. What's the owner doing at testing? At testing events, the car owner normally would be as ignored as a busboy at Hooters. Why are Valvoline representatives a key part of pre- and in-season testing for the No. 10 Valvoline Pontiac and No. 9 and 19 Dodge Dealers Intrepid R/Ts? That's because Valvoline uses the Nascar Winston Cup tests to try out its new qualifying oils, gear oils, radiator wetter that go into the engines of Johnny Benson, Bill Elliott and Jeremy Mayfield. Now Hear This and See This: Johnny Benson audio is now available. If you would like a wav file of Johnny Benson previewing an upcoming race or talking about a specific subject please email me and I will send you the wav file of Benson. If you would like weekly pictures of the #10 team and Benson please email me and I will give you the pass code so you can download pics every Monday. Media only please. The Business of Racing is Business: Half of the stories written about Nascar Winston Cup racing are business related these days. Jim Rocco - Senior Vice President at the Valvoline Company - is one of the listed car owners of Johnny Benson's #10 Valvoline Pontiac and an excellent interview for stories dealing with team owners, sponsorship or economics of racing. For Sale? Want to know how much it costs to be on a Winston Cup racer? Valvoline has a color graphic in jpg form that gives rough costs estimates of every spot on a Winston Cup car. Home Grown Racing Valvoline as well as Benson and his Crew Chief James Ince value local racers across the country. Benson races a pavement late model and Ince owns and races with his dirt team in the Midwest. Valvoline supports local racers by giving money through a competition called the Valvoline Cup open to all American racers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Benson 2003 Record S F Daytona 40 19 Rockingham 2 13 Las Vegas 16 12 Atlanta 23 11 Darlington 22 25 Bristol 20 19 Texas 13 32 Talladega 17 41 Martinsville 28 32 California 32 36 Richmond 13 15 Charlotte 10 24 Dover 30 5 Pocono 25 24 Michigan 26 25 Infineon 25 30 Daytona 22 27 Chicago 36 18 New Hampshire Record Year S F 2002 Second Race 2 4 2002 First Race DNS - Injuries 2001 Second Race 15 36 2001 First Race 10 12 2000 Second Race 27 11 2000 First Race 38 14 1999 Second Race 24 18 1999 First Race 27 17 1998 Second Race 38 21 1998 First Race 39 21 1997 Second Race 19 20 1997 First Race 32 18 1996 Only Race 38 9 10 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 Rick (Fuzz ) Burgdoff 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 Doug Morgan 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - THE RACE: New England 300 Winston Cup Race #19 of 36 for the 2003 Winston Cup season Race: Sunday, July 20, 2003 in Loudon, NH TV: TNT - 2:00pm/et Pre-Race Show: TNT - 1:30pm/et - hosted by Bill Weber Scheduled Race Re-Air: Speed Channel - July 23rd at 8:00pm/et; and July 24th at 1:00am/et and 3:00pm/et. Announcers: Allen Bestwick, Benny Parsons, Wally Dallenbach Pit Reporters: Bill Weber, Matt Yocum, Marty Snider, Dave Burns War Wagon: Bill Weber and many guests NASCAR on TV and Fox Sports Purse/Race Awards: (was $4,054,390 in 2002) 2002 Race Winner: Ward Burton, 92.342mph, started 31st Track/Event Race Record: Jeff Burton, July 1997, 117.134 Track/Race Length: 1.058 mile oval, 300 laps, 317.4 miles Pit Road Speed: 35mph ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Practice Practice: Friday, July 18th, 11:20am - 1:20pm/et; and Saturday, July 19th, 9:30 - 10:15am/et Happy Hour Practice: Saturday, July 19th, 11:10 - 11:55am/et on TV-TNT tape delay at 12:00noon/et. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Qualifying Qualifying Draw: Friday, July 18th, 10:20am/et First Round Qualifying: 2 laps for positions 1-36, Friday, July 18th at 3:05pm/et, TV-Speed Channel live, Track Qualifying Record: Rusty Wallace, July 2000, 132.089mph Last Year's Pole Sitter: Bill Elliott, 131.469mph, finished 34th. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Track Specs: Superspeedway: 1.058 mile oval Turns: Banking: 12 degrees; Striaghts: 2 degrees Length of Straights: Frontstretch - 1500ft; Backstretch - 1500ft Grandstand Seating: 91,000 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - PAST RACE WINNERS at the NHIS July Race 1993: #2-Rusty Wallace, Pontiac, 105.947mph 1994: #10-Ricky Rudd, Ford, 87.599 1995: #24-Jeff Gordon, Chevy, 107.029 1996: #28-Ernie Irvan, Ford, 98.930 1997: #99-Jeff Burton, Ford, 117.134 1998: #99-Jeff Burton, Ford, 102.996 1999: #99-Jeff Burton, Ford, 101.876 2000: #20-Tony Stewart, Pontiac, 103.145 2001: #88-Dale Jarrett, Ford, 102.131 2002: #22-Ward Burton, Dodge, 92.342