Leslie Looks Forward to Upcoming Season with No. 6 Viagra Racing Team

HUNTERSIVLLE, N.C. - (December 20, 2001) This season Ben Leslie will go into his first full season as a crew chief on the Winston Cup circuit. Leslie, who became the crew chief for Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 97 Ford Taurus last season, is excited about both the transition and the upcoming season with the Viagra (sildenafil citrate) racing team.

"I'm very excited about the opportunity to work with the No. 6 Viagra team and with Mark Martin," said Leslie, who also served as interim crew chief for Johnny Benson's car in 1998.

"It is a really great opportunity for myself and this team." Leslie admits there is an adjustment to going into a season the head of the crew. "There is a tremendous amount of planning and organizing that goes into everything," said Leslie.

"I think that I would be a lot more nervous, but the thing is that we are so busy getting ready for the season that I really don't have time to think about being nervous." Leslie says most of all he is excited about helping the No. 6 team move back up to the front of the field in 2002.

"We want to be competitive every week and we want to win races," said Leslie. "We are looking for some wins in 2002. I don't know if that is two wins or 10 wins, but ultimately we want to be in the hunt for the championship in November."

While new to the No. 6 team, Leslie, who has been involved in racing for over 15 years, is no stranger to Winston Cup racing. He helped rookie Kurt Busch to five top10-finishes last season after taking over as crew chief in April, and he also helped guide Benson to a pair of top-10 finishes in 1998 in only 10 races as interim crew chief. In addition, he was instrumental, as car chief of the No. 17 DeWalt team, in helping Matt Kenseth capture the Raybestos Rookie-of-the-Year title in 2000.

He is looking forward to working with the veteran Martin, who's 32 career wins are the fourth most among active drivers.

"It's really going to help expedite my learning process as a crew chief," said Leslie, who hails from Mt. Clemmons, Mich. but now resides with his wife Shelley in Charlotte.

"Just to be able to feed off the experience of a veteran like Mark will be a great experience for me. I have a lot of things to learn and I just can't think of a better person to learn from than Mark Martin."

Leslie and Martin are not strangers when it comes to working with each other. Leslie served as a mechanic and rear-tire changer on Martin's Winston Cup crew in 1997 and worked on the crew of Martin's Busch series car for three seasons.

As far as what Leslie and the new team bring to the table, "A look from an entirely different angle," said Leslie. "I hope we can provide a fresh perspective on things and just do our part to help the No. 6 Ford Taurus move back up to the front."

Roush Racing is a subsidiary of Roush Industries that operates eight teams; four in NASCAR Winston Cup with drivers Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch; two in the Busch series with Burton and Greg Biffle; and two teams in the Craftsman Truck series with drivers Jon Wood and Kyle Busch.