Q&A: Johnny Benson - Pt.1.

Johnny Benson and the #10 Valvoline Pontiac team-mates begin their 2002 testing schedule today [Sunday] at Daytona International Speedway, as Benson hopes the 2002 season will see him improve on his 11th place finish in the points from 2001.

The Pontiac driver scored a career-best six top-five finishes and led 101 laps during the 2001 season, but continues to chase an elusive first Winston Cup victory.

Q:
What do you hope to learn from the three days [13-15 January] at Daytona?

Johnny Benson:
A driver doesn't learn much during those tests. I think Daytona testing is all about getting the car fast not the driver. As a driver, you get the car adjusted so you are comfortable. By that I mean you get the seat, the mirror, the steering wheel all fitted to your liking, but superspeedway testing is basically about shaking down your car to see where you are at for the Speedweeks.

Q:
Will you get the chance to run the new superspeedway regulations in the draft during testing?

JB:
I think we are supposed to draft on the third day at Daytona. As long as everyone does it, then I think it will be a great thing. It will help NASCAR see how the draft works with the new rules. It will give us an even better indication of where we are going into Speedweeks. They have been moving the rules around and changing them a lot so drafting at the test will help us out a bunch.

At these tests before, you could never get everyone together to do any drafting. It seems like we spend so much time working on qualifying and doing one or two lap runs. Before it seemed like we spent 95 per cent of our time working on qualifying, and about five per cent on the race. We are sitting good enough points that we can afford to work more on race set-up. Personally, I wish we would work all on race set-up. But, everyone emphasises on qualifying because Daytona isn't a race you want to miss. I mean you don't ever want to miss a race - but especially not Daytona.

Q:
Looking back on 2001, do you rate it as a good season?

JB:
No, I wasn't totally pleased. We didn't reach our goals. We wanted to win a race and we wanted to finish in the top six in points, and we didn't achieve that. We know those were lofty but you have to aim high. It wasn't from a lack of hard work. We worked hard all year, but we broke six or seven engines and that really hurt us.

We had a decent season. To finish eleventh isn't bad and we had three third place finishes - and there aren't a lot of teams that can say that. We're just going to keep working hard. And, man, I'm looking forward to the new season. This is a really good group of guys and we are starting to mature and become a really good team.

Q:
Is a win your primary aim for 2002?

JB:
We have about the same goals as we had last year. I think we can finish in the top six and we'd like to win a race. Both of those aren't too far out of our reach. We are getting better and better each year and I expect that to continue in 2002. There are some guys who have won a race before we have but there are very few teams who run as well as we do week in and week out and in the long run that is going to help our program more than anything else.

Q:
Would you like to make any predictions for the coming season?

JB:
I think it will be a pretty good year for the fans. We had a lot of controversy last season and I think that is all behind us. That's normal for a sport growing as ours is. I think this season you will see more focus on what's going on the racetrack. I think some great finishes, a close points battle, and drama like that are going to make for a great season. If we can get the focus back on what is happening on the track then we are going to be pretty entertaining for all the race fans.

Q:
There are people outside of the #10 team already thinking that a trip to Victory Lane is on the cards - are you anticipating a victory in 2002?

JB:
I like the attention we're getting from the fans and media about us getting our first win. That means they are noticing that we are running good each race and that is great. You always like being complimented. I can't wait until I don't have to answer questions about when we are going to win, but that will come. I'm glad people take an interest in our team. We think we made a lot of fans as we overcame all the adversity that we had to overcome. As long as we keep running as well as we are, a win will take care of itself.

I'm not frustrated by not having that win yet, and I'm not frustrated because we're close. I'm happy that we're close, that we're having these opportunities to maybe win one of these races. If you're running tenth, 15th, 20th or 25th, that's when I get frustrated. If you're running in the top ten or in the top five, one of these days we're going to get it done, so we're not frustrated with finishing second although the end goal is to be first. I'd rather be in that scenario than in the other, as far as being at the back. I'd be more frustrated at the back than I am running in the top ten.

Q:
How do you plan to celebrate that first victory?

JB:
We're not worried about that, yet. We'll figure it out if we win one. You don't try to plan for a party, you've got to win first and then make a party. That's how we're working on it.

Q:
Is corporate ownership like Valvoline's going to set the trend for the future?

