Pennzoil Pontiac Racing Preview: Benson Heads for Atlanta
6 November 1997
Johnny Benson on Atlanta Pennzoil Pontiac driver Johnny Benson still has unfinished business when he drives in his last race for Bahari' Racing on Nov. 16 at the newly reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway. Benson's bid to get into the top 10 depends on next weekend's season-ending race. Benson is tied for 12th place trailing 10th place Ted Musgrave by 45 points. 10 Ted Musgrave 3486 11 Ken Schrader 3473 12 Jeremy Mayfield 3441 13 Johnny Benson 3441 14 Ernie Irvan 3402 ...Atlanta: "Man is that track fast. We turned laps right at 29 seconds here last month. We also had our computer equipment on the Pennzoil Pontiac and it showed we were right at 200 mph. That's pretty fast on a mile-and-a-half track with 40 other cars around you. I've heard talk about increasing the spoiler size for this race. If they do that it should slow the cars some, but it also kind of throws out a lot of what we learned during testing." ...tires at Atlanta: "Tires are going to be critical at this race. They were lasting about 30 to 40 laps because of the new surface. As the weekend goes on and more rubber gets down on the track they will probably go longer, but I think tires are going to dictate pitstops more than fuel mileage." ...will points battle on points race effect this: "No. We are not going to worry about Ted (Musgrave) or whoever else is ahead of us or who is behind us in points. That just gets confusing. We are going to try to run in the top ten or top five like we do every weekend and let the points take care of themselves." ...on last race: "I'm going to drive this last race just as hard as I drove in the first race. As far as in the car there is nothing different about this weekend. But outside the car, sure it will be different. I've spent just about every weekend over the last two years with these guys and it's going to be a little sad saying good-bye. But, they are going to be OK, Pennzoil's going to be OK and I'm going to be OK. This is a pretty good team and sponsor and I've had a lot of fun here." Johnny Benson's Winston Cup Career at Atlanta Race S F LC TL Status 1996 Purolator 500 1 38 107 328 Handling 1996 NAPA 500 16 27 325 328 Running 1997 Purolator 500 40 11 328 328 Running For More Information Contact: Drew Brown Cohn & Wolfe (404) 880-5269 drew_brown@cohnwolfe.com