Defending Truck champ Benson joins Red Horse

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Red Horse Racing announced Monday that it will expand to two teams for the 2009 Camping World Truck Series season with the addition of defending series champion Johnny Benson to the team's roster.

Benson, the 1995 Nationwide Series champion and '96 Cup Series rookie of the year, will join teammate David Starr at Red Horse Racing. Benson will drive the team's No. 1 Toyota with Starr behind the wheel of the No. 11.

"I couldn't be happier than I am joining [team owner] Tom DeLoach and Red Horse Racing for 2009," Benson said. "Tom has a long history in the sport and has always done things the right way. He has built a great racing team. The shop, the equipment and the people are all top notch.

"There will be some familiar faces from the championship-winning team that comes over to Red Horse Racing so we hope that minimizes the adjustment time. We really plan on not having any adjustment time at all; we want to hit the ground running and fight for wins starting with the first race at Daytona.

"I'm looking forward to teaming up with David too," Benson said. "He's always been a hard competitor on the track but he's a lot of fun to be around. I can tell we're going to have a lot of fun in 2009. We're going to enjoy the offseason -- I've been looking forward to spending time with my family and working on some of my other racing projects during the winter -- but I can't wait to get to Daytona and get the season started."

Benson will be paired with crew chief Trip Bruce, with whom he's had tremendous success in recent seasons. Since teaming with Benson prior to the start of the 2007 season they have nine wins, 26 top-five finishes and 37 top-10s in 50 starts.

"This is a great day for the Red Horse Racing team," DeLoach said. "We have wanted to expand to two teams since we entered the sport as owners full-time but the opportunity was never there to do it the way we wanted to. We got the opportunity to pair together David and Johnny and we did just that.

"Johnny is one of the most accomplished drivers in NASCAR. He's won races at every level and he has won championships all the way back to his ASA days. On top of that, he's a fantastic guy that is tremendous with sponsors and he has a huge fan following. We're looking forward to getting him on the track in the No. 1 Tundra and picking up right where he left off in 2008."

Benson has 274 Cup Series starts with one win (Rockingham in 2002) and 58 top-10 finishes. In 91 career Nationwide Series starts he has three wins, 19 top-five finishes and 35 top-10s. In addition to his 1995 series championship, Benson was the 1994 Nationwide Series rookie of the year.

Benson has made 125 Truck Series starts with 14 wins, 53 top-five finishes and 81 top-10s. He joins Greg Biffle as the only drivers with championships in the Nationwide Series and Truck Series.