Benson Gets By Without A Scratch Pole-Sitter Appreciates Weather Assistance

Johnny Benson’s prayers were answered. Well, partly answered.

Benson, the pole-sitter for the DeVilbiss 400 was concerned about possibly damaging his car in practice Saturday at Michigan Speedway. Heavy rains forced cancellation of the morning practice session, so Benson’s car sat safely in the garage.

That’s what he wanted, because the last time Benson won a pole on a Friday, he wrecked the car the next day just taking practice laps.

It was his favorite car, too. So, he had to run the race in a backup machine.

“Well, so far it’s working great,” said Benson, born and raised up the road a bit in Grand Rapids.

Did he really pray for rain?

“Well, there’s really nothing we can do about it,” Benson said. “That’s up to Mother Nature.”

Benson finally did bring the Pontiac Grand Prix out for the late afternoon “Happy Hour” spin, after a Busch Grand National race had finished. He got through it without a scratch.

“We’re in a great spot right now,” said Benson, the NASCAR Winston Cup rookie of the year in 1996. “We really don’t have to do too much to the car.”

The pole victory was a bit of a surprise for Benson. It was just the second pole of his Winston Cup career, and his first this season.

“We’d have been happy if we would have qualified fifth or 10th,” he said. “This just makes us a little more happier.”

Still, an even bigger surprise was the qualifying run of Jeff Gordon. The Winston Cup points leader was almost 2 mph slower in his Chevrolet Monte Carlo than Benson.

As a result Gordon, winner of eight races this season, will start in the 17th spot on the DeVilbiss 400 grid.

“I think we’re going to be pretty good in the race,” said the 26-year-old Gordon, who has 27 wins in his Winston Cup career. “I just can’t find any speed here for qualifying.

“This is the same car we had at the Brickyard, and it raced pretty good there.”

Gordon ran fourth behind Ricky Rudd, Bobby Labonte and Dale Jarrett at Indianapolis. He followed that with his first career road course triumph, last week at Watkins Glen, N.Y.

Mark Martin and his Ford Thunderbird will start beside Benson in the front row. Martin is second in the series standings with 2,910 points - 109 behind Gordon.

Ricky Craven’s Chevy will be third on the starting grid. Jarrett, third in the driver standings, will start fourth.

Gordon wasn’t the only driver of note to struggle through the qualifying run. Bill Elliott will start 24th. Rusty Wallace had only the 42nd-fastest run on Friday.