Brickyard build up: Johnny Benson.

Following a return to form at Pocono last Sunday, Johnny Benson and the No.10 MBV Motorsports crew are taking the same car that brought them fifth place at Pocono to the Brickyard in the hope that the driver can find the Indy form that saw him lead the most laps of the 1996 event.

In five Brickyard 400 starts, Johnny Benson has failed to complete but two racing laps and yet has only a seventh and an eighth place finish to show for his efforts. However Benson enters the eighth annual Brickyard 400 in his strongest position ever, and following a fine run to fifth place last weekend at Pocono, the driver of the No.10 Valvoline Pontiac is quietly confident of being a major contender for his first Winston Cup victory once again this weekend.

If nothing else Benson hopes this year's Brickyard 400 has a bit more passing than races of previous years. But that's only if he isn't in the lead. Benson said Indy still carries the prestige it always has and is as difficult to drive as any in racing. Because momentum is so important at Indy, the slightest slip or the smallest change in weather can hamper lap times. Benson visits Indy just days after leading seven laps and finishing fifth at Pocono.

Benson has posted eight top-10 finishes in 2001. He has scored two top-10 finishes in his five races at Indy. In 1996, his rookie year, Benson led 70 of the race's 160 laps before falling back after a late race pit-stop blunder by his Bahari Racing squad. He finished 25th there one year ago in the Aaron's Rent Pontiac after qualifying 13th finishing off the lead lap for the first time since 1998 in the process.

Although Benson's Brickyard form does not instantly suggest that he will be a major player this weekend, the burgeoning relationship between driver and crew-chief James Ince has seen the Valvoline machine running at the head of the pack almost all season long and many are predicting that Benson will be the next first time Winston Cup winner following a number of near misses earlier this season.

Bad luck has also played a major factor in Benson's failure to win as have gambles that haven't paid off when on another day they would have but it seems that last Sunday's somewhat bizarre pre-race rituals by the team have paid off and you can take it to the bank that they will repeat things step for step come raceday this weekend.

Benson's Valvoline co-owned and sponsored Pontiac will appear at the Brickyard in striking red, silver and white colours, with classic James Dean images on the hood and quarter-panels. Dean, who was born in Marion, Ind., starred in 1950s classic movies "East of Eden," "Rebel Without a Cause," and "Giant." Benson's Valvoline NASCAR Winston Cup racer is the centrepiece of several Dean-related promotions, which includes a collectible die-cast model car from Action Performance, and September's "James Dean Run" in Fairmount, Ind. TNT, which has joined with NBC to televise the second half of the Winston Cup season, will premier a new film on Dean's legendary life Aug. 5.

"I think Indy is always a neat place to go," commented an upbeat Benson. "There's no place with the history and tradition like Indy. Plus, the Brickyard has a lot of people and the race pays a lot of money so there is plenty of incentive to win there. Heck, we'd race there just for the trophy and maybe to kiss the yard of bricks after the race."

The 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a notoriously fickle beat however as Benson well knows and something such as cloud cover can really affect the bulky Winston Cup cars at Indy like no other track on the Winston Cup tour.

"The weather has such an effect on the track," added Benson. "In the morning you can post some pretty good speeds but when the afternoon comes you slow down like you wouldn't believe. When evening comes you produce some pretty good times again. Why is that? I think it's because Indy is such a momentum race track that if you lose even just a little bit in the corners that shows down those long straightaways. There are other tracks that are similar. But Indy is not a track where you can slip and slide very much because you can't make up that time. To run well at Indy you have to be right on the money."

'Being right on the money' at Indy also has a lot to do with your starting position as the legendary Speedway has yet to provide a truly enthralling race owing to the great difficulties drivers encounter when trying to gain on-track positions. However, Benson is always optimistic that the 2001 race will see more overtaking on the track rather than in the pits, as has been the case before.

"It's huge to qualify good there. Someone said five of the seven races at Indianapolis have been won from a top-10 starting position with four from the top four. That's enough to tell anyone how important Saturday will be to the race on Sunday. We know we have to qualify well to stand a chance to win."

"I sure hope this time is different [as far as overtaking is concerned]. Especially for us. We haven't won here yet so maybe we can this year. The first year (1996) I raced there I saw some passing on the outside, but that's difficult. Especially now since our competition is getting closer and closer the passing has gotten harder and harder to do at Indy. That's frustrating for the driver. You work on the guy in front of you trying to pass him by doing a few different things and if you lose you're momentum doing that three or four guys pass you."