Friday, June 22 The Milwaukee Mile Milwaukee, WI

Johnny Benson makes a pit stop en route to his win. More pictures at the end of this page...

Benson Doubles up in Milwaukee
By Charles Krall, Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

WEST ALLIS, Wisc. (June 22, 2007) -- In the previous 12 runnings of the Toyota Tundra Milwaukee 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at The Milwaukee Mile, no driver had won consecutive races -- that is, until Friday night.

Driving the No. 23 Toyota, Johnny Benson chased down polesitter and Bill Davis Racing teammate Mike Skinner to take the lead at Lap 104 and led all but one of the final 96 laps en route to his first win of the season. Although Benson led throughout the final stages of the race, he had to hold off a fast-closing and hard-charging Ron Hornaday to get the trophy.

Hornaday started 14th, but found himself 24th on Lap 2 after contact with Willie Allen sent Hornaday spinning through Turn 4. Hornaday stayed composed and subsequently put on a clinic, racing his way into the top 10 by Lap 70 and cracking the top five on Lap 130.

Jack Sprague's spin on Lap 194 set up a four-lap dash to the checkered flag and put Hornaday, the master of restarts, right on Benson's tail.

Benson knew exactly what he needed to do to hold Hornaday off.

"I knew Ron would know exactly when I was going to go," Benson said. "NASCAR tells you where that restart point was, and he was going to be all over me. He's good on those restarts, but I think we are pretty goodtoo when we need to be. I got a good start and didn't give him the outside."

While Benson was celebrating his second consecutive victory at Milwaukee, Hornaday was thinking about what could have been for the second straight year. He finished second to Benson last year as well.

"I don't know if I came down on Willie (Allen) or not, but we got turned around," Hornaday said. "I just had to use (my truck) up too much coming through the pack to catch (Benson). The brakes were gone by about Lap 70. On the last restart, I was doing all I could do and locking the brakes up trying to catch him."

The most controversial incident of the night involved 2005 series champion Ted Musgrave and rookie Kelly Bires. Musgrave expressed hisdispleasure with Bires by driving into the side of his No. 21 Ford after the two made contact with the wall. Bires was done for the night due to the damage sustained in the original accident, while Musgrave was parked for the night by NASCAR officials.

Complete race results and point standings in the Related news section below...

Checkered Flag Fast Facts

• Johnny Benson won the Toyota Tundra Milwaukee 200, his sixth victory in 86 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races.
• Benson became the second driver to post multiple victories at The Milwaukee Mile and the first to do so in back-to-back fashion. Benson (2006, '07) and Ted Musgrave (2001, '04) are the only other drivers to win more than once at Milwaukee.
• This is Benson's first victory and eighth top-10 finish in 11 races in 2007.
• This is his second victory and third top-10 finish in four races at The Milwaukee Mile. His previous best finish here was first in 2006.
• This is the 28th NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win for truck owners Gail and Bill Davis.
• Mike Skinner retained the lead in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship points, leading Ron Hornaday by 108 points.

Schedule - Broadcast Times

• Practice: Friday, June 22 )SPEED at 3 p.m./AT, 2 p.m./ET)
• Pre-Race: Friday, June 22 (SPEED at 9:30 a.m./AT, 8:30 a.m./ET)
• Race: Friday, June 22 (SPEED at 10 p.m. AT, 9 p.m. ET)

Related News

Entry List (PDF)

Friday First Practice (PDF)

Friday Rookie Practice (PDF)

Friday Final Practice (PDF)

Qualifying Order (PDF)

Qualifying Results (PDF)

Starting Lineup (PDF)

Race Results (PDF)

Point Standings (PDF)

Green Flag Fast Facts
Next Race: Toyota Tundra Milwaukee 200
The Place: The Milwaukee Mile
The Date: June 22
The Time: 10 p.m./AT, 9 p.m./ET
TV: SPEED, 9:30 p.m./AT, 8:30 p.m./ET
Track Layout: 1-mile oval
Race Purse: $539,930
2006 Winner: Johnny Benson
2006 Pole: Mike Skinner
Schedule: Friday – Practice 11 a.m. – 12:00 noon; 12:30 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. (rookies) and 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Qualifying 5:30 p.m.
Year-To-Date Standings: click here

Green Flag Notes...

• Six natives of the Badger State are expected to be in the field for Friday night’s 13th annual Toyota Tundra Milwaukee 200. One of them – Ted Musgrave (No. 9 Team ASE Racing Toyota) – is the track’s only two-time winner having visited Victory Lane in 2001 and 2004. Kelly Bires (No. 21 Wood Bros./JTG Ford); Travis Kvapil (No. 6 K&N Engineering Ford); Ryan Mathews (No. 36 Bill Davis Racing Toyota); Tim Sauter (No. 07 Lester Buildings Chevrolet) and Josh Wise (No. 00 Aaron’s Lucky Dog Toyota) also will compete.
• Raybestos Rookie Leader Aaron Fike (No. 1 RFMS/Red Horse Racing Toyota), stands eighth in the series standings in addition to adding to his Raybestos Rookie lead. Fike entered last weekend’s 10th race of the season ranked ninth overall and qualified 12th. “My pit crew did a great job. I think they picked up six spots on pit road and that is a testament to the training that they get at Pit Instruction and Training in Mooresville, N.C.,” he said after finishing 17th at MIS.
• Travis Kvapil’s Michigan victory makes Ford the third different manufacturer to score multiple wins in 2007. Toyota, which opened the season with four consecutive wins, has been shut out since Mike Skinner’s victory at Martinsville Speedway on March 31. Since then, Chevrolet has collected three wins and Ford has won twice. Toyota continues to lead the Manufacturers’ Championship by 10 points over Chevrolet with Ford another four back. Dodge’s “mini streak” of three races with top-10 finishes ended at Michigan. Bobby Labonte (No. 4 Open Joist Dodge) ran as high as ninth but faded over the final 20 laps to finish 17th.
• The Milwaukee Mile, host of this Friday night’s Toyota Tundra Milwaukee 200, is one of just four tracks to have scheduled the series in all 13 seasons of its existence. The others are Martinsville Speedway, O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis and Phoenix International Raceway. Two drivers have won at least once at each track: Skinner and Jack Sprague (No. 60 Con-way Freight Toyota).
• Former NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series champion Scott Lynch enters this week’s race with a new team owned by his father, James Lynch. Veteran west coast crew chief Larry Prior will oversee preparation of the No. 29 Jasper Engines & Transmission Dodge. Lynch has finished 12th twice in a dozen series starts.

Photo Gallery - Friday, June 22


Race winner Johnny Benson (23) races series points leader Mike Skinner...


Victory Lane for Benson...

IMPORTANT: All information, schedules and/or scheduled events is/are subject to change without notice. Please check with the source to confirm.