O'Reilly 200

Wednesday, August 22 Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol, TN

Johnny Benson celebrates after winning the O'Reilly 200.

Benson Wins At Bristol After Leaders Crash

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Johnny Benson was in the right place at the right time Wednesday night at Bristol Motor Speedway to take advantage of contact between Travis Kvapil and Nextel Cup Series interloper Kyle Busch to score his second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win of the season.

Benson, who pitted for tires on Lap 104 of the O’Reilly 200 and restarted 17th, quickly knifed his way through the field using the inside and the outside grooves on his way back to the top five. He was riding in third and closing in on the leaders when they made contact on Lap 179 of the 200-lap race.

Kvapil had the dominant truck in the middle stages of the race, but Busch was coming on strong as the laps clicked off. He moved inside Kvapil going into Turn 1, and the truck jumped loose, sliding into

Kvapil and sending them both into a synchronized spin. Benson slipped through unscathed and led the final 20 laps to ring up his seventh career NCTS victory.

“I was confident we could get to the front because we had 40-lap fresher tires,” Benson said about his crew chief Trip Bruce’s call to pit in the middle of the race. “I knew we had a great truck even before we pitted.

We just knew that on the new surface the tires would give up just a little bit.”

Wednesday night’s race was the first NASCAR race at Bristol since it was repaved after the Cup race in March.

Benson had a front-row seat to the unfolding demise of the leaders.

“I think when Travis and Kyle got together it was just hard racing,” Benson said. “If they hit door to door, they would have just slid up the track and we would have gone on past and they finish second and third.

But they ended up spinning. When that happened, it just made it a little easier.”

Benson held off newlywed Brendan Gaughan, who scored his best finish of the season in second. Gaughan made a run at the lead on the final restart with six laps remaining but then was forced to drive defensively to hold on to the spot.

“I wanted to win this race bad,” Gaughan said. “I really like Johnny, but if I got to him, I can’t guarantee that he wasn’t going to go around. But he got away from us, and I did all I could to move down and block like heck to keep Mark Martin behind us.”

Martin finished third, with points leader Mike Skinner and Rick Crawford rounding out the top five.

Ron Hornaday finished sixth, followed by Mike Bliss, Jack Sprague, Cale Gale and Danny O’Quinn Jr. Kvapil ended up 11th and Busch 15th.

Skinner leads Hornaday by 92 points going into the next series event at Gateway International Raceway on Sept. 1.

Click here for complete race results.

Click here for post-race point standings. Broadcast Times

• Qualifying: Wednesday, August 22 (SPEED at 7:30 p.m./AT)
• Pre-Race Show: Wednesday, August 22 (SPEED at 8:30 p.m./AT)
• Race: Wednesday, August 22 (SPEED at 9 p.m. AT)

Event Stats PDF files unless noted otherwise

Entry List

Green Flag Fast Facts
The Race: O’Reilly 200
The Place: Bristol Motor Speedway
The Date: August 221
The Time: 8:00 p.m. (ET)
TV: SPEED 7:30 p.m. (ET)
Track Layout: 0.533-mile oval
Race Purse: $509,074
2006 Winner: Mark Martin
2006 Pole: Mark Martin
Schedule: Tuesday – Practice 1 – 5 p.m.; Wednesday – Practice 10 – 11 a.m. and 12 – 1 p.m.; Qualifying 4 p.m.
Year-To-Date Standings: click here

Green Flag Notes

• Wednesday night’s O’Reilly 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway will present a new challenge to drivers familiar with the 0.533-mile oval. A recently-completed resurfacing project has given the track a new concrete surface that will force teams to make adjustments to compete for the win. The changes to the track include variable banking added in the corners to make the transitions to the straightaways smoother, and a three-foot widening of the track. Teams tested their trucks on the new surface in July and drivers generally came away impressed. But the question remains, how will the new surface affect the racing? "My initial reaction was, ‘Wow, that will be a project’," said Rick Gay Jr., crew chief for the No. 9 Team ASE/Germain Toyota driven by Ted Musgrave. "Now, after seeing the job they did with the track, it’s still Bristol, but with less bumps. They did a nice job. The track looks different, but it’s really the same Bristol – and that’s a good thing.” Gay was able to guide Musgrave to second on the time chart during the July test with a top lap of 119.321 mph. The duo trailed Travis Kvapil (No. 6 K&N Filters Ford) who ran a top lap of 119.626 mph. “The team did a great job working through our test plan,” Kvapil said. “They hit on some things towards the end of the day that found us some more speed.”
• Martin Goes For Repeat … Mark Martin (No. 21 Mark Martin Ford) will try to become the third driver to successfully defend a win from last season. Todd Bodine (No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota) (Texas Motor Speedway) and Johnny Benson (No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Toyota) (Milwaukee Mile) were the first two drivers to win races this season in which they were the defending champions. Martin led 164 of the 200 laps at Bristol last season and held off Bodine by 0.149 seconds for his fourth win. Martin is winless in four starts this season. He won six of the 14 races he entered last season, including the first two races of the season. His six wins were a series high.
• KHI Threesome All Winners … Long before Rick Ren was leading Ron Hornaday Jr. to Victory Lane, the long-time series crew chief led Rick Carelli to his first of four career wins. The duo won at Bristol Motor Speedway in 1996; Hornaday finished eighth in that race. Hornaday went on to win the next two races at Bristol – Carelli finished fourth and 30th. Hornaday is the fifth different driver Ren has led to victory, tied for a series record with John Monsam, crew chief of the No. 21 Mark Martin Ford. Monsam won a race with both Hornaday and Carelli.
• Gale Back In Action … Cale Gale (No.2 Camping World Chevrolet) returns to the track for his fourth of five scheduled races. His best finish is 14th in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. Team owner Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Daniel Pope II have also driven the No. 2 Chevrolet this season.
• Gaughan Ties The Knot … Series veteran Brandon Gaughan (No. 77 South Point Resort Chevrolet) married girlfriend Tatum Hayes on Saturday. “I’m happy,” Gaughan said. “We had a beautiful wedding and reception in Vail, Colo., near my family’s house. It was an absolutely gorgeous day – couldn’t have asked for anything better. I’m happy to have her and excited to put my name on the list of married drivers now. I guess I’m no longer a ‘Young Gun’ officially.”
• Craftsman 80th Anniversary … By leading the 80th lap of last week’s race at Nashville, Mike Skinner earned an $8,000 bonus provided by Sears Craftsman in honor of the company’s 80th anniversary. The bonus money also will be given to the leader of the 80th lap at Bristol. "It would be great if we could lead again on the 80th lap,” Skinner said. “The fact that Craftsman puts up an award for that just speaks volumes about them. It is a great opportunity. Hopefully, we are leading the 80th lap in Bristol, and the last one as well."
• On The Right Track … The O’Reilly 200 has been won from the pole on three occasions, most recently by Mark Martin in 2006. Only one Bristol winner has started outside the top five – Travis Kvapil, who started 12th in 2003.

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