NASCAR WCUP: Alternator Drains Benson's Chances of Pocono Victory
24 July 2000
Have you ever been late for work on a cold winter day only to get in your car, turn the ignition and hear an awful clicking sound of a dead battery?If you know that feeling then you know just how Johnny Benson felt with about 40 laps to go in Sunday's NASCAR Winston Cup race. An alternator problem drained the battery in his #10 Pontiac almost turning his team's sparkling debut with MB2 Motorsports into a nightmare.
However, a quick pit stop during a timely caution to change the battery and some late-race heroics salvaged a 12th-place finish in the 3-hour-and-49-minute race.
"We had a lot better car than that 12thplace finish today," Benson said after the race. "It was one of those deals where I don't know what happened. The battery was draining on us a little bit, and it finally went dead on us."
The alternator problem plagued Benson's car since early in the race but grew worse near the end. Until then the all-white unsponsored Pontiac blitzed the 43-car field carving its way up from its 9th-place starting spot and running in the top five all day including a 3-lap stint in the lead.
"This car was up there with some of the best I have ever driven," Benson said. "Everywhere I've been I've had some pretty good cars. But this car was pretty consistent all day. It was a top-three race car. I don't know if it could have won the race, but it was top-three, for sure. And that would have given us an opportunity to maybe pull it off. But it just wasn't meant to be."
Benson led when a yellow fell for Dale Earnhardt's cut tire with about 50 laps left in the 200-lap race. Benson and crew planned to stop in about ten more laps enabling them to go the rest of the race with only one more fuel stop.
Everyone else needed an additional stop.
"I think we had them covered on fuel mileage," said Crew Chief James Ince. "But it didn't work out like we hoped."
The yellow flag messed it up and on the restart Benson began reporting a serious loss of power because of the draining battery. As the crew debated whether to bring him in under green flag conditions another yellow flew allowing the crew to replace the battery and fall to the last car on the lead lap.
Benson restarted the race in 28th and worked his way to 12th when the checkered flag flew. Rusty Wallace won Sunday's race after teammate Jeremy Mayfield's tire disintegrated on the final lap.
Benson's memorable day came in front of MB2 owners Nelson Bowers, Tom Beard and Read Morton who purchased the assets of Tyler Jet Motorsports last week from Tim Beverley who also attended Sunday's race.
The team returns to action in two weeks at Indianapolis.