Driver Profile:

A native of Grand Rapids Mich., Johnny Benson is a three-time rookie of the year, winning the honor in the ASA ACDelco Challenge Series in 1990, the Busch Series in 1994 and the Cup Series in 1995.

Benson got involved in racing through his dad, John Sr., who owns Benson Speed Equipment. John Sr. retired from competition in 1981, making way for Johnny to begin his racing career on dirt.

He started out at Thunderbird Speedway by winning rookie of the year in 1982. He started racing on asphalt in 1986 at Berlin Raceway, where his father had garnered much renown. In 1989, Johnny continued that tradition by winning the Late Model Championship. Johnny set a track record by winning 10 of 15 events.

Now, when they say that Johnny "owns" Berlin Raceway, they're not kidding. Benson became part owner of the track in 2000.

In 1994, while in the Busch Series, Benson made history. He won his first Busch race at Dover International Speedway in the Split Fire Spark Plug 200. It was Benson's 29th career start in the Busch Series and the first time a rookie in the series won his first race on a superspeedway.

A year later, Benson won the series championship by 404 points over Chad Little. He won the Busch Light 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the Sun-Drop 400 at Hickory Speedway. Benson also recorded 12 top five-finishes and completed 96 percent of all laps during the season.

Benson finally ended the quest for his first career Cup victory in 2002 when he took the checkered flag in the Pop Secret 400 at Rockingham, a goal that took him 226 starts to realize.

"What was even neater about winning was that we had 80 people at Rockingham from my fan club," Benson said. "What a thrill for them to be sitting in Turn 2 when I got my first win. The fans have been with me for everything we've gone through to get to this point.

"My mom called and told me that the TV stations were all at the house wanting to talk. I told her to have fun. Then she said they wanted to know if I could talk with them on the late-night news.

Looking down at the beverage in hand, Benson looked back up and smiled.

"I don't think that's going to happen tonight," he said, as he went back to enjoying the win with his crew.

When not on the track, Benson enjoys watching Mel Gibson and Bridget Fonda movies.