|| *Comments on the 2002 Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400:* View the most recent comment <#52> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Jack Lewis posted: 07.28.2004 - 5:39 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Johnny Benson's first career Winston Cup win. 2. HomeDepot20TS posted: 06.05.2005 - 12:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Unfortunately, the way it looks now it may be JB's only win. Its a shame, he's a total class act. Here's hoping for a great number of trophies in the NCTS. 3. MASH_guy posted: 08.15.2005 - 5:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The aftermath of this race invoked some controversy. Mark Martin was stripped of 25 points for a right-front spring that had only 3-3/8 coils, rather than the minimum 3-1/2. Jack Roush appealed the penalty, claiming that a manufacturer;s defect caused the shortage. The appeal was denied. Fortunately, the penalty didn't affect the championship, as Tony Stewart won the title by 38 points. 4. Steve posted: 04.14.2006 - 12:16 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lone Winston Cup start for then Busch Series regular Hank Parker Jr (33rd, bad day). Good win for JB, and Mike Skinner earned his only Winston Cup Top 10 while driving a car NOT owned by Richard Childress. His other Top 10s were in the #31 Lowe's car. 5. Miller4Prez64 posted: 04.26.2006 - 7:38 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Cool for Johnny 6. mcmurrayfan posted: 06.15.2006 - 3:45 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) I was a JB fan then and still am in the CTS, I was thrilled to see him win and hope he can win a CTS race soon. 7. Darrell posted: 06.17.2006 - 6:27 pm Rate this comment: (3) (3) Benson's much more deserving of a Cup ride then half of those young punks, er.., I mean young guns in the sport today. 8. Rusty posted: 07.28.2006 - 11:11 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) Ya guys that rarely win and let people pass deserve a ride more than guys that actually win *rollseyes*. But good win for Johnny Benson, MB2 Motorsports 1st Career Winston Cup win. 9. Kevin posted: 08.19.2006 - 12:24 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Was very happy for Benson, he had been close before! 10. Zac posted: 12.01.2006 - 2:25 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) I did not know that Greg Biffle raced for the Petty's. (25th) 11. most posted: 12.31.2006 - 7:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Ironically Biffle also drove for Andy Petree 12. HomeDepot20TS posted: 04.09.2007 - 6:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Greg was the supersub that year. He raced a few races for Andy Petree Racing after the late Bobby Hamilton (feels wierd typing that) was hurt in a truck race at Richmond. Then he ran the last few races of the year in the 44 because Jerry Nadeau got hurt racing go-karts the week of the Atlanta race. 13. Clanton posted: 06.06.2007 - 8:27 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Entertaining race as it looked like the points battle was going to tighten up heading into the last 2 weeks. Stewart struggled early, being lapped by lap 100, and Martin dominated, only to come home in 2nd and then lose 25 points because of a front spring with too few coils. Martin and Roush appealed, but only for the sake of appealing but knew going in they were going to lose. I remember watching this race and NBC showing a RIDICULOUS amount of commercials. I think viewers missed over half of the green flag laps becawse of this. 14. Nuck Chorris posted: 11.14.2007 - 1:51 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) As of race 24 of the 2007 season, Johnny Benson has 8 CTS wins and finished 2nd in CTS points in 2006. 15. SK posted: 02.04.2008 - 12:21 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Skinner's 6th-place finish rounded out a solid weekend for the former series Rookie of the Year, who started the race in row 2, yet also marked the best finish that Morgan-McClure Motorsports' #4 car would have in its last seven years of existence. 16. myself posted: 02.29.2008 - 1:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (6) Hello Mr. Blind Squirrel. I'm Mr. Nut. 17. b4il3y posted: 09.13.2008 - 1:51 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) Mr. Blind Squirrel also happens to be Mr. CTS right now. Check yourself before you bust on someone. 18. JCS posted: 09.15.2008 - 8:18 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Johnny Benson drove a great race and won this one. He should have been able to stay in Cup racing longer. 19. Clayton posted: 02.05.2009 - 4:32 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Benson's run in this race was fantasic. He REALLY struggled in the 26 car for Roush, and had his shot and blew it. He is better than most young drivers out there today, but unfortuatly, this sport isn't built around success, it's built around young guys who can go really fast, but have no idea how to keep the car off the wall. 20. Grizzler posted: 06.28.2009 - 1:12 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I feel like Johnny should have gotten more wins especially at Roush. BUT, when you look at the overall picture, a Busch and Truck Championship and a bunch of wins, not to mention his ASA stuff, and it aint like EVERYBODY wins a Cup race, Johnny was the greats of his era. But thats just me talking. 21. jeff k posted: 02.01.2010 - 4:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) hank parker jr... defeated jimmie johnson and jimmie never got the chance to return the favor... so 4 championships later and hank parker can say that jimmy never beat him... well actually jimmy never beat me either... 