Benson To Defend Rockingham Title
#10 Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny Benson has pleasant memories of last year’s race at the North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham race. It resulted in Benson’s first career victory. The day included a meeting of the Johnny Benson Fan Club that saw about 100 of the 6,700 members visit with Benson in a hospitality tent before the race. Benson plays hosts to his fan club meeting again on Sunday and hopes he can put on the same type of performance during the race. Rockingham might be Benson's favorite track and with a productive tire test at Homestead last week he hopes to end his tenure in the #10 car on a high note at the final two races. Rockingham: “Last year’s win was great, but with what has been going on here lately another win at Rockingham would be even better. We have had it circled on the calendar for a while. Heck, we have even talked about how we would celebrate if we were lucky enough to win again. It will be something you have never seen before. We are motivated. We want to win. This team has been together for four years and we want to win Rockingham or Homestead just as much as we wanted to win Daytona when we first started. That would be going out in style. “I like Rockingham. Obviously, part of it is that it’s fast and kind of medium banked which fits my driving style. The other part is something I can’t explain. I just feel comfortable there. We clinched the Busch Series title there in 1995 and then to get our first Cup victory makes Rockingham a really special place to me.” Fan Club Meeting At Rockingham: "Yeah we started a deal last year where we invited everyone in the fan club to Rockingham. Last year it worked perfectly. They had a hospitality tent so I hung out there Sunday morning and then we won the race with all of them sitting in the stands. My sister Barb runs the fan club and does a really good job. If you are ever feeling down or frustrated with what is going on at the track you go to one of those type of things and walk out of there feeling a lot better. I think that is true with all drivers. The fans can really lift you up sometimes." How Has Your Life Changed Since Rockingham Last Year? “It hasn’t changed much. I sure get asked about it a lot and that’s great. I got tired of people asking when I was going to win. Now it seems like everyone asks when are we going to get that second one." What Are Your Memories? “I just remember racing hard there at the end and then the party we had afterward at the track and then back at our #10 shop. We had come so close so many times and the guys deserved that win. We say it all the time, but the fans need to know just how hard and how many hours those guys who work for these teams put in every week.” Only One Rockingham Race in 2004: “I’d run ten races a year at Rockingham were it up to me.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Benson At Rockingham Date S F 2/23/2003 2 13 11/3/2002 26 1 02/24/2002 3 23 11/04/2001 39 3 02/25/2001 8 6 10/22/2000 14 11 02/27/2000 34 14 10/24/1999 21 28 02/21/1999 37 16 11/01/1998 2 41 02/22/1998 8 30 10/27/1997 20 36 02/23/1997 21 27 10/20/1996 38 40 02/25/1996 3 20 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 Atlanta 30 24 Phoenix 35 21 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - 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: Pop-Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 Winston Cup Race #35 of 36 for the 2003 Winston Cup season Race: Sunday, November 9, 2003 in Rockingham, NC TV: TNT - 1:00pm/et Pre-Race Show: TNT - 12:30pm/et - hosted by Bill Weber Scheduled Race Re-Air: on Speed Channel a one-hour recap of the race scheduled for: Wednesday, November 12th at 7:00pm/et and again on November 13th at 1:00am/et; and a full three-hour race show will re-air at 3:00pm/et on Thursday, November 12th 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 Purse/Race Awards: (was $3,868,755 in 2002) 2002 Race Winner: Johnny Benson, 128.526mph, started 26th Race Record: Jeff Burton, Oct 1999, 131.103mph Most Wins - Active Driver: Rusty Wallace, 5 Most Wins - All Time: Richard Petty, 11 Most Poles - Active Driver/All-Time: Mark Martin, Kyle Petty, 5 Most Top 5s: 20 - Richard Petty Most Top 10s: 29 - Darrell Waltrip Slowest Race Record: Richard Petty, 1977, 97.860mph Oldest Winner: Bobby Allison, 46 years, 3 months, 1 days, 3/4/84 Youngest Winner: Jeff Gordon, 23 years, 6 months, 22 days, 2/26/95 Most Cautions: 14 - Twice, most recently 10/22/89 Most Caution Laps: 118, 3/13/1977 Fewest Cautions: 2 - 3 times, most recently 11/4/2001 Fewest Caution Laps: 12, 10/25/1992 Most on the Lead Lap: 19 - twice, most recently 2/24/2002 Fewest on the Lead Lap: 1 - 15 times, most recently 3/28/1982 Most Running at the Finish: 42 - 2/27/2000 Fewest Running at the Finish: 13 - Twice, most recently 10/29/67 Worst Starting Spot to Win: Neil Bonnet, 1988, started 30th Most Lead Changes: 36 - Twice, most recently 10/30/1983 Fewest Lead Changes: 2 - 3/18/1973 Most Laps Led by a Race Winner: 491 - David Pearson, 3/181973 Fewest Laps Led by a Race Winner: 13 - Darrell Waltrip 3/1/1981 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Practice Practice: Friday, November 7th, 11:20 - 1:20pm/et; and Saturday, November 8th, 9:30 - 10:15am/et Happy Hour Practice: Saturday, November 8th, 11:10 - 11:55am/et on TV-TNT tape delay at 2:00pm/et. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Qualifying Qualifying Draw: Friday, November 7th, 10:20am/et First Round Qualifying: 2 laps for positions 1-36, Friday, November 7th at 3:05pm/et, TV-TNT live Track Qualifying Record: Rusty Wallace, Feb 2000, 158.035mph Event Qualifying Record: Mark Martin, Oct 1999, 157.383mph Last Year's Pole Sitter: Ryan Newman, 132.655, finished 18th February 2003's Pole Sitter: #12-Ryan Newman, 155.836mph, finished ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Track Specs: North Carolina Speedway, know as 'The Rock': Track/Race Length: 1.017 mile oval, 393 laps, 399.68 miles Degree of Banking: Turns 1-2: 22 degrees; Turns 3-4: 25 degrees; Straightaways: 8 degrees Width: Turns 55 feet wide; Straightaways: 50 feet wide Number of Pits: 45 on front straight (1,436 ft. long) pit road Pit Stalls: 30 feet long; 16 feet wide Length of Front Straight: 1,300 feet Length of Back Straight: 1,367 feet Length of Turns 1 & 2: 1,256 feet Length of Turns 3 & 4: 1,437 feet Grandstand Seating: 60,113 Pit Road Speed: 45mph ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - #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) Mark Green 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