After last week’s second place finish at Michigan International Speedway, Johnny Benson and the No.23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra team were hungry for a win. The team could not think of a better track to capture its first win of the 2008 campaign than The Milwaukee Mile. Benson has seen victory lane at the one-mile oval in both of his previous two trips to the “Cheese State”, and the team was gunning for a third victory Friday night.
The team unloaded its red-and-black Tundra Friday and immediately knew it had a good truck. Benson told crew chief Trip Bruce that the truck had great forward bite, and he could really hustle it into the corners. His only complaint was the truck handled a little loose getting into the corners. The team thought as the day went on that the truck would gain grip, which would, in turn, help the loose condition. At the end of practice, Benson and the Toyota Certified Used Vehicles team was optimistic about the race and getting their third straight win.
Benson went out in the middle of the qualifying session, which he thought was to the team’s advantage because the track temperature was rapidly declining, thus adding grip to the track. Benson ran a time of 29.732 seconds, which put the Grand Rapids, Mich., native on the pole position. It was the team’s second pole of the season, and it gave Benson more reason to look forward to the 200-lap event.
Benson led the 36-truck field to the green flag and immediately showed his muscle. He led 81 of the first 85 laps and put a three-second margin between himself and the second-place truck of Rick Crawford. His only complaint was the truck was a little loose off turn two, but he felt like the truck would be really good for the end of the race.
On lap 77, Bruce called Benson to pit road. During the ensuing four-tire stop, the team made an air pressure adjustment in an effort to correct the loose condition Benson was battling. As the No. 23 Bill Davis Racing Tundra was leaving pit road, the caution flag waved, leaving only seven trucks on the lead lap.
Benson retained the lead, but he was stuck in the middle of the field. The veteran driver knew he must take his time getting through traffic, even though he had the dominant truck. On lap 105, he told his team that he did not like this set of tires. With one pit stoop remaining in the race, Benson knew he had one more chance to fine tune the truck.
That opportunity came after the caution flag was displayed to the field on lap 144. Benson was running third when he came off the track and to the attention of the No. 23 crew. The team did a fantastic job getting Benson off pit road quickly, and Benson regained the lead. He would not relinquish the lead and took his third consecutive victory at The Milwaukee Mile. The win kept Benson in the lead for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship. He now has a 50-point advantage over second place Todd Bodine.
The Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra team heads south to Memphis (Tenn.) Motorsports Park for the O’Reilly 200. The race can be seen live on Speed Channel Saturday, June 28 at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.