22. Anonymous posted: 08.22.2010 - 3:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Johnny would have won many races for Roush if he was driving the 6 or 99. The 26, 97, and 16 were still secondary projects when Johnny drove for Jack. 23. Talon64 posted: 12.03.2010 - 6:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) JB Jr. gets his first Cup win just two weeks after a close call at Martinsville, finishing 2nd to Kurt Busch. Jeff Green led a career-high 68 laps in this race; to date he's led 265 laps in 268 career Cup starts. 24. Spen posted: 07.18.2011 - 3:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not quite a career high; he led 71 laps at Bristol the year before. 25. Schroeder51 posted: 07.19.2011 - 2:16 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Benson should have won more races than just this. He should have won at the Brickyard in 1996. 26. Anonymous posted: 07.23.2011 - 1:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) i feel Benson was a driver who was always better then his equipment, shame he never got a top ride 27. CBASS posted: 05.13.2012 - 12:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor corrections: #4 Kodak Perfect Touch #10 Valvoline MaxLife 28. Daniel posted: 05.25.2012 - 12:56 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) In using fastest 43: #71 Tim Sauter & #74 Tony Raines Out using fastest 43: #1 Steve Park & #5 Terry Labonte 29. kidracer posted: 05.25.2013 - 11:36 am Rate this comment: (6) (0) Benson would have won more races had Nelson Bowers put in more money to his operation. If he did in 2001, hed have a crapload of wins and finish in the top-10. Same thing for Schrader, Nemechek, Riggs, Nadeau, ect. He never invested enough in his team. He only won 2 races as an owner. (Nemechek in Kansas of 04' was the other). Bobby Ginn put more into his team (Though he ws gone a few months later) than Bowers tried to do. 30. Nascar Lead Lap Points posted: 07.26.2014 - 9:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) WD 27 Kirk Shelmerdine Naturally Fresh Foods Kirk Shelmerdine Ford #27-Kirk Shelmerdine has been dropped off the list.(10-30-2002) 31. Mark O. posted: 12.01.2015 - 4:35 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Ward Burton cursed in his interview, saying that "we run like shit all day anyway". I don't recall if he got fined. 32. SpiderTre posted: 12.29.2015 - 7:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) sponsor correction: #54 Ron Hornaday - National Guard http://archives.ciastockphoto.com/w/2002/race35/w0235em7207d.jpg 33. Ben posted: 04.01.2016 - 7:27 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) "We ran like shit all day." I miss Ward. 34. Burton22fan posted: 07.21.2016 - 4:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Casey Atwood's last race in the 7 in what was a shitty year for him with his best finish being 11th at the first Pocono race. 35. FrontRowMotorsportsFan posted: 10.30.2016 - 1:52 am Rate this comment: (4) (0) Watching this about 1/4th the way through right now, but it was refreshing back then to see the whole field have competitive cars, TV & NASCAR not trying to shove "The Chase" down our throats, and instead focusing on a good race product. 36. 52 posted: 10.30.2016 - 8:55 am Rate this comment: (1) (1) Good post. Thank you. I'm all in agreement. 37. Tide1732 posted: 05.31.2017 - 7:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) Biggest NASCAR Fuel-Mileage win ever. 38. MarkMartinFan posted: 06.01.2017 - 6:47 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) Tide, JB outraced Martin that day. I don't remember it being a fuel mileage race at all. 39. Jericohol14 posted: 06.01.2017 - 7:21 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) @38 Not to mention, even if it WAS a fuel mileage race, it wouldn't be the biggest win of all time. Greg Biffle, Casey Mears and Austin Dillon now also scored their first career wins on fuel mileage, the DAYTONA 500 this year ended on a fuel run, the 2011 Coke 600... yeah just another Tideism at work. 40. Canadianfan posted: 06.01.2017 - 8:27 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) One thing I will say about this race was in my opinion this was the toughest Lightning Challenge in NASCAR Thunder 2004. I was never able to win it and thus was never able to complete the game. I always ran out of fuel or got passed or just got straight up wrecked by Mark Martin usually on the last lap on the backstretch or in turns 3 and 4. There are very few games I have played where I was unable to complete them and this was one of them. 41. Anthony posted: 06.01.2017 - 8:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) @40 why can't you left off the throttle early before entering the corners. That worked out for me. 42. Corey posted: 06.01.2017 - 2:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Fuel mileage did play a factor in this race. Just not in the way that we usually see it. Mark Martin was breathing down Johhny's neck the entire time all while he's trying to save enough to make it to the end. 43. BadBooking posted: 04.17.2019 - 12:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (3) Tony Stewart also said an expletive in his post-race interview, but some how didn't get fined points/money wise like others around this time period. Had Mark not gotten the penalty and Tony was fined here, Mark would have been champion shockingly enough. 