http://www.nationalspeedsportnews.com/stock-cars/arca-stock-cars/benjamin-becomes-youngest-arca-winner/
By
Nicholas Dettmann
OREGON,
Wis. - Kyle Benjamin was on a nice Sunday drive through the country of southern
Wisconsin on a hot and humid late summer day.
Benjamin
is 15 years old and isn’t licensed to drive on the streets on his own.
Benjamin,
a 15-year-old teenager who isn’t licensed to drive on the streets on his own,
stole the show from local favorites Ross Kenseth and Travis Sauter by leading
the final 131 laps of the ARCA Racing Series Herr’s Live Life With Flavor 200
at Madison Int’l Speedway.
With
the victory, Benjamin became the youngest driver to win a race in the ARCA
Series.
“You’ve
always got to be a little bit scared when Ross is behind you because he’s a
really good driver,” Benjamin said. “He’s tough to beat. ... You’ve always got
to worry about him.”
That
was especially the thought as Kenseth was racing on his home track, where he’s
won five times, for his ARCA debut.
“It’s
a big deal to beat Ross anywhere, whether it’s a late model or in a foot race,”
Benjamin said. “He’s a great driver. He’s really fast and I respect him a lot.
It’s a big deal for me to win the race and beat him.”
Benjamin,
a native of Easley, S.C., was already the youngest pole-sitter in the series’
history, which he accomplished for the May 19 race at Toledo Speedway.
“The
car was really good,” Benjamin said. “It was a top-five car in the first run.
Then we made that (pit) stop and we changed two tires and (crew chief Kevin
Reed) made some adjustments, exactly what I needed to go out and run good in
the second (run).
“He’s
the best crew chief around. That’s what crew chiefs are for. He gave me a shot
to win the race.”
James
Buescher was the youngest winner in series history before Benjamin, having won
at USA International in Lakeland, Fla., in 2007. He was two days shy of his
16th birthday when he took the checkered flag in an ARCA Series event. Benjamin
won’t turn 16 until November.
“It’s
the biggest thing that’s ever happened to me,” said Benjamin about just winning
an ARCA race. “I’m ecstatic. I’m not going to sleep tonight. I’m not going to
sleep tomorrow night. It’s a big deal.”
Justin
Boston finished second. Frank Kimmel dropped to 0 for 6 in his attempt to
become the series’ all-time winningest driver by finishing third. Kimmel tied
legendary driver Iggy Katona after winning at Winchester Speedway on June 30
with 79 victories, six races ago.
Kimmel
has 25 straight top-10 finishes and five straight top-fives.
Benjamin,
in a way, almost felt guilty for winning because so many drivers in the series
have far more experience than he does, like Kimmel, who has been racing longer
than Benjamin has been alive. But Kimmel can’t and won’t deny the teen’s
talent.
Benjamin
won three straight races at New Smyrna (Fla.) in 2012 when he was just 14 years
old and won the 37th annual Hardee's Rattler 250 at the South Alabama Speedway
in late March.
“He
just does a good job and always has,” Kimmel said. “He did a great job.”
Spencer
Gallagher and Mason Mingus rounded out the top five.
The
final margin of victory for Benjamin over Boston was an overwhelming 7.09
seconds or almost one full straight away. The race broke two track records for
the series: time of race (1:15:44) and average speed (79.21 mph).
Kenseth
finished sixth.
Sauter
had a rough day as he chased for his 11th straight feature win at Madison.
Troubles with a brake caliper early in the race dropped him to eight laps
behind the leader. He finished 16th, 19 laps behind the leader.
“The
car just got super, super loose,” Sauter said. “I just tried to ride it to the
first pit stop then the brake pedal went to the floor.”
Kenseth’s
debut had a lot of excitement surrounding it in the week leading up to the
race. There was also a lot of excitement around Sauter, who made his NASCAR
debut with the Nationwide Series on Aug. 3 at Iowa.
The
track has a lot of history for the Kenseth family. Kenseth’s father, 2003
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth, won a championship on it in
1994. He is a 28-time winner at the track in two divisions. He is fifth on the
all-time wins list at the track in the super late model division with 26. Only
Dick Trickle (72), Joe Shear (66), Tom Reffner (58) and John Ziegler (30) have
more. Kenseth, who was fresh off his victory in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
race at Bristol the night before, was in attendance.
Ross
Kenseth was the event’s top qualifier with a fast-lap time of 18.217 seconds on
the half-mile oval. He led the first 51 laps of the race and appeared to be in
control of the race.
“We
were the best car,” he said.
A
crash by William Gallaher on lap 49 brought out the race’s first caution.
Kenseth was among a large group of cars to make a pit stop, including Benjamin.
Just before the field was going to restart the race, Kenseth returned to pit
lane to make a minor adjustment.
It
had a major consequence. For the rest of the race, Kenseth struggled mightily
with an ill-handling race car.
Kenseth
was in second place with 15 laps to go. With four laps to go, he quickly fell
to fifth. Mingus passed Kenseth on the last lap to break into the top five.
“We
made a bad adjustment in the pits,” Kenseth said. “It was 100 percent my call.
We should’ve just left it alone.
“We
went the wrong way with the adjustment and it really hurt us. We raised the
track bar to free it up in the middle and it just killed the right rear tire in
the long run. I had the best car here today. I just didn’t get it done.”
The
last caution came out lap 67 after contact between Brennan Poole and Michael
Lira coming off Turn 2.
Kimmel
was the race leader at the time, ahead of Boston and Mingus. They pitted under
the caution, while Benjamin stayed out, running in fourth.
Benjamin
never relinquished the lead. The green flag came back out on lap 73 and stayed
out until the checkered flag flew.
“When
you have a long run like that, you’re thinking this is too good to be true to
go all the way to the end green like this,” Benjamin said. “It really surprised
me. I’m happy.”
Running
that many laps without a caution isn’t unprecedented. Last year at Berlin, the
series ran 162 consecutive green-flag laps.
“It’s
always in the back of your mind,” he said about a possible caution toward the
end of a race, especially after a long green-flag run. “You’re worried, sitting
there thinking, ‘OK. Forty (laps) to go, no caution. Thirty to go, no caution.
Please no caution.’
“It
was on me because I was out there riding like that. I did not want to see a
caution.”
Kenseth
was able to give Benjamin a slight challenge just beyond the halfway point as
Benjamin struggled with lapped traffic. Once clear of the traffic, Benjamin
cruised to the victory.
“We
really needed that last caution to come in and put four (tires) on and make
that adjustment to where we had it before,” Kenseth said. “It’s 100 percent my
fault. It wasn’t broke; shouldn’t have fixed it.”
“The
car was fast and everybody knew it,” he added. “We just came up short in the
race.”
Right
now, Benjamin can only compete on the short tracks. He’s not old enough.
However, he hopes the age to race on the bigger tracks is lowered to 16 as he
said there has been talk about doing just that.
What
a way to end the summer for Benjamin. He starts his sophomore year of high
school next week. He is home-schooled.
“I’ll
be in a good mood,” he said with a glowing smile.
It
also didn’t take long for a NASCAR reference to be dropped in.
“I
hope somebody picks me up,” Benjamin said.
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