ON SITE: Travis Benjamin says points racing is a "learning curve" for his team
Travis Benjamin knows that the only thing left to do is go for broke.
"It’s definitely a learning curve," Benjamin said of being locked in a PASS North Series championship chase for the first time in his career.
On Saturday the driver from Morrill, Maine – who earned his first career PASS win at Scotia Speedworld in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in August – qualified 17th for the PASS 300 at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway. But his thoughts were squarely in the multi-time PASS champions surrounding him in the standings.
On paper, Benjamin is tied with three-time champion Ben Rowe for the points lead, nine points ahead of two-time champ Johnny Clark.
In theory, though, after the teams are allowed to toss out there worst finishes of the season and the points are recalculated, Benjamin is third – 23 points out of the lead held by Rowe.
"In my situation, I have nothing to lose, I don’t feel," said Benjamin, who was never in title contention during years running the NASCAR Camping World East Series. "I bet if I asked you last year if I’d be leading the points going into the last two races, you would have said (no way)."
But with leading comes pressure, said Benjamin, and he fears that pressure is affecting his in-race strategy. In the race at White Mountain last week, where he finished ninth, he though the raced too conservatively and he said the same about his 12th-place run in the Toyota Tundra 250 at Wiscasset after seeing Rowe struggle there.
The 12th-place finish stands at Benjamin’s worst this year.
"At White Mountain, I had it in my mind that I had to finish instead of just race," Benjamin said. "I did the same thing (in the Toyota Tundra 250), too... It’s like if somebody is having a bad day, you don’t want to take a chance of making up ground on them.
"You never know how things could happen. I could do things differently, and then I’d end up wrecking, too. Like I said, it’s a learning curve. ... Those other guys have done this before, but we’ve just got to go for it."
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