44. RaceFanX posted: 04.17.2019 - 2:44 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) I'm not sure the swing would have been enough to change the outcome. Mark Martin got fined 25 points and Smoke could have gotten a similar penalty if he had been fined for swearing (Dale Earnhardt, Jr. got fined 25 points for using "shit" in victory lane about two years later) but he won the title by 38 points. While I was a massive Mark Martin fan at this time I was pleased that if Tony had to win the title he did by enough of a margin that penalty didn't make a difference. 45. Me. posted: 04.17.2019 - 9:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Yet another example of Mark Martin getting screwed by NASCAR in favor of a classless prick. The first was in 1991 when they basically handed Earnhardt the championship with a pointless penalty towards Martin. 46. Anonymous posted: 03.13.2020 - 2:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Nascar Just Loved To Screw Mark Martin and Jack Roush First in 1990 and than 12 years later in 2002 47. Foote posted: 04.07.2020 - 8:59 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) Jamie McMurray qualified in the top 5 in his first four Winston Cup starts. Up to that point, he had only two top-5 qualifying efforts in his entire Busch Series career. Bizarre, but throughout his career McMurray thrived when expectations were low and pressure was off. 48. SweetRich posted: 07.01.2020 - 11:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) After years and years of coming up short even with Jack Roush for two years, Johnny Benson's day in the sun finally came on this day. After winning The Busch Series title in 1995, Benson was a shoe in to win right away. However, that did not happen as he had decent runs competing in The Pennzoil Pontiac, notably The '96 Brickyard 400. The same goes for his two-year stint at Roush Racing, especially in early '98 with his two fifth place runs at Bristol and Texas. Then, the wheels fell off and Benson became the after thought driver for 1999, sad to say. 2000 was a redemption year for the Michigan native with his coming out party run happening in The Daytona 500, leading lap after lap, holding off the Ford freight train until being passed on the last restart. 2001 showed that Benson could run up front and one day he would go to victory lane. Sadly, 2002 was a forgettable year with injuries and bad runs. Thankfully, the silver lining of that dreadful season happened at Rockingham, winning for the first time. A great win indeed by a great driver. 49. BOBO83329521 posted: 07.02.2020 - 12:10 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) @48 2000 was quite the year for JB. He ran the beginning of the season for Tim Beverley's team before it was discovered that the team was not sponsored by any of the corporate sponsors they claimed they had, then was forced to switch teams mid season and still was able to put together great runs despite all of the drama and chaos going on around him. Just proves how unphased he was by things, even when they didn't really go his way. 50. SweetRich21/43 posted: 07.31.2020 - 10:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The commentators were Allen Bestwick, Benny Parsons and Wally Dallenbach. The pit road reporters were Bill Weber, Matt Yocum, Marty Snider and Dave Burns. 51. Mile501 posted: 08.25.2020 - 12:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) There was a lot of talk about how *Johnny Benson* wanted to win a race the "right" way. He could have bumped Kurt Busch out of the way to win at Martinsville, two races before this, but he didn't want to win that way. He was always a class act. Regarding comments 37-39, fuel was a question mark towards the end of this race, and a number of drivers did make a late pit stop. However, all the top finishers were able to stretch their fuel to the finish. *Mike Skinner* had an awesome run in the Morgan-McClure #4. He finished 6th, which is about where he ran all day. The #4 team was always strong at Rockingham in the fall during this era, finishing between 6th and 10th in all but 1 fall Rockingham race between 1997 and 2002. Unfortunately, the team would never again record such a strong finish. This was also one of the best opportunities *Jeff Green* had to win a Cup race. His car was great on the long runs in the middle of the race. In fact, he was leading by 8 seconds at one point. But some pit road issues cost him track position, and he lost a few more spots when he ran out of fuel on the last lap. Pre-rookie *Jamie McMurray* had a great run in or just outside of the top 10 all day in his first Cup start at Rockingham, but had to pit late for fuel and ended up finishing 15th. *Ken Schrader* and *John Andretti* were also running around 10th-12th late in the race but had to pit for fuel. Point leader *Tony Stewart* had an unbelievably terrible car, running around 30th throughout the first half of the race. They finally got it somewhat better, and he also gained some spots late as other drivers had to pit in the closing laps. If he had become frustrated and given up and finished around 30th, he would have lost the championship. But he was able to keep his frustration under control in this race, and it paid off with the big prize at the end of the year. 52. Mile501 posted: 08.25.2020 - 12:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) One other driver I meant to include in my post above was Todd Bodine, who also had a strong top 10 run throughout the race until cutting down a right-front tire and hitting the wall to bring out the third caution. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: