Johnny Benson finished
first in tonight's NASCAR
Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS)
race at Kentucky Speedway.
It was Benson's second NCTS
win this season (Milwaukee
and Kentucky), and his 11th
career NCTS victory. All 11
of his wins have come in the
Bill Davis Racing No. 23
Tundra. Toyota drivers
Michael Annett (second),
David Starr (fifth), Mike
Skinner (sixth), Kyle Busch
(seventh), Terry Cook
(eighth) and Marc Mitchell
(ninth) also registered
top-10 finishes. Other
Toyota drivers in the field
included Ted Musgrave
(13th), Todd Bodine (27th),
Justin Marks (31st) and
Chrissy Wallace (33rd).
Tundra drivers have now
registered six NCTS wins in
2008. Benson (Kentucky and
Milwaukee) and Busch
(California and Atlanta)
each have a pair of wins.
Other Camry drivers with
race wins this season
include Todd Bodine
(Daytona) and Scott Speed
(Dover) Tundra drivers have
won 44 races since the
beginning of the 2004 NCTS
season. Mike Skinner started
from the pole at Kentucky
and Kyle Busch started on
the outside of row one.
Skinner picked up his third
pole position this season
(Dover, Michigan and
Kentucky), his 31st NCTS
pole in a Toyota Tundra and
the 46th NCTS pole of his
career. Tundra drivers have
won 57 poles since the
beginning of the 2004 NCTS
season.
JOHNNY BENSON, No. 23
Toyota Certified Used
Vehicles Tundra, Bill Davis
Racing Finished: 1st How
does it feel to be in
'Victory Lane' tonight?
"This is awesome, awesome.
Trip Bruce (crew chief) is
the man. He just really
built a great truck. It was
tough. Have to thank TRD and
Toyota for the great bodies
and the great horsepower. It
ran good, but it wasn't easy
today. It may have looked
easy, it was just a little
slick out there today. We
had great pit stops. We
played a little strategy
because we had a loose right
front tire -- which I'm glad
that caution came out. These
guys continue to do a great
job "
How does it feel to be
pack in the lead in the
point standings? "The race
was great. We were in the
points lead for those two
races which was great. I
made a mistake at Memphis
and over- revved the engine.
We were running second (at
Memphis) and had a great run
and I felt we would have
continued to run well. Trip
Bruce (crew chief) and the
guys -- time and time --
have done a tremendous job
on our Tundra. It's just a
pleasure to go out there and
race with these guys and
have an opportunity to win
races. Our goal is to try
and win the championship.
Man, everybody that has got
up there in the points has
definitely had issues. If
you would back up the last
two seasons -- with the
amount of issues that we all
have had -- there's no way
that any of us should win
the championship based off
the last two years. It's
been amazing on that aspect.
It's great for Craftsman to
have a points battle that's
just unbelievable. It's a
lot of fun to be a part of,
I can tell you that."
How did you make that
pass in turn three to take
the lead? "It was pretty
cool on my end. There are a
couple other guys that
didn't like it. We got such
a great run off turn two. We
started fourth and there
were some lapped cars in
there. They got tied up just
a little bit and I had a
tremendous run off turn two.
I got alongside the 18
(Dennis Setzer) and I
thought; "We're in pretty
good shape here.' I figured
I would hold him up a little
bit and we both had a good
run on the 22 (Michael
Annett). I knew it was going
to be -- obviously, a 50-50
shot -- whether he was going
to get off the gas and push
him a little bit or turn
left. He turned left like I
expected him to so I had to
turn left. So, it was a mad
dash down to the corner. It
was just a mad dash down the
corner. I went into the
corner straight. I stayed as
low as I could. Hopefully, I
gave those gave those guys
more than enough room. At
that point in time I' m sure
I had the best spot. I'm
glad the 22 (Michael Annett)
was able to come out of
there in second-place and
have a one-two finish for
Bill Davis Racing."
JOHNNY BENSON, No. 23
Toyota Certified Used
Vehicles Tundra, Bill Davis
Racing (continued) Does this
win give you some momentum?
"I think we've been good all
year. We had our problems at
Atlanta which kind of hurt
us there. We had problems at
Martinsville. Of course,
last week (Memphis) we had
the engine problem. That was
probably the huge hurt
because that was preventable
and the other ones may have
not been. Just week in and
week out Trip (Bruce, crew
chief) gives me something
that is capable of winning
the race, or at least
running in the top-five, for
sure. If we can see the
front and get there, I'm
clearly confident that if we
work hard, we'll get there.
Bill and Gail Davis gave me
a great opportunity to have
fun. This is way cool for
us."
MICHAEL ANNETT, No. 22
Pilot Travel Centers Tundra,
Bill Davis Racing Finished:
2nd How was your truck
tonight? "It's just this
equipment I'm in and the
guys that I'm surrounded
with, like Doug Wolcatt
(crew chief). He made a
great call there tonight and
track position was
everything. J.B. (Johnny
Benson) got by us and who
better to follow than your
teammate. Our truck came to
life when I got behind him.
After that, the
'double-deuce' was running
pretty fast."
How did your truck handle
tonight? "We had a couple
different trucks tonight. We
were pretty tight early and
then after our first pit
stop we were pretty loose.
The truck was just
completely back in traffic.
The crew chief (Doug
Wolcott) made a great call
with two tires there and got
us great track position out
front. Johnny Benson got by
us and after that is was
just follow the veteran. We
had probably a truck as
equal to him, but not any
faster. It was pretty cool
to get Bill Davis trucks in
the top two."
DAVID STARR, No. 11 Red
Horse Racing Tundra, Red
Horse Racing Finished: 2nd
How was your race tonight?
"I love Kentucky Speedway
and this is a great facility
for the NASCAR Craftsman
Truck Series to race at.
Tonight's race was very
exciting not only for the
teams and drivers but for
the fans. My No. 11 Red
Horse Racing team is the
just awesome and gave me an
amazing truck. Tom DeLoach
and Jeff Hammond, my owners,
have a great race team and I
could not be happier. My
crew chief Jamie Jones made
all the right adjustments
and calls on pit road
tonight, and my pit crew had
great stops. We started 17th
and were not very good at
the beginning of the race,
but every adjustment that
Jamie (Jones) made allowed
my Toyota Tundra to come
alive. I thought I was
really going to be able to
catch Dennis (Setzer) there
at the end, but every time
that I got close to him, I
would just lose the nose of
my truck. But, it is great
to have another top-five
finish and I could not be
prouder of my Red Horse
Racing team."
MIKE SKINNER, No. 5
Toyota Tundra, Bill Davis
Racing Finished: 6th
KYLE BUSCH, No. 51
Miccosukee Resorts Tundra,
Billy Ballew Motorsports
Finished: 7th
TERRY COOK, No. 60
Wyler.com Tundra, Wyler
Racing Finished: 8th
MARC MITCHELL, No. 15
Hyprene Ergon Tundra, Billy
Ballew Motorsports Finished:
9th
TED MUSGRAVE, No. 59 Team
ASE/Harris Trucking Tundra,
HT Motorsports Finished:
13th
TODD BODINE, No. 30
Lumber Liquidators Tundra,
Germain Racing Finished:
27th
JUSTIN MARKS, No. 9
Construct Corps Tundra,
Germain Racing Finished:
31st What happened that
forced you out of the race?
"On that restart it got kind
of crazy. The Construct
Corps Tundra was having a
really, really good night --
running top-five all race
long. We had one of the side
windows come out and I got
real loose. We had to fix
that on a pit stop there and
that shuffled us back to the
back of the pack. Down the
back straightaway -- there
were three, four, five rows
deep -- the runs get bigger
and bigger and bigger. So,
when you are the back of the
pack you're going 200 MPH or
whatever. You're hauling the
mail going in there.
Somebody got into somebody
and I didn't see how it
started. I got loose going
in the corner and checked up
and I was on the brakes all
I could. The thing just slid
up. I tried everything I
could to get out of that
mess. Just hate it. I think
we showed everybody that is
a team as good as any out
there."
CHRISSY WALLACE, No. 03
Geico/Germain Toyota Tundra,
Germain Racing Finished:
33rd What happened when you
made contact with the wall?
"We were battling with Jack
Sprague for a while and we
went into turn three. I
guess we both were driving
pretty aggressive. We were
running inside of him and he
took the air off of us and
got loose and backed into
the wall."
What do you do when that
happens? "You're pretty much
along for the ride. What it
pretty much does is just
makes you completely loose
to where you can't do
anything to correct the
truck. If you turn the wheel
the other way you are pretty
much going to go into the
wall."