Benson hopes to make history at Bristol

Johnny Benson has been on a tear of late, capturing four of the last five NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series events. Coming into Wednesday night's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series O'Reilly 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway if he backs up last year's win, his name will be in the record books for doing something no other driver has ever done.

Benson has won the last three Truck Series events. No driver in the history of the series has ever won four consecutive events. If Benson can win the O'Reilly 200, which he did a year ago, he'll have his own little piece of history.

Four other drivers have won three straight events in the series but each one failed on their attempt at the fourth win. It happened twice to Mike Skinner, the first time in 1996 when he came into the race at BMS with a trio of consecutive victories but could only muster a third place finish at BMS and again last year when he won three straight but failed to win at Kansas.

In 1997 Ron Hornaday Jr. lost his bid for four straight wins at Topeka. Greg Biffle was going for his fourth consecutive victory in 2000 when he finished third at Milwaukee and in 2006 Todd Bodine had to settle for a fifth at Daytona after winning three in a row.

Craftsman Truck Series Notes

* Jack Sprague is driving for DeLana Harvick Wednesday night, his sixth different owner in races at BMS. He also has driven for Bruce Griffin (1995), Rick Hendrick (1996-2001, Steve Coulter (2004), Dave Fuge (2005-2006) and Jeff Wyler (2007).

* Scott Speed has been absent from the series since finishing third at Michigan in mid-June. That will change this week as the four-time ARCA RE/MAX winner and points leader runs the first of eight NASCAR Craftsman Truck races remaining on his schedule.

"I am looking forward to running Bristol for the first time. I have received a lot of information about Bristol, so it should be quite interesting to see how it all applies when I get there," said Speed, the winner at Dover.

* Patrick Carpentier will make his debut in the Truck Series at Bristol in order to get additional track time on one of the toughest tracks on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule. Carpentier will be in the No. 04 BHR-VA Dodge. He is the 12th Canadian to compete in the series.

* With Speed and Kyle Busch back in the fold, all nine 2008 winners will line up at Bristol. Busch, eighth in his most recent start at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, bids to join Carl Edwards and Mark Martin as drivers who have won in all three of NASCAR's national series at the .533-mile facility.

* Jimmie Johnson is the 10^th different NASCAR Sprint Cup champion to compete in a Truck Series race. Jeff Gordon is the only active champion without a series start.

* Seven drivers in the O'Reilly 200 have won NASCAR Craftsman Truck races on concrete. Bristol winners include Johnny Benson, Ron Hornaday Jr., Mike Skinner and Jack Sprague. Speed, Busch and Ted Musgrave also won on concrete.

Qualifying for the O'Reilly 200 is at 4:15 Wednesday with the race slated to begin at 8 p.m. Qualifying for the Aaron's 150, which also is part of the Wednesday night doubleheader, is at 2:30 with the race taking the green flag at 5:45 p.m.