Benson, Wyler Racing off to good beginning in COT

RICHMOND, Va. -- Johnny Benson laughed Friday when asked when his last Nextel Cup start had come, as if it was part of pre-Civil War history.

"I don't know, man," he said. That event occurred in October 2005, a season in which Benson made three Cup starts in Dodges for his Craftsman Truck Series team owner, Bill Davis.

Johnny Benson

Cup stats

Starts	271
Wins	1
Top-5s	18
Top-10s	58
Poles	2
Avg. Start	23.2
Avg. Finish	21.0

• Complete Cup stats

Benson, the 1995 Busch Series champion who began racing for Davis in trucks midway through 2004 and warmed up in 2005 before winning five races and becoming a championship contender last season, qualified 31st for Wyler Racing's Cup debut in Saturday night's Crown Royal 400.

The Wylers' crew chief Tony Furr, a fiercely proud man who's won in Cup racing and who now leads a championship contending Truck Series team for driver Jack Sprague and owners Jeff and David Wyler, had no such problem.

Furr, who had pitted his No. 46 Toyota Camry Car of Tomorrow on Richmond International Raceway's pit road all day Friday because the Nextel Cup garage was full, had just been asked when his team was moving "into the big house next door?"

"I haven't been in the [Cup] garage in three years," Furr said. "But I have been truck racing, and I want to thank the Wylers and Toyota for giving me the opportunity to come back over here and prove what I could do.

"And I've got to thank all the guys on the crew -- just a great bunch of guys. We have one of the premier Truck teams, so to me, that says that the Truck Series is a really strong series, too, to be able to come here and do what we just did."

A little Toyota Racing Development (TRD) sticker was on the car's quarter-panels -- the only sponsor signage on it -- and what the team accomplished wasn't lost on TRD senior vice president Lee White.

"We were their partner in bringing it here and we got them an engine to come here because we saw how they tested," White said. "We were interested in that and we were interested in the technology that's in that car.

"So we've made a deal with them to try and learn more. It's part of our learning process."

Father Jeff and son David Wyler, in only their third year in NASCAR racing, Furr and Benson did virtually the unthinkable early Friday evening when, as the first car off pit road in Bud Pole Qualifying, they made the field.

"This means a bunch, not just to me, but for the Wylers," Benson said. "They've only been around a couple years. Tony and these guys deserve to be in the race.

"The two tests I've done with them, they're due diligent, they do good work and they work and communicate very good together. They should be proud."

Toyota 'frustrated'

If you think Toyota's Nextel Cup Series teams are frustrated by their performance this season, they are. But it's nothing compared to how Lee White and the manufacturer feel.

• Complete story, click here

The Wylers last year thought, in their long-range plan in racing, that the Car of Tomorrow was something that could usher them toward, if not into the Nextel Cup Series.

"We wanted to get our feet wet," Furr said. "But the Wylers want to grow into a Cup team and keep the Truck team, too, so we have talked about it and probably will run anywhere from three to five more of these [Cup] races."

On Friday night, the Wylers, whose primary business is auto dealerships, were "ecstatic" when their initial effort was successful, even as full-time, well-funded Nextel Cup Series regulars such as Michael Waltrip, Dale Jarrett, Brian Vickers and Ken Schrader went home.

"I'm overwhelmed that going out first we were able to get in the race -- there are a lot of good cars that tried to get in and didn't [and] we out-qualified several top guys," Benson said of beating former Richmond race winners Jarrett, Burton, Biffle, Petty and Mayfield, as well as the Busch brothers.

"I'm proud of these guys at Wyler Racing. To put a car into the field on the first attempt is a pretty good deal."

David Wyler agreed.

"After [Friday], I think it goes to show how hard that the guys at TRD and Wyler Racing work, and the great job that Johnny Benson has done," Wyler said. "To go out first and to make the race is a testament to our team and TRD and it shows everybody that we earned a spot in the Nextel Cup field."

"It's very difficult to do this, but the way I looked at [the Car of Tomorrow] was that everybody was starting on ground zero," Furr said. "So they've only got three or four races on me, and if I can keep them within seeing distance, I think we can race with 'em week in and week out.

"This is basically 1998, 1999 setups, with bump rubbers and stuff. As soon as I figured we were gonna do this, I pulled out my notes from then and it was the same thing."

Moving forward, Benson just hopes he's part of the equation.

"I know I'm a part of this deal and it would be great to be a part of some other stuff," Benson said. "They've got Jack and the Truck team so I hope we both get to drive it.

"I'd like to run them all, but these are the guys that work with Jack all the time, so I hope he gets the same opportunity. I'm just helping out.

"These [Cars of Tomorrow] drive like racecars. It's different than the [standard] car, but it's not like the truck by any means. They are a little bit different to drive, but I wish I had a lot of opportunities to drive 'em, because they are unique. The races I've watched -- they put on great races.

"As a driver, I felt like I should make this race, so we got both ends of our job done, and I'm proud of these guys for doing that."