West Allis, WI (My Sportsbook) - A huge secret was finally exposed last week in Michigan - Johnny Benson is a really good driver.
Driving the No.23 Toyota for Bill Davis Racing, Benson won in front of the hometown fans for his first win of the season and became the 17th driver to win in all three of NASCAR's national series.
Benson held off Mark Martin for a 0.112-second victory.
With only 28 laps remaining Benson took the inside lane to pass Martin for first place. Following a couple of cautions, the race got back under way with only eight laps to go.
During the restart Benson maintained his lead while Bobby Labonte drove past Rick Crawford and Matt Crafton for third. Points leader Todd Bodine also had a good restart and moved into the top-five.
With three laps to go Martin made an unsuccessful outside pass attempt for the lead. As this occurred a Martin Truex Jr./Kerry Earnhardt crash brought out the eighth and final caution to tie the track record.
The caution set up for an exciting green-white-checkered finish. On the restart Benson held onto his lead while Martin followed close behind. Martin couldn't find a way past Benson on the last lap and Benson celebrated his first Craftsman Truck Series victory.
"Two years ago at Michigan, Bill Davis gave me a chance to drive his Toyota truck and it was an awesome opportunity," said Benson. "We had to start last that day and made it to fourth. Today, we started fifth and fell to the back, and then had to come back up through the field. I'm pretty excited to win here at Michigan because we have a lot of great fans here, and that's the best part."
Benson, fourth place in the standings, closed to within 207 points of leader Bodine. Also moving up was David Reutimann who passed Ted Musgrave in the standing. After the first 10 races of the 2006 season, Toyota drivers hold down the top-five positions.
Toyota should continue to dominate this week in the Toyota Tundra Milwaukee 200 and for the rest of the season.