Benson Not Happy Or Mad About 16th Place Charlotte Finish

29 May 2000

(Monday, May 29, Lowes Motor Speedway) - Johnny Benson wasn't exactly happy with Sunday night's 16th place finish in the 600-mile NASCAR Winston Cup race in Charlotte, N.C.

But he couldn't be disappointed with the finish either.

"No I'm not happy, because I think we're better than that," said Benson after the 4 hour and 12 minute race. "I just think we were better today than where we finished. We just chased a couple little things. But that's not a bad day from where we qualified (39th) and the work the guys did during the week to get this car ready. But I think everybody knows we want to be a little better than that."

Benson began the longest race of the season in 39th place and battled through traffic to stay on the lead lap until a little past the halfway mark when Dale Earnhardt Jr. raced past him.

The Lycos Pontiac was almost a half-second faster by itself than it was in traffic.

"We were good by ourselves just like we practiced Thursday night but we weren't as good in traffic. I was trying to get the nose of the car in the clean air and not behind another cars all night. I can't explain why that is. It's just all part of the mystery of aerodynamics."

But when he wasn't struggling in traffic Benson reported the car was having trouble running on the straight-aways.

"We will have to figure that out this week at the shop," he said. "We couldn't pull off the corners."

With all those difficulties it's hard to believe the James Ince led team had one of the quickest cars Sunday night. Ince called for major handling changes each pit stop in an effort to correct all of the problems and the crew turned in some quick pit stops.

Normally the 600-mile race is an endurance test for drivers who spend most of the weekend drinking liquids in preparation. But rain came on lap 254 causing almost an hour intermission.

The drivers welcomed the rain.

"I don't think the rain did anything. It just gave us a break," Benson said. "The track was obviously in real good shape when we went back racing again. In about 10 laps in came right back in to where it was before the rain. I don't think anybody was doing anything cautious. I think everybody just went right to it."

Rookie Matt Kenseth drove past Bobby Labonte with 26 laps remaining in the race then held him off to win by seven car lengths. It was Kenseth's first career victory.

The Tyler Jet Motorsports team returns to action this weekend in Dover.

2000 Driver Standings

1 Bobby Labonte 1776

2 Ward Burton 1722

3 Mark Martin 1695

4 Dale Earnhardt 1693

5 Jeff Burton 1672

6 Dale Jarrett 1630

7 Rusty Wallace 1578

8 Jeff Gordon 1539

9 Ricky Rudd 1523

10 Tony Stewart 1456

11 Terry Labonte 1454

12 Mike Skinner 1414

13 Matt Kenseth 1394

14 Jeremy Mayfield 1359

15 Bill Elliott 1339

16 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 1326

17 Steve Park 1263

18 Chad Little 1252

19 Johnny Benson 1237

20 Sterling Marlin 1232

21 Ken Schrader 1221

22 John Andretti 1178

23 Jimmy Spencer 1156

24 Michael Waltrip 1103

25 Joe Nemechek 1088

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