Benson On Atlanta
Benson On Atlanta #10 Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny Benson believes the most exciting qualifying session of the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup season will be a little bit more exciting Friday night at Atlanta. The ultra-fast track will host qualifying under the lights - something Benson says could make the speeds even faster. In March the pole winning speed was 191.417 mph, which is faster than Daytona, Talladega and only trails Texas at 193.514 mph this season. Johnny Benson On Changes In Qualifying At Atlanta “Going qualifying at night in Atlanta is something we haven’t done before so you are always a little concerned whenever you do something for the first time. What we do know is the track will be really, really fast, and probably pretty slippery. It will be a wild ride. “Atlanta is about as on the edge as you can get when it comes to qualifying. It is so fast. Momentum is such a huge factor. You can get a lot of momentum through one and two but carrying that speed down into turn three is pretty hard. Sometimes you will see drivers out of breath when they get out of the car from just one or two qualifying laps. That’s because it is so intense if you get right down to it. You put everything out there. In qualifying you have no time to relax.” Johnny Benson On Atlanta Qualifying: “Those two qualifying laps at Atlanta are the most intense a driver is going to be during the year. It’s a wild ride. But it only last for a short time. I’d say it would be about a 9 on the 10 scale. When you race there assuming your car is handling well it is about a 6 on that scale.” ------------------------------------------------------ Benson Atlanta Record Year S F 2003 Spring 23 11 2002 Fall 25 23 2002 Spring 10 27 2001 Fall 8 23 2001 Spring 19 7 2000 Fall 21 10 2000 Spring DNQ 1999 Fall 17 39 1999 Spring 36 22 1998 Fall 40 23 1998 Spring 15 9 1997 Fall 12 10 1997 Spring 40 11 1996 Fall 16 27 1996 Spring 1 38 ------------------------------------------------------- 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 Loudon 26 26 Pocono 29 20 Indianapolis 40 13 Watkins Glen 27 27 Michigan 35 10 Bristol 32 14 Darlington 11 40 Richmond 9 9 Loudon 22 25 Dover 26 21 Talladega 42 41 Kansas 20 35 Charlotte 23 16 Martinsville 29 34 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Attention Radio Broadcasters: Johnny Benson audio is now available. If you would like a MP3 file of Johnny Benson previewing an upcoming race or talking about a specific subject please Email me and I will send you the audio file of Benson. High Quality Jpgs 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 pictures every Monday. Media only please. THE RACE: Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 Winston Cup Race #33 of 36 for the 2003 Winston Cup season · Race: Sunday, October 26, 2003 in Hampton, GA · TV: NBC - 12:30pm/et · Pre-Race Show: NBC - 12:00pm/et - hosted by Bill Weber · Scheduled Race Re-Air: on Speed Channel a one-hour recap of the race scheduled for: Wednesday, October 29th at 7:00pm/et and again on October 30th at 1:00am/et; and a full three-hour race show will re-air at 3:00pm/et on Thursday, October 30th · Announcers: Allen Bestwick, Benny Parsons, Wally Dallenbach · Pit Reporters: Bill Weber, Matt Yocum, Marty Snider, Dave Burns · War Wagon: Bill Weber and many guests · Purse/Race Awards: $5,051,229 (was $4,765,544 in 2002) · 2002 Race Winner: Kurt Busch, 127..519mph, started 8th · Track/Event Race Record: Bobby Labonte, Nov 1997, 159.904mph · Track/Race Length: 1.54 mile oval, 325 laps, 500.5 miles · Pit Road Speed: 45mph · Most Wins - Active Driver: Bobby Labonte and Bill Elliott, 5 · Most Wins - All Time: Dale Earnhardt, 8 · Most Poles - Active Driver: Bill Elliott, 5 · Most Poles - All Time: Buddy Baker, 7 · Slowest Race Record: Fred Lorenzen, 1962, 101.983mph · Oldest Winner: Morgan Shepherd, 51 years, 4 months, 27 days, 3/20/93 · Youngest Winner: Jeff Gordon, 23 years, 7 months, 8 days, 3/12/95 · Most Cautions: 11 - 11/1993 · Fewest Cautions: 1 - 7/9/1961BR> · Most Caution Laps: 99, 11/6/1961 · Fewest Caution Laps: 7, 11/2/1986 · Most Running at the Finish: 39 - Oct 2002 · Fewest Running at the Finish: 10 - April 1964 · Worst Starting Spot to Win: Bobby Labonte, Nov 2001, started 39th · Most Lead Changes: 45 - Nov 1982 · Fewest Lead Changes: 6 - 3 times, most recently June 1963 Practice · Practice: Friday, October 24, 3:20am - 5:20pm/et; and Saturday, October 25th, 9:30 - 10:15am/et · Happy Hour Practice: Saturday, October 25th, 11:10 - 11:55am/et on TV-TNT tape delay at 12:00pm/et. Qualifying · Qualifying Draw: Friday, October 24th, 2:20pm/et · First Round Qualifying: 2 laps for positions 1-36, Friday, October 24th at 7:05pm/et, TV-Speed Channel live, re-air at 9:00pm/et and on Oct 25th at 1:00am/et. And live via PRN radio/internet (link below) and XM Satellite - NASCAR Radio (Subscription Required). Track/Event Qualifying Record: Geoffrey Bodine, Nov 1997, 197.478mph · Last Year's Pole Sitter: none, qualifying rained out · March 2003's Pole Sitter: #12-Ryan Newman, 191.417mph, finished 10th Track Specs: Degree of Banking: Turns: 24 degrees Straightaways: Banking: 5 degrees; Straights: Frontstretch - 1471 feet; Backstretch - 1380 feet. Grandstand Seating: 124,000 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - #10 Valvoline Pontiac Team Television Information Pit Contact: Jay Guy or Drew Brown Owners: Valvoline (Jim Rocco)/MB2 Motorsports (Tom Beard, Nelson Bowers, Read Morton) Crew Chief/Car Chief: Jay Guy Engine Builder: Hendrick Motorsports Spotter (Race Day) Keith Barnwell 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 Brian Perry Other Crew Members Truck Driver: 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 ### Drew Brown drewbrown@bellsouth.net 704-650-0428 cell 704-895-3651 home