Benson recalls near-win at Daytona in 2000
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Johnny Benson's best finish in 2001 was third.
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By Tim Packman, Turner Sports Interactive
January 21, 2002
3:45 PM EST (2045 GMT)
CONCORD, N.C. -- Most people leave Speedweeks in Daytona with a souvenir of some type.
Johnny Benson would love to leave one behind. His car.
A new tradition was born a few years ago when Daytona USA opened. The winner of the Daytona 500 is required to donate the winning car to the museum, where it remains on display for a year.
Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Dale Jarrett and Michael Waltrip have all left the cars behind as race winners. Benson, who just missed winning the Daytona 500 in 2000, wouldn't mind leaving Daytona with one less car in his transporter.
"Not bringing the car home would be cool with me," said Benson, entering his third season as driver of the No. 10 Pontiac. "It would be a neat deal because the Daytona 500 is such a huge race.
"I probably can't really explain to you what it would mean to actually win the thing."
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Benson had just one top-10 finish in four restrictor-plate races in 2001.
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A few years ago, Benson almost had to come up with an explanation.
Benson signed a sponsorship deal the night before the 2000 Daytona 500, and for several laps, it looked like had struck lightning in a bottle.
During the latter part of the 200-lap event, Benson almost shocked everyone by winning -- he took the lead on lap 158 with a two-tire pit stop and held it until four laps to go.
However, the fickle hand of fate pointed a cruel finger in Benson's direction. A late-race caution bunched the field together and Dale Jarrett filled up Benson's rear-view mirror for the restart.
The green flag dropped, Jarrett then filled up Benson's side window as he went by for the pass and win. Benson fell to a 12th-place finish, but was probably the most storied non-winner in the race's recent history.
Still winless in six years of Winston Cup competition, the former Busch Series champion is hoping some of last year's bad luck stays away from him this year. That elusive victory could be much closer as a result.
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Johnny Benson (10) practices with Tony Stewart (20) at Daytona in 2000.
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The team has since shown it can be a contender. In 2001, MBV Motorsports finished 11th in points with six top-five and 14 top-10 finishes.
"We had some real unfortunate luck last year when we least needed it," Benson said. "James (Ince, crew chief) has retained much of last year's team and they have done a great job building cars. We're a little disappointed we weren't one of the first-time winners last year.
"But, we have been competitive running out front week in and week out. That's more important to me to make sure we run consistently and consistently well.
"I'd rather do that than win a race and finish 30th in points. I think we'll get our wins and that will happen when it comes."
If Benson happens to join the list of first-time winners in Winston Cup, and does it at Daytona, he will also join another list. Tiny Lund, Mario Andretti, Pete Hamilton, Derrike Cope, Sterling Marlin and Michael Waltrip all scored their very first Winston Cup win in the Great American Race.
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