Johnny Benson became the first driver since 1995 to notch his first career win at North Carolina Speedway. Credit: Autostock
By Tim Packman, Turner Sports Interactive
November 5, 2002
10:38 AM EST (1538 GMT)
ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- Johnny Benson has finally won that elusive Winston Cup Series victory.
It didn't come easy.
 | Pop Secret 400 |  | Johnny Benson passes Mark Martin and holds on for his first WC win.
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|  | Tony Stewart has some choice words for his car at The Rock.
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Benson, driver of the No. 10 Valvoline Pontiac, had his hands full holding off Mark Martin through the last 12 laps to capture his first win in 226 Winston Cup starts. As hard as Martin challenged, he had to settle for second -- he trailed Benson by 0.261 seconds at the line.
Martin's car failed post-race inspection -- NASCAR inspectors discovered a left-front spring that was just short of the required length. Any penalty -- if any will be distributed -- will be handled Monday.
Benson won after coming back from two separate rib injuries this year that sidelined him for six races. Benson became the 18th different winner of 2002 and the fifth first-time winner.
Fuel was an issue, but Benson had just enough to cross the finish line. Benson's car has to be pushed into Victory Lane because Benson ran out of gas on the cool-down lap.
Benson started 26th and led the final 28 laps.
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| Benson led the final 28 laps. Credit: Autostock |
"This car wasn't that good yesterday in practice," Benson said. "James Ince (crew chief) made some great calls and we changed everything you can think of on this car. This crew has deserved one for a very long time.
"This car kept getting tighter and tighter and James kept telling me he would fix it and to just deal with it. I had a hard time with that for quite awhile. It took us most of the race to get there because he didn't want to jump out there and make a huge change.
"I can be ok with myself as far as if I won one or not. But, this crew deserves it. We've been close so many times, and I'm glad we could get through it clean."
Two races ago at Martinsville Speedway, Benson finished a close second -- his third career runner-up finish.
Benson commended Martin for racing him cleanly in the final laps.
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| Jeff Green led 68 laps but faded to a 10th-place finish. Credit: Autostock |
"Mark's the best racer here," Benson said. "He's one of those guys that is very good. Everyone says he is the best guy that has never won a championship and I was the best who never won a race.
"I love racing Mark Martin, he's real clean. Kurt Busch, too, he's been real good with us all year."
For Martin, although he finished second, he did gain on the points battle and led the most laps, 144.
"We didn't have the car to win," Martin said. "But, we sure gave it a heck of a try. I don't think we were as good as we looked and I was overdriving the fool out of it.
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| Mark Martin locked up five bonus points for leading the most laps -- 144. Credit: Autostock |
"The No. 97 (Kurt Busch) got out there and then the No. 10 came and I was doomed. They got out there and I put on the full-court press, but Johnny drove a great race and ran awful good.
"We just didn't have enough race car."
Martin trails leader Tony Stewart by 87 points with two races to go.
Busch led five times for 105 laps. He was poised to win his third consecutive race until Benson got by him.
"That yellow (flag) killed us with 100 (laps) to go," Busch said. "Our car was guaranteed to go fast for 65 laps, but we couldn't hang on for the other 35.
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| Tony Stewart fought handling problems all day and finished 14th, his worst finish in two months. Credit: Autostock |
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"I can't think of two better guys to lose to than Johnny Benson and Mark Martin."
Rounding out the top 10 finishers was Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Mike Skinner, Bobby Labonte, Matt Kenseth, Ricky Craven and Jeff Green.
Stewart, who led by 146 points over Martin coming into the race, had handling problems from the beginning.
Stewart went one lap down by lap 92, complaining on the radio that the car was "the worst it's ever been."
Stewart's team worked on the car throughout the race to rally for a 14th-place finish. Jimmie Johnson, who entered the race just 150 points behind Stewart, finished 37th and is now 219 points out.
There were 22 lead changes among nine drivers and the race was slowed by four cautions for 22 laps.
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