Benson aching for return to Truck Series competition (cont'd)

Busch said he's already convinced. Both he and Benson said they had hoped to announce Benson would be driving a truck full time for KBM in 2010 when Busch announced the launching of his new ownership venture this past Friday in Charlotte.

That didn't happen because sponsorship has yet to be secured for what would be a third KBM truck driven by Benson. Busch already has plans to run two other trucks full time -- the No. 56 Toyota to be driven by Tayler Malsam and the No. 18 that will be driven both by Busch and Brian Ickler.

Johnny Benson

Career Truck Statistics

Year	No.	W	T-5	T-10	Avg. Fin.
1995	7	0	2	5	8.6
1996	4	0	1	4	5.2
1997	1	0	0	0	34.0
2004	13	0	5	8	9.5
2005	25	0	6	10	14.9
2006	25	5	13	17	10.2
2007	25	4	12	19	9.6
2008	25	5	14	18	9.1
2009	8	0	3	4	12.5
Totals	133	14	56	85	10.8

Points Ranks (full seasons)

2005	2006	2007	2008
10	2	3	1

"I'd love to get Johnny Benson in a truck, man," Busch said. "I'm trying so hard to get Johnny in a truck ride because that guy needs to be in the series. Winning a championship and then falling out of a ride last year due to funding, I mean that just sucks."

Until the sponsorship money comes together -- and there are no guarantees in this economy that it will even for a former champion -- Busch and Benson are in agreement that the veteran driver can fulfill a high purpose at KBM as a mentor to Malsam and Ickler, a pair of young but promising drivers. Malsam is just 20, less than half Benson's age; Ickler is only 24.

"I hope Johnny will still stick around with us and help me with the young drivers, help bring them along and be a part of the program," Busch said.

Benson confirmed that he not only is willing to do so, but sounded fired up about it.

"Kyle's going out on a limb, trying to get this deal going for me," Benson said. "We really thought we were going to announce it [this past Friday], but we had a couple of things that fell through so we couldn't.

"Now we hope to be able to do that before Daytona [in February]; and if not, I told him I would help the young guys as much as I can. There is not going to be all the time in the world that he's going to be able to let me do that. But I vow to put my two cents in whenever and wherever they would like me to, to help some of the young guys out."

What Benson really wants to do, of course, is drive a truck again. He said he's pleased to know that he's healthy enough to do so after the wreck at Berlin Raceway that landed him in a Grand Rapids, Mich., hospital, where he initially was listed in serious but stable condition.

"When you think of wrecks -- and that's obviously the worst wreck that I've had -- not being able to come back never crosses your mind as long as you've got doctors who say they're going to be able to put you back together again. Hey, I've got confidence in them," Benson said.

"To me, it's no different than your race team telling you they can get your truck fixed after a wreck. I mean, obviously it's different in some ways. But I've been pretty impressed. I was a little skeptical at the beginning, when they were talking about the surgeries and all the stuff that was going on. When they said how it was going to take three months out of your life to even begin getting back to where you can move yourself around, that was a little devastating.

"But it really wasn't as long to make that happen. Probably three months after the wreck, I could have gone out and tried to race. They just wanted to make sure I didn't go out and do any more damage to stuff they had just fixed. But I'm actually ready to go right now. Daytona is a little ways away, and I'll be in even better shape by then."

All he needs now is someone with deep pockets to believe in and back him.

"I wouldn't have agreed to come into this deal if I didn't think it was a great opportunity. I think it will be for these young guys -- and I think it will be for me to go and try to run for a championship, if we can make that happen with a third truck," Benson said.

"It's like anything else. Funding is what controls this sport. It didn't years ago, but it does now. And we know we've got just a little bit more to go to be able to make things happen. Hopefully we can do that by next month. Anything after that would make it awful tough to run for a championship, but not so much to try to run a limited deal."