Q&A: Johnny Benson, James Ince.

"I don't really know how it could be any more competitive than what we saw last season. With the teams and the amount of people they have, it's going to be extremely hard. Even James Ince can tell you that he's working day and night trying to keep our team as competitive as possible. But there's 50 other teams doing the same thing. It's going to continue to be competitive. The closer they make the rules, the more competitive it's going to be." - Johnny Benson

#10 Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny Benson and his crew chief James Ince were "tickled to death" to walk out of Daytona on Sunday with a 19th place finish.

Not only is the season's first restrictor plate race behind them, but also the duo now gets to race at the North Carolina Motor Speedway where the team earned its first victory in November.

How Has Your Life Changed Since Rockingham Victory?Johnny Benson"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 or if I'm feeling better. Now it seems like everyone asks about the victory and I think we could talk all day about that."

What Are Your Memories?JBen"I just remember racing hard there at the end and then the party we had afterward at the track and then back at our Valvoline shop in Concord. We had come so close so many times and the guys in our shop had 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.

"The Valvoline folks were pretty pumped too. They took a heck of a chance on this team two years ago and became a co-owner and supported me and James then came out looking pretty good."

Does It Make You Want More? "You bet. I hope what they say about the first one being the hardest and that the rest will come easier is true. If that happens it will be fine by me."

First- And Third-Place Finishes At The Rock In Last Three Races At Rockingham:JBen "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."

Some Have Speculated There Might Be Only One Rockingham In The Future:JBen "I hope we always run two races at Rockingham, Heck, I'd run ten races a year at Rockingham if I were in charge of NASCAR. It's a neat place and well run and it's close to home. I understand we need to expand the sport but I hope Rockingham will always be a part of NASCAR."

ON THE CHALLENGE OF GOING FROM A RESTRICTOR PLATE RACE AT DAYTONA TO THE RACE AT ROCKINGHAMJames Ince "More than anything, I think it's kind of a relief. Daytona is our biggest race of the year and we probably put more effort into Daytona than we have anything else. But this weekend is not about restrictor plates. It's not about having a buddy on the racetrack or making sure the right guy drafts with you. It's about taking your race team that you worked extremely hard on with your driver and the crew chief and all the guys on it to build the best cars. Let the driver drive the car. Let the guys pit the car and work on the springs and the shocks.

"You have more opportunity to control more of your own destiny. You've still got to do all the right things at Daytona and Talladega, but you're also at everybody else's mercy. So it just gives us the opportunity to kind of stretch our legs a little bit as a race team and see where we're really at."

SINCE YOU'VE OBVIOUSLY FOUND YOUR WAY AROUND IT, WOULD YOU BE HAPPY IF THERE WERE MORE THAN TWO RACES AT ROCKINGHAM?JI "Well, I feel like we've found our way around a lot of places. We did get our first win at Rockingham and that's always going to be special to us. But there are lots of other racetracks where we also feel we're good at as a race team. I think for us and for the future of the sport that we go to a lot of different places. We look forward to the opportunity of the schedule maybe expanding to take us to more venues. Not necessarily more dates, because I don't know that we could do any more dates. But we enjoy racing everywhere we go. There's always place where you have a better confidence level, but we're not fearful of going anywhere now."

DO OTHER RACES REQUIRE AS MUCH OR MORE PREPARATION THAN THE DAYTONA 500?JI "Actually, we work hard for all the races. Daytona is a special creature just because it is our Super Bowl. It's very important to run well there. It kicks off your season for your momentum. The only other place that I can think of where we put that extra effort into because it's almost as important as Daytona is Indianapolis. I think every single Winston Cup team tests at Indy and everybody usually builds new cars for Indy. It comes in the middle of the season. I think the reason the emphasis is there is because it's close to the halfway point in the season.

"As you learn things throughout the year, you start applying and start building that special car to go to Indy because it's such a prestigious and high-paying race. Almost as much effort goes into that car as it does going to Daytona."

IS DAYTONA JUST IT'S OWN DEAL - MEANING THAT THE SEASON REALLY BEGINS AT ROCKINGHAM? JI "I think so. Our season definitely begins at Daytona and they hand out the same amount of points there as they do at Rockingham. But it's totally different. At Daytona, you're so dependent on what the other teams have done. You're so dependent on getting the right draft and being in the right pack. When you go to Rockingham, you're basically seeing what your race team is.

