The O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 will mark Johnny Benson's fifth Camping World Truck Series start at Kansas Speedway. In four previous races, he has never started inside the top-14 but was has been able to work his way to the front; earning two top-five and three top-10 finishes. Benson has never won in the "Land of Oz" but plans to follow the yellow brick road straight to Victory Lane this weekend.
After enjoying nearly a month off, Benson and the #1 Red Horse Racing team are ready to get back to the track. In the last three events at California Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway, the team has seen steady improvement by finishing 12th, ninth and fourth respectively. They are hoping to use that momentum to earn an ever better finish at Kansas Speedway and make up additional ground in the point standings. Johnny Benson currently sits seventh in Camping World Truck Series driver point standings.
During the series most recent off-weekend, Benson could be found racing in the 2009 Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race in Long Beach, California. Carrying the banner for Toyota, Benson finished second overall after overcoming a 30 second head-start given to the celebrities participating. Al Unser Jr. finished first and won the pro category and actor Keanu Reeves won the celebrity category.
Johnny Benson on racing at Kansas Speedway"Kansas Speedway is a cool track with great racing. Last year we had some trouble during the race but we were able to pull out a fourth place finish. We're taking chassis 73 and that truck is our "old faithful. We seem to always run well with it so we'll take it to Kansas and see what we can do!"
Cew Chief Trip Bruce on Kansas Speedway "Kansas Speedway is one of my favorite tracks to go to. It's such a nice facility and they put on a really good show for the fans. It's a very technical track. Drafting comes into play there, so you have to have a good aerodynamic package on your truck. A driver has to give good feedback, be smooth on the track and race smart to finish well there. We finished fourth with Johnny last year. I have been to Victory Lane at Kansas with Kasey Kahne and I would love to get Johnny there this weekend."
Equipment Information: The #1 Red Horse Racing team will compete with chassis # 73 in the O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway. This is Benson's favorite chassis. He last raced it at Atlanta Motor Speedway where he started 18th and finished ninth.
