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NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series
TRUCKS: Benson Searching For Sponsorship At KBM
Johnny Benson has spent the last several months on the sidelines...
Jared Turner  | http://www.scenedaily.com  |  Posted December 12, 2009   Charlotte, NC
2008 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion Johnny Benson has been searching for a ride since recovering from injuries he received in a crash during a supermodified race. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Johnny Benson has spent the last several months on the sidelines healing from injuries suffered in a crash in a Supermodified race this past summer.

Benson walked away from the June 13 fiery accident at Berlin Speedway in Michigan with broken ribs, burns and a separated shoulder.

While the veteran Truck driver says he is fully recovered and ready to race again, his waiting continues. This time, he’s waiting on sponsorship to drive a third entry for the new Kyle Busch Motorsports team in 2010.

The team, which announced on Friday plans to field a pair of trucks next season, wants to do the same for Benson, but his status is far from settled. The 2008 series champion could potentially run a full season, a partial schedule or not at all, depending on when sponsorship is found.

“I think it’ll be a great opportunity if we could get something going to go run for a championship,” Benson said. “I think we can make that happen. It’s like anything else: Funding is what controls this sport today. It didn’t years ago, but it does now and we know that we’ve got just a little bit more to go to try to get things to happen, but hopefully we can make it happen here in the next month because after that, it’s going to be awful tough to run for a championship, but not so much to try to run the limited deal.”

His own driving plans aside, the 46-year-old Benson hopes to help with the KBM efforts of 20-year-old Tayler Malsam and 24-year-old Brian Ickler. Malsam will drive the full season in a No. 56 Toyota while Ickler will share driving duties with team owner Kyle Busch in a No. 18 truck. Neither Malsam nor Ickler has won in 38 combined starts in the series.

“I told Kyle, I said, ‘Look, I’m dedicated to helping you do whatever this team needs,’ whether it’s to help some of the young guys, to help when he’s not around,” Benson said. “I’ll be more than glad to do that. The ultimate goal is obviously to get in a truck and run for a championship, and hopefully we can still make that happen but if that isn’t the case, it would just be a partial deal to help some of the young guys.”

Benson may be the elder statesman at KBM in terms of drivers but he won’t be the only veteran in a key role. Rick Ren, who has guided Ron Hornaday to two championships the last three seasons at Kevin Harvick Inc., will serve as director of competition for the new team.

The 52-year-old Ren worked as a crew chief for Benson at Bill Davis Racing before his appointment at KHI.

“It means a lot to me to have Johnny a part of our team and help these young drivers along when I’m not there,” said Busch, who is 24. “And to have Tayler have the leadership of Johnny and for Brian to have the leadership of Johnny and, of course, Rick Ren, who has worked with Johnny Benson in the past, I feel like that could be a really dangerous combination.”

Busch said the team hoped to have sponsorship for Benson in time for Friday’s announcement and is optimistic it can get Benson’s situation squared away in time for the 2010 season opener at Daytona International Speedway.

Benson won the 2008 title with Bill Davis Racing, where he earned all 14 of his series wins, but that team sold after his championship season and he started 2009 with Red Horse Racing. That organization suspended operations of the No. 1 team because of sponsorship issues midseason.

“I’d love to get Johnny Benson in a truck, man,” Busch said. “I am trying so hard to get Johnny Benson in a Truck ride because that guy needs to be in the series. After winning a championship and then falling out of a ride last year due to funding, I mean that just [stinks]. So I hope Johnny will still stick around with us and help me with the young drivers and help bring them along and be a part of the program.”

Benson opened 2009 with four top-10s in eight starts and was seventh in the standings at the time of his release from Red Horse. His Supermodified wreck came a week later.

Benson subsequently underwent two surgeries - one for burns, the other on his injured shoulder.

Not having an opportunity to contend for a second straight title was tough.

“I think that was probably the biggest disappointment last year,” Benson said. “Really in the scenario that we were in, I was closer to the championship lead at that point in the year than I was the year before that we won it. Yeah, that’s disappointing to have that happen, but those things will happen and I can’t control that part of it, so you just deal with the things that you’ve got to deal with at that point and time.”

Now, Benson is dealing with the uncertainty of when his new team will acquire the sponsorship for him to go race. So he finds himself in a familiar position – waiting.

“I’m not tired of waiting,” he said. “There’s so many things that have gone right for me throughout my career and there’s some that’s obviously gone bad, so I’m just contributing the best that we can and at the level that we can at this point in time.

“I’m optimistic. Hopefully, somebody will come forward and get some things put together.”

SceneDaily.com•Kyle Busch aiming to give young drivers a chance with his new Truck team




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