JOHNNY BENSON Veteran driver savors long-awaited victory

It was his first win in 227 career starts.
AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Johnny Benson's children wanted to take the winner's trophy from Sunday's race at North Carolina Speedway to school for show-and-tell.
"I told them they couldn't because I'm taking it to my television show for my show-and-tell," Benson said, grinning.
A first win comes only once, and Benson, who waited so long, is determined to get every ounce of enjoyment out of it.
The guy who had taken on the unwanted mantle of "the best driver never to win," shed it at the Rockingham track, winning in style by outdueling championship contender and wily veteran Mark Martin at the end.
The victory came in Benson's 227th career start. It's been a long time since his first race, in February 1996 at Daytona.
"I was really beginning to wonder if this would ever happen," Benson said. "I knew we were capable of winning, it's just that something always seemed to happen to keep us from getting it done."
Still celebrating
The exhilarating feeling of being in Victory Lane has hardly gone down a bit as Benson gets ready to try for another win Sunday in the Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.
"It's been real busy," Benson said. "I never realized there were so many interviews you had to do after you won a race. But it's a good kind of busy.
"I'm worn out and losing my voice, but I'll talk myself horse if it means talking about winning. We have really had a lot of fun. I didn't sleep much Sunday night after partying with the guys at the shop."
Benson has been receiving congratulations from so many people that he has lost count.
And the 39-year-old Michigan native is just as happy for the long-suffering crew on his No. 10 Valvoline Pontiac.
"We counted, and only a couple of our guys in the shop had ever been to Victory Lane, so a lot of guys are like me in experiencing winning a Winston Cup victory for the first time," Benson said. "It's an awesome feeling."
It was also the first win for James Ince, a crew chief since 1996, including the three seasons with Benson.
Coming close
Two weeks earlier, at Martinsville, Benson was in position to win by bumping Kurt Busch out of the way. Instead, Benson, as hungry as he was for a win, raced Busch hard and clean and got beat.
"Johnny is a nice guy," Ince said. "It's as simple as that. Johnny didn't want to win a race the way that he could have won a race at Martinsville."
In looking back at Martinsville, Benson admitted that he might have won "if I had wrecked the guy."
"But, I wasn't going to do that, and I know James was mad at me for it," he said.
"I know he would have [wrecked Busch], but it makes it feel so much better over this one. I think we can all look and say, 'Hey, we won this race. We didn't have to wreck anybody.' "
Now, Benson is going for a second straight win -- a new experience for him.
"Walking into the garage at Phoenix, knowing we have a win under our belt, is going to be a pretty cool feeling," Benson said. "We tested here last week and thought we were pretty good.
"We ran good at Loudon [N.H.], where it was a flat mile like Phoenix. So James thinks we have a pretty good chance this weekend."