A Historic Night for NASCAR - July 24, 2013
Current NASCAR
Norm Benning flips the bird, thrills Tony Stewart, fans at Eldora
Bob Pockrass
Sporting News
ROSSBURG, Ohio Of all the things that Tony Stewart enjoyed Wednesday night at Eldora Speedway, the coolest involved 61-year-old driver Norm Benning.
In the last-chance race to make the historic NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Stewarts track, Benning survived nearly getting wrecked three times by Clay Greenfield.
Benning, a journeyman driver and Truck Series regular, stuck his hand out his truck window and gave Greenfield a one-finger salute after the spirited battle with a young driver who was just doing his best to get into the big show.
That was the highlight of my day, Stewart said. When Norm crossed the start-finish line, to watch all the crew guys cheer him, thats one of the coolest thing Ive ever seen in NASCAR racing.
The reaction from the garage was because Benning is a series staple. He often runs much slower than most drivers in the field but has the respect of his competitors because he shows up every week and does the best with what he has.
I just never lifted and he drove into me three times, Benning said. I love Tony Stewarts track. Ive been looking forward to this race since the day they announced it.
Bennings truck was so damaged after the last-chance race that crew chiefs and mechanics from several teams helped fix his truck.
To see how excited he was to make the race and see the spirit of the teams as big as all this is, to see five different teams pitching in at a dirt track and fixing somebodys car to get ready for the feature, thats why we all do what we do, Stewart said.
Thats just proof that no matter how big it gets (with) the drivers and the teams, the passion that started in all of this is still in everybody that is here. That was cool to watch. That made my whole event.
