Tyrone Daily Herald from Tyrone, Pennsylvania • Page 6

The Daily Herald Monday, November 4, 2002 Benson holds off Martin for first win in 226 starts By JENNA FRYER AP Sports Writer ROCKINGHAM, N.C. (AP) Johnny Benson needs a new nickname. "The Best Driver to Never win a Race" no longer fits. Benson ended one of the longest winless streaks in NASCAR on Sunday, holding off Mark Martin to win the Pop Secret 400 for his first victory in 226 starts. "I thought for a couple of years that I'd never get a win," Benson said.

"I was always going to be the best guy who never won a race." Benson led the final 28 laps but had to battle Martin over the final dozen laps at North Carolina Speedway. Martin, in the thick of the Winston Cup championship chase, was racing for the win and several times drove his Ford onto the bumper of Benson's Pontiac. When he couldn't bump Benson out of the way, Martin tried to pass him in the lower grooves of the race track. None of it worked and the 39-year-old Benson beat him to the finish line by 0.261 seconds to become the fifth first-time winner this season. "I'm glad for Johnny, he's a whale of a race car driver," Martin said.

"It's a shame it's taken him this long, but I'm happy for him. "I put a lot of pressure on him there at the end and he made no mistakes. That's what I was hoping for, but I was not expecting it because I've raced Johnny a lot." Afterward, Martin's No. 6 Ford failed inspection because the left-front springs did not meet the minimum number of coils. NASCAR will punish the team next week, and the standard penalty this season has been a deduction of 25 championship points.

That would be a huge blow to Martin, who sliced Tony Stewart's lead to 87 points Sunday. Kurt Busch, who came into the event on a two-race winning streak, led 105 laps but faded and finished third. Busch wasn't disappointed with his finish even though he had one of the stronger cars in the race. "I can't think of two better guys to lose to than Johnny Benson and Mark Martin," he said. Benson knew he had fuel issues to contend with over the final portion of the race because crew chief James Ince told him there was a chance he could run out of gas.

And he did but it happened during his celebratory Do not pass, do not collect first-place money Martin Martin (6) tries to pass Johnny Benson (10) near the end of the NASCAR Pop Secret at the North Carolina Speedway near Rockingham, N.C., Sunday, Nov. 3,2002. Benson held off Martin to win his first NASCAR race. Benson won for the first time in 226 starts, earning him the nickname "The best Driver to Never win a race." Johnny is now in search of a new Jordan) doughnuts along the frontstretch. "James said it was going to be within a half of a lap, but he just didn't know what side of the finish line it's on," Benson said.

"Well, I ran out trying to get to the pit, but it doesn't matter at that point in time." Jeff Burton was fourth, giving Roush Racing three Fords iii-ihe top four. Jeff Gordon finished fifth in a Chevrolet, Mike Skinner was sixth and was followed by Bobby Labonte and Matt Kenseth, the fourth Roush entry. Ricky Craven and Jeff Green rounded but the top 10. Stewart came into the event with a 146-point lead over Martin but had handling problems early in the race, and his Pontiac fell a lap down early. He fought with the car the entire race and finished 14th.

He was angry when he exited his Pontiac, stopping only to say the car was the worst he had ever driven. "Most of the day, he kept his head and did a great job," crew chief Greg Zipadelli said. "He did what he had to do. We didn't do as good of a job as we probably needed to do adjusting early. We tried, but everything we did was wrong." Jimmie Johnson, who was 150 points behind, had a loose wheel that dropped him 12 laps down and he finished 37th.

He's now 219 points behind Stewart, probably too great a margin to overcome with just two races left in the season. "We knew we had a wheel loose, and when it was loose it destroyed the studs and we could never tighten the wheel back up," Johnson said. "So we had to come in and change the whole hub assembly. "I'm disappointed. We had a good car and were going to have a solid day.

Stewart was struggling. Mark Martin had a great day, but we would have definitely made up some ground. It's just one of them deals." Benson, meanwhile, came close to victory three weeks ago at Martinsville Speedway, trying to run down Busch before settling for second place. He felt that clean racing in that chase probably played a part in Busch and Martin repaying the favor in Rockingham. "Hopefully, Martinsville showed that I do it clean and everyone else would do it back to me," he said.

