Johnny Benson On The Outside, Looking In

Johnny Benson, the defending NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion, sits 29 points out of the top 10 – a position he and everyone else did not figure to be in at the close of 2008.

Now, after three races, his next race to regain standings prominence is Martinsville – and the last time the series visited the short track, Benson won.

So optimism is high. Benson has been solid at Martinsville since the inception of Loop Data in 2005. In his last eight races there, Benson has a Driver Rating of 90.5, an Average Running Position of 12.8, 59 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 66.8%.

But there’s a snag. David Starr, who is 10th in points, ranks above Benson in almost every key statistical category. Starr, who won at this race in 2006, has a Martinsville Driver Rating of 92.6, an Average Running Position of 12.6, 60 Fastest Laps Run, a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 65.7% and has been passed only 74 times in the last eight races, the fewest of any driver during that span.

Starr struggled during the last Martinsville race, finishing 33rd, but has finished in the top 10 in four of the last six Martinsville races.

NBaP likes both drivers, but I think we have to pull for the classic fave of Johnny Benson!

Johnny Benson is the TRUCK Series Champion

Johnny Benson just took the Truck Series Championship by finishing 7th, 1 spot in front of Ron Hornaday Jr, who finished in 8th.
WOW! What a race. The whole night was a tight competition where at one point, Ron had 27 points on Johnny.

The last 40 laps were about these two drivers as they battled with each other throughout the end game.

A late race caution had Johnny stay out and Ron pitted, taking 4 tires and set himself back too far in the field. Another caution came out and it was a green / white / checkered and on the restart Ron was held up by a slow start by Scott Speed and he had just too much distance to make up to pass Johnny.

JOHNNY BENSON, the 2008 CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES CHAMPION.
The LAST Craftsman Sponsored Champion as Craftsman heads out to pasture and Benson's first Truck Championship.

CONGRATS TO JOHNNY BENSON!!!!!

Oh, yea... Todd Bodine won the race... almost forgot!! Rounding out the top five were Brian Scott, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Dennis Setzer.

Johnny Benson (23) and Ron Hornaday Jr. race side-by-side during the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Benson finished seventh and Hornaday finished eighth, giving Benson his first series title.
(Photo Credit: Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Truck Results | Points

Johnny Benson photo cr: Marc Serota/Getty Images for NASCAR

Johnny Benson to MWRH?

It's noted over on http://www.jayski.com/cupnews.htm that "On Sunday's SPEED/tv's Speed Report, it was reported by Bob Dilner that there were many candidates for the vacant seat for the third Michael Waltrip Racing team among them; Johnny Benson.(10-14-2007)"

Unless MWRH gets a lot better, I'm not sure that's the best move for Johnny. He's got the talent, and needs to make a strong impression if he were to get back into Cup competition and I think that going with MWRH will only serve to extend the image / perspective he has now as a contender.

But I would love to be proven wrong if this actually does come to be.

Craftsman Truck Race in Milwaukee

Johnny Benson won the Toyota Tundra Milwaukee 200 last night, followed by Ron Hornaday, Todd Bodine, Mike Skinner & Rick Crawford.

Here are the unnoficial results:
http://www.nascar.com/races/truck/2007/11/data/results_unofficial.html

This has Skinner in the lead of the Points standings, Followed by Hornaday in 2nd, Bodine in 3rd, Kvapil in 4th and Crawford in 5th. .... Wow, the points standings almost sounded like the race results.

See the unnoficial points standings at:
http://www.nascar.com/races/truck/2007/data/standings_unofficial.html

Courtesy of Bruce Simmons, the Fan Reporter