"At Daytona, the cars are so close now that you can be off a little bit, but the templates can kind of keep you in line. But when you go to Rockingham, it all falls back on the team. We're going to know this week pretty much where we stand for the rest of the season. It's a while before we go back to a restrictor plate race. But we know if we put the right pit crew together and we know if we hung the body correctly and if we brought the right racecar.

"The one thing that I know going into the year is that I've got a great race car driver. Other than that, there are always changes on your team. As you go into the winter, you try to improve your race team. There's always going to be a few people that leave or your want to make additions. You always want to make the team better. You don't really know that until you get to the Rockingham and Atlanta and Las Vegas and start getting into your year. Daytona is just a little different animal."

SO A 19TH PLACE FINISH ISN'T THAT DEBILITATING AS YOU HEAD TO THE ROCK, RIGHT? JI "I'm tickled to death and doing back flips over a 19th place finish for us as a race team. We finished 10th at Daytona last year and of course we want to win that race. But if you look at our stats at the other three-restrictor place races, we finished 40th or worse (because of) wrecks and one engine failure. We kind of joked all week that I was going to call the green and then run to the Infield Care Centre because that's kind of the way our seasons have been the last two years at speedways.
"Looking at the big picture for the points, 19th is good for us. If we average out our year from where we were last year, yes we did get a top 10 finish at Daytona, but the other three (restrictor plate) races weren't that good to us. So, we'll take our 19th place finish and go back to Rockingham where we have a lot of confidence and really kick off our year there."

WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'LL BE WITH THE NEW GRAND PRIX IN A COUPLE OF MONTHS?JI "The biggest thing that we're excited about is that right now - even with the new matching aero templates and the things that NASCAR has changed for us - is that right now we are equal to where the older Pontiac was last year. I've got pretty much the same downforce and the same drag. We're pretty much in the same area and we've got a brand new car. The old Pontiac was developed in 1996. All the development was used up in that car. We got all the potential out of it.

"We're excited going into the year knowing that I have basically the same aero package going into Rockingham this week as I had going to Rockingham last fall. And yet, we have all this time left to develop it. And even though the rules are going to change and things are going to happen, this is still a new car. So, we're excited because the future is a lot brighter for us. Even if we're off a little bit now (and) if there's a possibility that the other teams have done a better job, we at least know that we've got time on our side to improve on our car as we go."

ON TYRE STRATEGY FOR THIS SEASONJI "I don't know what Goodyear is planning to do later on. They build an extremely good tyre. They're harder than what we'd probably like to see and it makes calling the race and the strategy a whole lot easier. On one hand, as a crew chief, you think you really like that and it makes it easier to decide that we don't always have to put tyres on the car.

"Personally, I'd like to see it get back to where we do have to put tyres on and that you're really gambling and that you have to have a good car to do no tyres or two tyres. Calling a race is a little bit easier in my opinion right now than what it used to be because the tyres are so good and Goodyear has done a great job. The tyres will last all day long. And that's a good thing for the safety side of it and everything that goes on. But I would like to see it revert back in the other direction so we could have more strategy and maybe you could do something more on pit road to determine the win or the loss of the race."

ON HIS OUTLOOK FOR THE SEASON LEAVING DAYTONA AND HEADING TO ROCKINGHAMJBen "We're looking forward to the 2003 season and just moving on. We've got a new Grand Prix and we're trying to get back into the swing that we ran in 2001 and how we ended up in 2002."

HAVING TESTED THE NEW PONTIAC, HOW DOES IT COMPARE TO THE OLD GRAND PRIX?JBen "We haven't tested a whole lot of places yet. But we got in one decent test out in Las Vegas. How it stacks up to other cars, we don't know until we get it into race trim and run with the other manufacturers. The balance of the car seems to be a little bit better than what we had last year. And it's running about the same speed. So that, to us, is a positive - knowing that the new Pontiac has a lot of potential in it yet. We've got to do a lot of work to get the potential out of it to get it as fast as we can as quick as we can. We feel good about it."

