New colours for Valvoline Pontiac.

Johnny Benson will be carrying a revised look into next season's NASCAR Winston Cup series, following sponsor Valvoline's decision to rework the paint scheme on the #10 Pontiac.

The 2001 season saw Valvoline embark on a landmark campaign to become the first major consumer products company in history to own a NASCAR Winston Cup team, sharing ownership of the #10 Pontiac along with Nelson Bowers, Read Morton, and Tom Beard, the owners of MB2 Motorsports.

The classic blue, white and red livery has been tweaked to give the Pontiac a fresh look, although the basic scheme remains largely unaltered. The front of the car will still be predominantly white, with the large Valvoline 'V' adorning the bonnet, but the rear end gets a touch more red in the design made public today [Tuesday].

"I really like what Valvoline came up with," Benson said, "This new scheme gives our team its own identity, plus I think our fans are really going to like it. It's a little bit different than what the Valvoline car has looked like in the past, but I think everyone likes the change."

Benson's new paint scheme will make its first appearance on a race track at Daytona in February, where the six-year veteran will sport a set of mainly red overalls. Jim Rocco, senior vice-president of Valvoline, admitted that he had reviewed over a dozen different designs commissioned by the oil company before settling on the one now carried by the #10 team.

"We took our time and listened to a lot of people," Rocco said, "This was a tough decision, but we wanted something that would please our millions of customers, race fans, and our race team."

Although #10 entry has become synonymous with Valvoline during the 2001 season, Benson also campaigned on behalf of Eagle One, Zerex and Max-Life, and sported speciality paint schemes featuring James Dean and various employee designs. This policy will continue in 2002, with some speciality schemes that will be announced later in the year.