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Norm Benning

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Norm Benning
Benning's Truck in 2013 at Rockingham Speedway
Born (1952-01-16) January 16, 1952 (age 72)
Level Green, Pennsylvania
NASCAR Cup Series career
4 races run over 2 years
Best finish53rd (1989)
First race1989 Budweiser 500 (Dover)
Last race1993 TranSouth 500 (Darlington)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
3 races run over 2 years
Best finish121st (2003)
First race2003 Goulds Pumps/ITT Industries 200 (Nazareth)
Last race2004 Goulds Pumps/ITT Industries 200 (Nazareth)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
164 races run over 10 years
Truck no., teamNo. 6/63 (Norm Benning Racing)
2016 position37th
Best finish17th (2014)
First race2002 Federated Auto Parts 200 (Nashville)
Last race2016 Lucas Oil 150 (Phoenix)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
Statistics current as of November 11, 2016.

Norm Benning Jr. (born January 16, 1952) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently drives the No. 6 and No. 63 Chevrolet Silverado in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for his own team. He also works as a driver analyst for TheRacingExperts.com. Benning has often been referred to as Stormin' Norman after his 2013 performance, as well as his improvement over the last two Truck seasons. He previously competed in the NASCAR Busch Series and Winston Cup Series.

Early career

Born in Level Green, Pennsylvania,[1] Benning began by racing as a 15-year-old at Heidelberg Raceway even though he was supposed to be at least 18 years old.[2] He also has raced in dirt late models and asphalt modifieds.

ARCA

Benning has finished in the top 10 in ARCA points seven times, with a highest of 5th in 2001. In 276 starts, Benning has five top 5 and 32 top 10 finishes. His best effort was a 3rd-place finish at the Springfield dirt mile in 2004.

NASCAR

Benning at Rockingham in 2012

Benning has attempted numerous NASCAR races in the top 3 divisions during his career. Benning made his NASCAR debut in 1989, driving in three races in the Cup Series for the No. 99 car owned by Jerry O'Neil. After starting 35th, Benning would finish 30th in his debut at Dover. He would then match that finish at Pocono and 31st in his return to Dover.

Benning made his last Cup points race start for O'Neil in 1993, starting last (39th) at Darlington and finishing 39th after one lap of competition. After that, Benning attempted to make the Daytona 500 for seven consecutive years, but either failed to qualify or was denied entry due to his car being slow in practice. He attempted many Cup races through 2001 in his own No. 84 84 Lumber Chevy, as well a couple of entries of the No. 79 T.R.I.X. Racing car. Benning attempted a total of 33 Cup races, but DNQ'd 29 times.

Benning's next NASCAR start came in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2002. Driving for Troxell Motorsports, Benning qualified the No. 93 Chevy into the field at Nashville Superspeedway in 18th position. A vibration dropped the team out of the event and Benning finished 32nd. In 2009 Benning was back in the Truck Series attempting a full season. He only missed one race and that was Daytona. At Michigan, Benning finished 17th his best finish of the year for the Camping World Truck Series. His final position in points was 21st.

Benning attempted the NASCAR Busch Series for the next two years. Benning was able to compete in 3 of the 6 races attempted. In his debut, Benning started the 2003 Nazareth race in 42nd and finished in 40th. He was later able to improve during the season with a career-best 36th place at NHIS. Driving once again at Nazareth, Benning started 42nd before brake failure forced him out of the race, finishing 38th. He fielded a car for Dion Ciccarelli at Nazareth in 2004, who finished 29th.

During the 2008 Truck Series season, Benning competed in 7 of the 8 races attempted driving his own No. 57 Chevrolet. In 2009, Benning competed full-time in the Truck Series for his own team (his first attempt at a full NASCAR season). He qualified for 24 of 25 races and finished 21st in overall points. His best finish came at Michigan when he finished 17th with Germane Red sponsorship.

In 2013, Benning held onto fifth place after a hard fought battle with Clay Greenfield in the "Last Chance" qualifying race at Eldora Speedway to earn the final transfer spot into the inaugural Mudsummer Classic.[3] His truck sustained a fair amount of damage, but he was able to make repairs with the help of members of larger teams. He would go on to finish 26th, four laps down.[4] Benning's performance in the last chance race was popular with fans; afterwards he placed the Eldora truck for sale on eBay.[5] Later that season, Benning obtained his career-best Truck Series finish of 12th at Talladega Superspeedway.[6] During the 2014 season, Benning changed from his iconic 57 to the number 6, with the 57 being the part-time second entry. Late in the season, Benning gained backing on behalf of Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett. In 2015, Benning finished 14th in the opening race at Daytona and was 10th in points. Benning scored his best career start of 13th during the 2015 Mudsummer Classic, and finished 19th after rebounding from a late race spin. The end of the 2015 season was a struggle, as Benning missed 4 races late in the season. 2016 started with a DNQ at Daytona, followed by another DNQ at Atlanta. This is the worst start for Benning since 2012. Benning has DNQ'd 6 times in 2016, in addition to withdrawing from the Charlotte race. Benning missed the race in Texas by .016 seconds after getting knocked out by Austin Hill. After missing all the races in 2016, Benning partnered with MB Motorsports at Kentucky, where he was able to make the race, starting 30th and finishing 28th. Benning later partnered with MB at Pocono, and plans to do so for several remaining races. 2016 was a struggle for Benning and his team, as he only managed to qualify for 8 races, while DNQ'ing 8 races, and withdrawing from 5.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings. * – Most laps led.)

Sprint Cup Series

Daytona 500
Year Team Manufacturer Start Finish
1997 Norm Benning Racing Chevrolet DNQ
1998 T.R.I.X. Racing Chevrolet DNQ
1999 DNQ
2000 Norm Benning Racing Chevrolet DNQ
2001 DNQ
2002 DNQ
2009 Norm Benning Racing Chevrolet DNQ
2010 DNQ

Busch Series

Camping World Truck Series

* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points

ARCA Re/Max Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

References

  1. ^ Norm Benning Career Stats
  2. ^ Racing against time
  3. ^ Pockrass, Bob (2013-07-25). "Norm Benning flips the bird, thrills Tony Stewart, fans at Eldora". Sporting News. Retrieved 2013-07-28. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ "2013 Inaugural Mudsummer Classic". Racing-Reference. Retrieved 2013-07-28.
  5. ^ Remillard, Jason (August 8, 2013). "NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Norm Benning puts his truck from Eldora dirt race on EBay". The Republican. Springfield, MA. Retrieved 2014-02-22.
  6. ^ http://espn.go.com/racing/raceresults/_/series/camping/raceId/201310190429
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