"Mark's the best guy out here and he raced me hard, but he was fair." Ryan Newman, the rookie who started from the pole, led two times for 41 laps but finished 23rd. No team orders for Roush Racing drivers By JENNA FRYER AP Sports Writer ROCKINGHAM, N.C. (AP) There's no such thing as "team orders" for the Roush Racing crew, proven Sunday when Kurt Busch wouldn't give teammate Mark Martin anything to help Martin's bid for the Winston Cup championship. Busch and Martin battled for most of the Pop Secret 400, appearing to be the only two cars capable of winning at North Carolina Speedway. With Busch leading, there was debate pyer whether or not he should allow Martin to pass him and attempt to earn''the five-point bonus for leading the most laps and race for the win.

The practice of team orders is sometimes used in Formula One racing and is heavily criticized. Martin admitted there was talk on the radio about it, but that the drivers were not involved. "There was something said, but not between us," Martin said. "I can tell you one thing, when Kurt got ready to go, he blew me off." Martin eventually passed Busch cleanly and led a race-high 144 laps to pick up the bonus. It pulled him within 87 points of Tony Stewart for the championship.

However, his car failed inspection after the race and NASCAR will likely dock him 25 points when it announces its fines next week. Busch led 105 laps and finished third at North Carolina Speedway, where Johnny Benson passed both of them to earn his first career victory. "I drove my car harder than I wanted to and stay in front of Kurt so that we could try to get the most laps," Martin said. "Whether or not Kurt was patient with me or not, when it came lime to go, he stepped on the gas and blew me off and drove out front." Winston Cup Standings 1. Tony Stewart 4549 2.

Mark Martin 4462 3. Jimmie Johnson 4330 4. Ryan Newman 4324 5. Kurt Busch 4301 6. Rusty Wallace 4283 7.

Jeff Gordon 4282 8. Matt Kenseth 4209 9. Dale Jarrett 4154 10. Ricky Rudd 4093 Busch Series Standings 1. Greg Biffle 4579 2.

Jason Keller 4367 3. Scott Wimmer 4125 4. Mike McLaughlin 4044 5. Jack Sprague 3979 6. Jamie McMurray 3977 7.

Kenny Wallace 3914 8. Scott Riggs 3874 9. Bobby Hamilton Jr. 3807 10. Randy Lajoie 3756 Pop Secret Mlcroutaue 400 MORE ROOKIE STRUGGLES: By all practical purposes, Jimmie Johnson was eliminated from the championship chase with a 37th-place finish.

That put him 219 points behind Stewart, too great a margin to overcome with just two races left. Johnson, who has had a handful of freak things happen to him this season to slow his tremendous rookie season, had a wheel come loose to hamper him Sunday. He had to make a lengthy stop to fix it and fell 12 laps down. "That's part of it," crew chief Chad Knaus said. "These guys are under a lot of pressure to do some fast pit stops and that stuff happens.

Luck didn't come into play or anything like that. "Everybody says, 'Oh, bad Well, it's not bad luck, we did it. You make a lot of your own luck in this sport and we're making a lot of our own bad luck." Realizing the team will have a hard lime to win the title, Knaus said the season would still be considered a success. "We're a rookie team and we make mistakes and if we weren't in the top five in points, you guys wouldn't even care," he said. "It's all part of it, so we'll pack up and go to HANK'S FIRST RACE: Hank Parker Jr.

was disappointed with his first Winston Cup race after finishing 33rd in a research and development car fielded by Ray Evernham. Parker, a Busch series regular, said he couldn't accurately describe to his crew the adjustments his Dodge needed over the course of the race, hurting his efforts. CXCAVATtNQ PCMOUTIOH A FULL KRVICC COMPANY 5 Rood PA 16666. E-Hail: Underground Utility Installation Clearing Fill Interior Demolition Septic Systems-Sand Snow Laad Removal Hauliag Tractorl Trailer Backbw Service Drainage Contracted Labor Glen I. Ray, Owner Monday Nifhts Wings 5- 1O p.m.

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till 1:30 a.m. 1-99 Bald Eagle Intersection, Tyrone' 686-0140 At North Carolina Speedway 1. (26) Johnny Benson, Pontiac, 393 laps, 128.526 mph, $162,965. 2. (5) Mark Martin, Ford, 393, $130,923.

3. (7) Kurt Busch, Ford, 393, $80,400. 4. (29) Jeff Burton, Ford, 393, $106,267. 5.

