Joe Gibbs Driven

That certainly wasn't the typical mindset for Benson, who is usually calm and about as easygoing as a top-caliber racer can be. The bespectacled Benson is the complete opposite of, say, Kyle Busch, who can be leading a race and still be on the radio yelling at his crew chief about what a total piece of junk his vehicle is. For Benson to be reading the riot act to crew chief Trip Bruce, something had to be bad wrong with his truck.

And indeed, in the opening laps of the race it didn't seem like there was any way Benson was going to win his third consecutive NCTS race and fourth in five tries. In fact, after Benson pitted the first time on Lap 38, he got on the radio with Bruce and told him the truck was even worse after the first set of adjustments.

No way Benson was going to win again. No way. The driver certainly didn't think so.

"Early on it was when the truck wasn't quite right, I was starting to get a little irritated," said Benson. "It was just like practice, everything we did wasn't doing anything. … It just was real inconsistent. This was a new truck, which I could never get a handle on it. Trip made a couple of adjustments. I kept telling him it was horrible until after about 30 laps on the tires — then it got to where I felt I could do what I wanted."

Faced with a truck that didn't handle the way they wanted, Benson and Bruce used strategy to be there at the end. With 37 laps to go, a caution came out to set up the final round of pit stops. The top three drivers — Ron Hornaday, Erik Darnell and Todd Bodine — all took gas only, while Benson took two tires and Trip made some critical adjustments.

"We finally made a couple changes there at the end," said Benson. "It didn't really wake it up, but it definitely made it a lot better. It was just a tough run. We took two tires at the end and a lot of the guys didn't take any. … I still don't think the truck was quite right, but it looked like a lot of people had problems out there today just slipping and sliding. I was one of the few that was able to hold the bottom real tight."

Benson got Hornaday first and then Bodine with nine laps to go. He immediately began running down leader Darnell, passing him on the low side with three laps to go. Those three laps were the only ones Benson led all race long, but they were all he needed to win and keep his dream season going.

"We're having a good year," said Benson. "The last couple of years have been real good. I've been proud of what the team has been able to do the last couple years. This year it seems like we are on a roll."

That's putting it mildly. In the last six NCTS races, Benson has four victories, one runner-up finish and a third, too. And as the Truck season heads into the home stretch, he's going to be awfully tough to beat as he seeks his first NCTS championship.