Benson sent to hospital with fractured ribs

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Johnny Benson fractured two right side ribs in a Turn 3 crash early in Saturday night's Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway, and was transported to Halifax Medical Center, where he was admitted for evaluation.

Johnny Benson slaps the wall at Daytona. Benson finished 43rd. Credit: Autostock

Billy Curwood, the right rear tire changer on Todd Bodine's No. 26 Discover Ford, was X-rayed in the track's infield care center due to injuries to his right knee and lower right leg suffered in a collision on pit road on the same caution between his driver's car and the No. 31 Cingular Chevrolet of Robby Gordon.

He was released by the halfway point of the race with a set of crutches and was advised to keep his weight off the leg, track spokesman Glyn Johnston said.

NASCAR officials told the Winston Cup crew chiefs and drivers in the pre-race meeting that a "competition caution" would be thrown between laps 20-25, after all pre-race practice following Bud Pole Qualifying was rained out.

But no one could predict that that yellow flag would be the fourth of the race.

Benson's No. 10 Valvoline Pontiac collided with the No. 15 NAPA Chevrolet of Michael Waltrip at the end of the 3,000-foot backstretch on lap 10.

Benson's car turned right and speared the outside wall, then rode along the barrier over to Turn 4, where it turned down into the infield grass.

After he was taken to the track's infield care center, Benson's crew chief, James Ince emerged to say that a chest x-ray had revealed Benson had fractured two of the right side ribs he injured in May in a crash at Richmond International Raceway.

"I've already told the guys to put the car on the truck," Ince said. "It's bent up pretty good and it's just not worth it. We'll just regroup, get ready for next week and go to Chicago.

"We'll kinda figure out our plans at the first of the week. It's pretty early to make that decision (tonight). It may be Johnny -- everything may be OK. They'll keep running their tests, we'll see what we've got and we'll go from there."

In the earlier incident, which occurred in the Hardee's 250 Busch Series race, Benson fractured one rib and cracked two others on the right side. He was hospitalized then and then sat out the next two point races and the Winston Open special event.

In the first caution, at lap three, Elliott Sadler's No. 21 Motorcraft Ford knocked Tony Stewart's No. 20 Home Depot Pontiac into Matt Kenseth's No. 17 DeWalt Ford coming off Turn 2.

Five laps after the race went back to green from Benson's crash, Mike Wallace's 1-800-CALL ATT Chevrolet spun in the frontstretch tri-oval to bring out the third caution.

At lap 26 the caution to check tire wear was called.

By the time the race reached lap 80 of 160, Kenny Wallace's No. 98 Stacker 2 Chevrolet had hit the wall, eliminating it from the race; and Kurt Busch had incurred five laps in penalties from NASCAR, putting him six laps behind the leaders.

Busch was held one lap for a pit road exit paddle violation, then was held four additional laps for "unsportsmanlike conduct" on his in-car radio.