Benson falls short after stellar run

"It was a pretty good day for us," said Benson, who started 39th and finished third. "We're not going to complain with third at all. But, it was pretty hard to compete. Kenny Wallace and Joe Nemechek were pretty strong all day. We did what we could.

"At the beginning of the race I thought we were a lot better than we were at the end of the race. Once the track got real slick, we just couldn't get a hold of anything, especially with the front of the car. We just pushed and pushed, but we're real happy to finish third."

Benson's Pontiac ran well over the long runs between pit stops and his caused was aided by just two caution periods in Sunday's race.

"In our case it played out pretty good," Benson said. "Our car was good in the long run and not so good on the short run. We weren't as good at the end of the race, so I didn't want to see a lot of cautions at the end. That part of it worked out fine.

"Our biggest thing was that we just couldn't get a hold of the track late in the race, especially to the front of the car. We were just hurting on the aero part on the front and it was just hard to deal with."