Benson looking for top 10 finish

Mike Harris

Thursday, Oct. 16, 1997 | 10:08 a.m.

Johnny Benson Jr., would like to leave a little parting gift for Chuck Rider, the man who gave last season's rookie of the year his first Winston Cup ride.

Benson, who will leave Bahari Racing at the end of this season to join the ever-growing Roush Racing team, goes into the final three races of 1998 in 12th place in the driver standings, but only seven points out of 10th.

"All the guys on this team know, obviously, that I'm moving on," Benson said. "At the same time, though, everybody is still giving 110 percent. We all want to finish in the top 10. Bahari has never done that."

The best the team has finished before is 12th, with Michael Waltrip in 1994 and 1995.

"It would be a great accomplishment," Benson said. "Bahari Racing gave me a great opportunity to come here and race, and to finish in the top 10 in only my second year with this team would be a real tribute to the crew."

Benson had a top-5 finish and several other top 10s in his rookie year. This season, the secret has been finishing races and rolling up a lot of miles.

The ledger so far shows the 34-year-old Michigan native with one pole and six top-10 finishes - none better than the seventh his Pontiac managed at Indianapolis in August.

"We've been as consistent this year, we just haven't had as good runs," Benson said. "I think our second half of my first year was real strong, but there's been some changes with the rules and things of that nature that have made it tough."

Although he'd like to have a strong finish for Rider and the rest of the Bahari team, Benson can't help but be excited about joining holdovers Mark Martin, Jeff Burton and Ted Musgrave and fellow newcomer Chad Little on Roush's team for 1998.

"The resources Roush has are huge," he said. "I still need more experience, and he provides a better opportunity in the fact that I can work with guys like Mark Martin, Ted Musgrave and Jeff Burton. I think my learning curve should quicken."

Meanwhile, he has some unfinished business.

"I really want to finish in the top 10," Burton said. "It's really important to me to finish this season off strong. You've got to have goals in this business, and strive to reach them. That's our immediate goal. Then we'll think about the future."

End Adv for Thursday Oct 16