(18) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 393, $106,713. 6. (4) Mike Skinner, Chevrolet, 393, $69,625. 7. (11) Bobby Labonte, Pontiac, 393, $92,453.

8. (19) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 393, $64,175. 9. (23) Ricky Craven, Ford, 393, $60,175. 10.

(6) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 393, $53,675. 11. (9) Robby Gordon, Chevrolet, 392, $74,981. 12. (37) Dale Jarrett, Ford, 392, $80,900.

13. (16) Kenny Wallace, Dodge, 392, $48,750. 14. (24) Tony Stewart, Pontiac, 392, $91,478. 15.

(2) Jamie McMurray, Dodge, 392, $90,067. 16. (27) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 392, $68,100. 17. (30) Dave Blaney, Ford, 392, $65,200.

18. (35) John Andretti, Dodge, 392, $73,383. 19. (36) Michael Waltrip, Chevrolet, 392, $53,900. 20.

(20) Ricky Rudd, Ford, 392, $89,567. 21. (17) Jeremy May field, Dodge, 392, $53,500. 22. (12) Ken Schrader, Pontiac, 391, $61,239.

23. (1) Ryan Newman Ford, 391, $60,050. 24. (40) Steve Park, Chevrolet, 391, $74,125. 25.

(13) Greg Biffle, Dodge, 391, $44,350. 26. (32) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 391, $86,528. 27. (8) Rusty Wallace, Ford, 391, $84,785.

28. (21) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 391, $51,335. 29. (42) Casey Atwood, Dodge, 391, $42,650. 30.

(14) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 390, $40,525. 31. (15) Jimmy Spencer, Dodge, 390, $39,875. 32. (38) Terry Labonte, Chevrolet, 390, $68,583.

33. (25) Hank Parker Dodge, 389, $39,625, 34. (22) Dale Earnhardt Jr, Chevrolet, 389, $59,100. 35. (28) Jack Sprague, Chevrolet, 386, $39,375.

36. (43) Brett Bodine, Ford, 386, $39,325. 37. (31) Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet, 379, $39,275. 38.

(39) Bobby Hamilton, Chevrolet, 341, $47,215. 39. (10) Bill Elliott, Dodge, 301, water pump, $65,221. 40. (34) Ward Burton, Dodge, 289, crash, $82,090.

41. (33) Hermie Sadler, Chevrolet, 260, engine failure, $39,020. 42. (3) Todd Bodine, Ford, 256, crash, $64,322. 43.

(41) Mike Wallace, Pontiac, 120, crash, $38,232. Time of Race: 3 hours, 6 minutes, 35 seconds. Margin of Victory: 0.261. Caution Flags: 4 for 22 laps. Lead Changes: 22 among 9 drivers.

Lap Leaders: R. Newman 1-40; M. Martin 41-42; R. Newman 43; Green 44-67; M. Martin 68-105; J.

Green 106-108; T. Bodine 109; McMurray 110; B. Labonte 111-112; M. Martin 113-156; K. Busch 157 182; J.

Green 183-191; K. Busch 192-197; M. Martin 198-200; B. Labonte 201-202; J. Green 203-229; K.

Busch 230; B. Elliott 231; J. Green 232 236; K. Busch 237-282; M. Martin 283-339; K.

Busch 340-365; J. Benson 366-393. Past Checker Auto Parts 500K Winners 1990 Dale Earnhardt 96.786 1991 Davey Allison 95.746 1992 Davey Allison 103.885 1993 Mark Martin 100.375 1994 Terry Labonte 107.463 1995 Ricky Rudd 102.128 1996 Bobby Hamilton 109.709 1997 Dale Jarrett 110.824 1998 Rusty Wallace 108.211 1999 Tony Stewart 118.132 2000 Jeff Burton 105.041 2001 Jeff Burton 102.613 Phoenix International Speedway Qualifying Record: Rusty Wallace 4 Race Record: Tony Stewart 2001 Winner: Jeff Burton 102,613 Cornerstone Builders Supplie 106 W. Tyrone 084-2062 "A Contractor you can trust." Complete Line Of Floor Ceil-pat Vinyl Tile Ceramic 1366 Logan PA 16686 Phonos 814-004-1122 Fax: 814-684-1115 e-mail us at the Installations by Jeff Hunter I'liior covvrini; specialist Free Estimates Fully Insured.