ARE YOU CONFIDENT ABOUT RETURNING TO ROCKINGHAM AFTER WINNING THERE LAST FALL? JBen "Absolutely. Rockingham has always been a track where we've ran pretty decent. Sometimes we haven't had good finishes, but by the same token we've always ran good there. We're comfortable with the racetrack. It's the type of racetrack that I like to race on. I was finally glad we were able to win. We've been close in the Busch Series and had had a bunch of top fives in Winston Cup too. Now we'll go down there and see how the Spring (race) works for us. I feel good going into it."

IS A TRACK LIKE ROCKINGHAM TOUGHER ON YOUR BODY THAN AT DAYTONA?JBen "Daytona, probably yes. A lot of that is a mental factor - dealing with the traffic you have to deal with. You could go down through all the tracks on a list and probably say that most all the tracks are mentally challenging and some are more physical than others. I would say that Rockingham is probably more physical than Daytona. There are other tracks that are more physical. Rockingham is a track where you do a lot of slipping and sliding and have to do a lot of sawing on the steering wheel. So yeah, it can tire you out. But it's a neat race track to race on."

WHEN YOU WAKE UP ON A MONDAY MORNING AFTER A RACE ON A SHORT TRACK OR AN INTERMEDIATE TRACK, CAN YOU TELL WHETHER OR NOT YOUR CAR WAS HANDLING RIGHT BASED ON SORE POINTS YOU HAVE ON YOUR BODY?JBen "No, not really. Sometimes if your car is not handling well and you're at the mid-pack or at the back, it seems like you have to work harder. But by the same token, being up front at any of the Winston Cup races nowadays, you're working just as hard to keep up front. I don't know if there is technically a difference because you're still sliding the car around to either catch a car or keep it from pushing. So physically you're doing the same thing running up front as you are in the back except for the fact that maybe your car is a little quicker as opposed to a little slower."

IF THE CAR IS NOT RUNNING RIGHT, DO YOUR LEGS AND ARMS HURT FROM HAVING TO STRUGGLE WITH THE HANDLING?JBen "That's hard to say. It's like walking up steps. The longer the steps are, the more your legs are going to hurt. So if you're pedalling the gas more, your leg should hurt more. So I guess if you want to look at it that way then, sure. You're going to feel some difference."

HAVE YOU HAD A CHANCE TO WATCH THE VIDEO OF YOUR VICTORY AT ROCKINGHAM?JBen "Actually, no. I have seen a couple of clips of it - at least the last 10 laps of it. As far as the race goes, the important one was the last one (lap). I watched a little bit of it at the end. You always watch certain things to see what you could do differently. It was one of those days that everything went right for us. There wasn't a lot to look at to learn from. But it was definitely a great race for us. A lot of people have commended us for winning that race and a lot of that has to do with the team. They gave us a good racecar for that day. James Ince did a tremendous job on the calls he made for the race."

WHEN DID YOU REALIZE THAT YOU COULD BE A RACE CAR DRIVER?JBen "I don't know. I started racing when I was 19 years old. So I started kind of late. But I did work in the racing business. My dad's got a parts business called 'Benson's Speed Equipment' up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I built a lot of race chassis and components for him and I've been involved with that since I was about seven years old.

"I really didn't start thinking about the driving end of it until my dad decided to retire in '81. When he decided to retire, I was kind of wondering who was going to race for the company. At that point in time I decided to build a dirt car, of all things, as opposed to an asphalt car. We were selling dirt cars and asphalt cars, but nobody had raced for the business on the dirt side so I chose that to start with. I had a lot of fun with it."

WHAT, IF ANYTHING, DID YOUR FIRST WIN DO TO SOOTH YOUR PAST EMOTIONS ABOUT RACING WELL AND ALMOST WINNING?JBen "I'd won in everything that I've raced - except for the Winston Cup Series until last year. I just felt we could get it done. If you keep knocking on that door, you're going to win one. There were so many years we were so close. But I never thought we were never going to win one. I still feel like we have more wins in us. We just have to do it maybe in a little quicker manner than we did in the past."

