Pennzoil Pontiac Racing Report: Loose Lugnuts
13 October 1997
Oct 1997 Talladega, Ala. Loose Lugnuts lead to Maybes for Benson A few loose lugnuts might have kept Pennzoil Pontiac driver Johnny Benson from a good finish Sunday at the Talladega Superspeedway and prevented the 1996 Rookie of the Year from moving into the top ten in the 1997 Winston Cup point standings. Those loose lugnuts also might have prevented Benson's day from ending in a 17-car accident in turn three and dropping him below the 12th place he now occupies in the point standings after Sunday's Diehard 500. Benson started and finished 19th on Sunday. Like most drivers, Benson moved up and down the field in the 40-car draft, but appeared to have a top ten car when he came into the pits on lap 110. The four-tire stop appeared to prepare the Bahari' team for a late race run. "There something wrong," Benson radioed the crew seconds later. "It feels like there is a wheel coming off, like we left a few lugnuts off." Unfortunately, the second-year driver pinpointed the problem and the Pennzoil Pontiac fell down a lap after the unscheduled stop to change all four tires. He returned to the track in 40th-place and appeared ready to lose another lap to the hard charging draft when Jeff Gordon's cut tire sent the points leader sliding in front of the whole pack causing one of the biggest accidents of the season. Benson took advantage of the accident and moved up to the 20th position, but was never able to regain the lost lap. "Yeah we might have been in the accident, but we really beat ourselves today and you just can't do that at this level of racing," Benson said. Benson dropped to 12th in the points race but just a few points out of tenth. Several drivers climbed in the standings making for a dramatic battle for the top ten in the final three races of the year. Points Battle For Tenth 8 Bill Elliott 3536 9 Ted Musgrave 3322 10 Rusty Wallace 3242 11 Ken Schrader 3240 12 J. Benson 3235 13 J. Mayfield 3217 14 Ernie Irvan 3214 15 Ricky Rudd 3180 Benson and the Pennzoil Pontiac return to the track in two weeks at the North Carolina Speedway. The Bahari' team will test there Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. For More Information Contact: Drew Brown Cohn & Wolfe (404) 880-5269 drew_brown@cohnwolfe.com