Texas: Johnny Benson race report

Johnny Benson and his Brangus Breeders Toyota Tundra went into Texas Motor Speedway this past weekend with hopes of finishing strong and moving up in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series point standings.

Practice kicked off Thursday morning and Benson and his No. 23 Tundra needed a lot of improvement right off the bat. Trip Bruce (crew chief) and the guys got to work in between practices and by the end of the final session, Benson let his Brangus crew know that he was very happy with his truck.

Going out pretty early in the qualifying order and on an extremely hot racetrack, Benson knew it would be tough to run a strong lap. Mustering a 30.841 second lap, Benson qualified himself in the 15th position for the start of Friday night's race under the lights.

As the green flag waved over the hot and slick Texas track, Benson radioed over to his No. 23 Brangus Breeders crew that his Tundra was sliding all over the place. As the first caution flag would wave on lap 34, Benson would dive down pit road for four tires, fuel, a trackbar and a wedge adjustment. With an incredibly quick pitstop, Benson would restart the race in the eighth position, six positions better than when he came in.

Benson's truck would become better under the long green flag run, but still needed to be a bit freer. As he continued to move his way through the field another caution flag would wave on lap 62 and Benson would once again come to pit road. This time however, for fuel and a wedge adjustment only, which allowed Benson to take the lead off pit road.

Keeping the lead until lap 70, Benson would fight to stay up front as his truck would be the best it has been all night. However as the third caution of the night would come out on lap 88, Benson along with the rest of the leaders would come back to pit road. Once again taking four tires, fuel and making a wedge adjustment, Benson would restart the race in the 13th position due to many in the back of the field not pitting.

On lap 97, Benson would radio over to crew chief, Trip Bruce that his Tundra was wicked loose. Having to remain calm and wait it out, Benson still continued to move his way back to the front. By lap 110, Benson was in the sixth position and his truck had become much better under the long run.

Now being able to pick off positions one by one, Benson found himself in the second position by lap 156. Battling back and forth within the top-three for the remainder of the race, Benson would cross the start/finish line in the third position and vault himself up to the third spot in points, just 55 points out of the lead.

Benson and the rest of the Craftsman Truck Series will head to his hometown track, the Michigan International Speedway next week. The race will be televised live June 14th on Speed Channel.

-credit: bdr