ON THE DAYTONA 500, WERE PEOPLE BEING TOO HARSH IN CRITICISING ABOUT HOW THE RACE ENDED DUE TO RAIN?JBen "I actually heard very little about that. Obviously, I was trying to get home. I really never gave it much thought. There have been some questions on the show that we do on Monday nights at 7 o'clock on the SPEED channel, we had some questions and thoughts about that. But at the same token, we were down there and it was still raining at 10 o'clock at night. It was raining at 8 o'clock in the morning when I was leaving Daytona to go home to Charlotte. The right thing was done and so what do you do?

"The rules state that once you're half way through, it's considered an official race if it rains. We really couldn't stay down there. There are two sides to the coin. Some people would say that the race had to be finished because it's the Daytona 500 and it's a huge race. There's no doubt. But, every race on the schedule is huge. So, if you waited three days to run that race, then the same thing would have to happen at every race you run. Then that changes the rulebook.

"There were a lot of people on planes going home Monday morning because they couldn't stay anyway. It's a very tough decision. Do I believe it's right or wrong? I think it depends on which fan you talk to. I think it's fine. There's nothing you can do. You have to move forward. We have to go to Rockingham for the first time a day early to get the cars through tech inspection. It's just putting these teams way behind if you ended up being there on Tuesday. But yeah, I wish the Daytona 500 would have been able to run in its entirety on Sunday."

IS THAT LIKE COMPARING IT WITH A RED SOX PLAYER IN THE 7TH INNING WITH A TWO-ONE LEAD OVER THE YANKEES PRAYING FOR RAIN SO THEY CAN WIN THE RACE?JBen "I don't follow baseball. I don't know if their rulebook says they can finish in the 7th inning. Their rules might say they have to complete all 9 innings. Ours states half way. We don't make the rules, we just follow the rules. I think the question would be that if they changed the rules to say that Daytona is completed when we run all 500 miles. What happens when you go to Rockingham and it rains there? Or Charlotte, and it rains there. Then you're re-writing the rulebook. They saw what the weather was going to bring. Now the next question is going to be, 'Is TV going to cover the race two days later?' Are there going to be any fans there two days later to watch the race? We've had a lot of races end under these circumstances, but not the Daytona 500. At least, not that often. I think a lot of people are maybe upset because it's the first race of the year."

ON THE UNIQUE QUALIFYING PROCEDURE FOR THE DAYTONA 500JBen "That race has always been that way since I've been there, so that's the only thing I'm accustomed to. It's kind of a neat. Obviously, it's our biggest race of the year. They throw out a couple of qualifying races you have to run. It gives you an idea of what your racecar is going to do for the 500. It gives you an opportunity to get on the racetrack.

"But at times, you can go down there and be feeling pretty stressful about it if things aren't going your way. For new teams coming in, it gives them an opportunity to maybe not just qualify the car - maybe not be fully prepared for qualifying, but give them an opportunity to race in. But that's the Daytona 500. I don't foresee the 125's ever changing or qualifying ever changing either."

WHAT RACE STICKS OUT IN YOUR MIND AS THE 'WIN THAT GOT AWAY'?JBen "Well, there's every one that you finish second, third, fourth, or fifth in that you could go back and wish you would have done this or that......or, what could we have done that could have made us better in that area. I think running the Brickyard back in '96 in my rookie year was something. We had a pretty good control of the race. We ran good and led a lot of laps. We were in position to win that race that kind of got away from us on a pit stop. I can think of (a race at) Darlington where the same thing happened. We were running extremely well and leading the race when we had an issue where the pit stop could have - it's really hard to say what would have happened - that cost us some positions.

"Martinsville is another one where we ran extremely strong. We were right there but weren't able to quite get in the lead there at the end. You could sit there and probably do that for every race that you finished in the top five and wish you would have done this or that."

WITH ALL THE PERSONNEL AND EQUIPMENT CHANGES, WILL THE FANS SEE A MORE COMPETITIVE SEASON IN '03?JBen "I don't really know how it could be any more competitive than what we saw last season. With the teams and the amount of people they have, it's going to be extremely hard. Even James Ince can tell you that he's working day and night trying to keep our team as competitive as possible. But there's 50 other teams doing the same thing. It's going to continue to be competitive. The closer they make the rules, the more competitive it's going to be."