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Daytona upset club still exclusive
Posted: Monday February 21, 2000 09:25 AM
By Ryan Smithson, CNNSI.com DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (CNNSI.com) -- The term "Major Daytona 500 upset" is still exclusively Derrike Cope's. Cope won the Daytona 500 in 1990 when Dale Earnhardt cut a tire on the final lap. Cope has won one race since then. Johnny Benson nearly became a second member of the club. The Tyler Jet driver, winless and driving for his third team in his fifth Winston Cup season, led the Daytona 500 with five laps to go. Benson grabbed the lead during a caution on lap 158 by taking on two tires when nearly everyone else took four. Prior to the yellow, Benson was running eighth. The next 39 laps were magical for the 36-year-old driver. For nearly a half-hour, he forgot about everything that has gone wrong the last two years -- the DNQs, the accidents and the unceremonious split with high-profile owner Jack Roush. "This feels good," Benson said. "I didn't lose my job [with Roush]. I walked away from it. I made the right choice." Although Benson was on older tires, he kept the Fords of Dale Jarrett, Jeff Burton and Bill Elliott at bay by using the entire racetrack to block the trio. The Michigander drove like David Pearson in his prime. He brilliantly used the whole track to block the quicker Fords until his luck ran out. Benson knew he was beaten when the caution came out on lap 194. That set up a single-file restart with a pack of three Fords behind him. "I got up to speed as quick as I could," Benson said. "I knew the Fords were going to gang up on us at the end. There is nothing you can do about that. "I ran him down as low as I could, but I wasn't going to just wreck us all, either." This wasn't the first time Benson nearly stole the show at one of Winston Cup's biggest events. Benson graduated to Winston Cup racing after winning the Busch Grand National title in 1995. He was hired to drive a Pontiac for Bahari Racing, and he nearly won The Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway as a rookie in 1996. Benson led 66 laps that hot August day -- many thought the rookie was going to win it. But his tires were worn down -- and a certain driver in his second season with Robert Yates Racing went on to take The Brickyard that year. His name? Dale Jarrett.
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