Bulldog Benson

MBV team continues to battle, but only on the track

When your hauler is parked on the downhill side of the Winston Cup garage, and your race car needs an "antique" vanity plate (according to some people), you take inspiration where you find it.

Or, in the case of Johnny Benson's sixth-place finish at Michigan, you provide it.

Benson's MBV-owned No. 10 team has struggled this season, which is being kind. Collectively, they're mired in 35th place in the Winston Cup points standings, and the reasons are as varied as the tracks they frequent. Mechanical things have broken, as did Benson's ribs a month ago during a Busch series race at Richmond; Sunday's Cup event at Michigan was only his second after a four-week hiatus.

The "Why Us?" list runs on: Wrecks have been untimely. Luck, mostly rotten.

But the relationships aren't. There are no resumes circulating, no pink slips accumulating, no so-and-so-hates-so-and-so stories to refute.

"This group here, I'm telling you, it's as close to the Mafia as you can get," says crew chief James Ince. "We're pretty tight. So, whether we run good together or we win together, we're not down on each other and everything's good."

Johnny Benson driver page James Ince crew chief page

The proof may be in the Pontiac that Benson drove Sunday. It wasn't supposed to be wearing that race trim. In fact, it sported a completely different outfit when Ince received last Tuesday's NASCAR ruling allowing Pontiacs an extra half-inch extension on their noses.

Some, particularly the someones who must campaign them, say the current Grand Prix is -- pick one -- outdated, a plow, Chevrolet's poor cousin. A new model debuts next year, but that's cold comfort to Benson, his MBV teammate Ken Schrader, who's 30th in points, and former Cup champion Bobby Labonte, who sits 20th.

Labonte's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Tony Stewart, has had the most success this year, winning at Richmond. He's seventh in the points. Stacy Compton, racing A.J. Foyt's Pontiac, is 37th.

How much culpability falls on the teams, and how much falls on the car generates good debate fodder, but one thing is obvious: The manufacturer and team clamoring, those dismal finishes -- all finally scored Pontiacs their rules concession.

And Ince's shop guys went to work.

"The Michigan car was ready to load when we got the rules change," says Ince. "We went back and we worked straight through. We all but cut the body completely off of this car and we regrouped."

"I mean 24 hours a day, getting three hours' sleep," adds Benson.

"This group here, I'm telling you, it's as close to the Mafia as you can get. We're pretty tight. So, whether we run good together or we win together, we're not down on each other and everything's good." James Ince Crew chief, No. 10 team

The other Pontiac teams undoubtedly did the same -- Schrader's, Labonte's, Stewart's, Compton's -- but only Benson's had the results. His Pontiac was the only one that finished on the lead lap, which is why Ince wasn't crowing afterward.

"I don't know how much the rule change helped," admits Ince. "We've got our act together, and we've had our act together, and you gotta figure that part in."

Yes, the No. 10 will go to the wind tunnel before the Pepsi 400 at Daytona (first, there is this week's road-course race at Sears Point, followed by the season's last off-week). That tunnel session likely will yield a truer barometer of the new kickout.

What it won't do is register Ince's competitiveness.

I don't know the man -- yet. The media guide tells me he's 32, he's been a full-time Cup crew chief since 1997, Benson's chief since 2000, and his wife and I share the same first name.

His post-race demeanor at Michigan told me what I should know for now; he was cordial, unapologetic. Facial expression and tone-of-voice didn't concede an inch to rule changes, first-half struggles, or points standings. If you work for Ince, don't expect him to lay off the whip in the second half. If you do work for him, I'm probably not enlightening you.

Such bulldoggedness is how it should be, whether you're 40th, or fourth.

"Johnny Benson can still drive the [expletive] out of a race car, and I still I think I know how to work on them," says Ince, very politely. "So this race team is strong."

Denise N. Maloof covers NASCAR for CNNSI.com.

 

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