JB:
I don't know if it is the wave of the future. It's got to be right for the owner to do that. It's got to be right for the team to do that. In our case, it was perfect for Valvoline to become our sponsor, but also a co-owner of the race team. That's what they wanted out of the deal and that's what we needed. For us, it's a good deal. It may not be for the next guy, but it is for Valvoline and our race team.

Q:
How is it that Valvoline is playing an ownership role with the #10 team?

JB:
We were in a situation in 2000 where we didn't have a sponsor, we were out of money and we were pretty much shut down and out of business. MB2 came along and purchased half of the race team and Valvoline purchased the other half. Aaron's came on board and let us finish out the year, which was a great thing.

Valvoline owning us is a totally different situation for them and us. It allows Valvoline to go ahead and do its own marketing. They can see what they want. When we bang on the door and we want more money, they can look and say, 'OK, I can see where we need that,' and not have such a big issue. This way the sponsor isn't wondering where the money is going. They've got a pretty good idea. I think for [crew chief] James [Ince] and the guys it's got to be a pretty good situation for them, too.

Q:
Has Valvoline allowed you to concentrate more on racing?

JB:
Valvoline has allowed us to do it to do more research and more development stuff in other areas that we couldn't do in the past. That's real important to having a good race team and then turning it into a great race team. That is what having a sponsor like Valvoline is enabling us to do. It let's us work in these areas that we need to get stronger in and be better at, and be able to
spend money in these areas to improve them.

Q:
What are your views on the safety issue in NASCAR at the moment?

JB:
That's a tough question. I think NASCAR's safety effort is getting better. What they are doing isn't easy. There are areas that being looked at that need to be looked at and I think everybody is doing what they can. But they don't want to just all of a sudden change things. If we could find somebody that knows and can evaluate everything that is going on and can give us a direction today, we'd fix it tomorrow. But the problem is they can't give us that answer yet, so we're looking at a lot of different things. As soon as somebody comes up and says, 'This is the deal and this is going to make a difference,' then that's what we need to do.

Q:
Restrictor plate racing - which has caused more than its fair share of incidents in recent years - is being addressed by NASCAR. Where do you stand on the issue?

JB:
Our current rules [in restrictor plate races] were put in place because we basically didn't like some of the other rules. Bobby Allison's wreck was pretty scary and the last thing we want is for cars to do what his did at Talladega.

The plate was brought as a too produce great racing for the people in the stands while slowing the cars. But, we felt like the packs were just a little bit too tight. One mistake and the whole field was wrecking. Sure, we want great racing. We want the fans to see great racing. But at times, these rules were jeopardising equipment and risking injury; so it was just time to evaluate the whole system.

I think NASCAR is really listening to the drivers and teams now and in time we will come up with something to satisfy all of the concerns. But, you've got to respect the organisation for trying to get our side of the story - from where we sit in the cars and what we see. As drivers, we're certainly conscious of what the fans want to see. We just need to find some kind of happy medium.

Q:
What strategy do you adopt in plate races?

You can't strategise. You just have to make sure that you're in the right place at the right time, and hope that you're in the right place if something happens. Myself, I don't want to be halfway back in the field in the middle row because if something happens, you're in it. It's almost guaranteed that you're going to be in it - 99.8 per cent of the time when a wreck happens and you're in the middle of the field in the middle row, you're going to have some damage to the race car.

I try not to think about plate racing strategy until the race because the race itself is going to wear you out. I try not to get all worked up for the fact that you know that it's going to be a stressful day going into the deal. When it comes down to it, you need to put yourself in a position at the end of the race to have legitimate shot of winning the race. If you're in a wreck with 25 to 40 [laps] to go, there is not a whole lot you can do about that because you've got to get yourself in that position.

But the first 160 laps you might as well hang out somewhere where there is not going to be problems. You better either be leading it or running last - however you want to play it. Sure, leading is the best place to be. If you're in the top four or five, you're fairly confident that you can run with those guys up there and not have a huge problem. But when you start to get to tenth, man, I would just as soon be at the back. The problem is that you can wreck trying to get out of there to try to get to the back.

You just have to find where you're comfortable. If you're comfortable, then you're okay. But if you feel like you're in somewhere that you don't really want to be, then you've got to do something to get yourself out of there. The problem is it may take you 20 laps to get out of there, so it's a tough deal. A lot can happen in 20 laps - heck, a lot can happen in a half a second.

[Part two of this interview will appear shortly....]