Matt DiBenedetto

Matt DiBenedetto

DiBenedetto at Road America in 2012
Born (1991-07-27) July 27, 1991
Grass Valley, California
Awards 2007 UARA-STARS Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career
68 races run over 2 years
Car no., team No. 83/93/49 (BK Racing)
2016 position 35th
Best finish 35th (2015, 2016)
First race 2015 CampingWorld.com 500 (Phoenix)
Last race 2016 Ford EcoBoost 400 (Homestead)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 1 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
68 races run over 6 years
Car no., team No. 10/14 (TriStar Motorsports)
No. 13 (MBM Motorsports)
2016 position 107th
Best finish 21st (2014)
First race 2009 Kroger On Track for the Cure 250 (Memphis)
Last race 2016 Ford EcoBoost 300 (Homestead)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 2 0
Statistics current as of November 20, 2016.

Matthew "Matt" Guido DiBenedetto (born July 27, 1991)[1] is an Italian-American professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the No. 83 Toyota Camry for BK Racing, and part-time in the Xfinity Series, driving the No. 10 and No. 14 Toyota Camrys for TriStar Motorsports, and driving the No. 13 Toyota Camry for MBM Motorsports.

Early years

DiBenedetto first showed an interest in auto racing after receiving his little league trophy around age 8. His father, Tony, who raced an Opel Manta in SCCA and IMSA in the late 1970s and early 1980s, noticed he preferred watching automobile racing on television over baseball.[2] DiBenedetto's father knew that another player on his son's little league team was competing in mini kart racing so he bought him a used kart which a young DiBenedetto drove to his first victory.

Racing career

Xfinity Series

2010 Nationwide car at Road America

DiBenedetto made his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut in 2009 at the Memphis Motorsports Park and drove the No. 20 Pizza Ranch Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. DiBenedetto raced part-time in the No. 20 car in 2010.

His first race of 2010 came at the night race for the Nationwide Series from Tennessee. He was solid the whole night and had a top 10 performance in 10th. His next race came at Road America. While running 11th he had an axle problem due to running over the curbs too hard, and that led to him falling many laps down. DiBenedetto ran six races for Joe Gibbs in 2010, with two top ten finishes. In 2011, he drove for Laerte Zatta in the K&N Pro Series East. After sponsorship ended, he joined The Motorsports Group midway through 2012 and ran as a start and park driver.

In 2013, DiBenedetto joined Vision Racing to drive the No. 37 car part-time in the Nationwide Series[3] and also started and parked the few races he was in.

During the 2014 season's Subway Firecracker 250 at Daytona, DiBenedetto replaced Jeffrey Earnhardt in the No. 4 JD Motorsports Chevy during the first caution due to Earnhardt suffering a fractured collarbone in a motorcycle accident during the week.[4] For the second race he joined the Motorsports Group, where he start-and-parked the No. 46 Chevrolet for 12 races and raced the rest with the No. 46. He had an 11th-place finish at Road America and a 13th at Mid-Ohio, both road courses.

In 2016, he made his return in the Xfinity Series driving the No. 10 Camry for TriStar Motorsports at Fontana, where he started 33rd and finished 40th after starting and parking.

Sprint Cup Series

DiBenedetto moved up to the Sprint Cup Series in 2015. He was originally intended to drive the No. 83 Dustless Blasting and No. 93 Toyotas for BK Racing on a part-time basis; he split the No. 83 during the year with Camping World Truck Series driver Johnny Sauter. After Sauter drove the No. 83 in the Daytona 500, DiBenedetto failed to qualify in his first two attempts at Atlanta and Las Vegas before finally qualifying for his Sprint Cup debut at Phoenix. With Sauter eventually decided not to race at any other Cup race after the Daytona 500, DiBenedetto took over the No. 83 full-time and declared for ROTY contention.

DiBenedetto at the 2015 Irwin Tools Night Race

At Martinsville Speedway during a practice session, DiBenedetto was involved in an incident with three-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart. The incident occurred when DiBenedetto tried to merge on the track behind Carl Edwards and the gap closed ahead of him. With Stewart fast approaching down the backstretch, DiBenedetto moved up the track in turn three to let Stewart pass. "When I got to (turn) three I didn't want to hold him up, so I just pulled up high and let him go by," DiBenedetto told Foxsports.com. "I got completely out of his way, but that wasn't enough. He tried to wreck me a few times, brake-checking me and flipping me off around the whole track." After the incident, DiBenedetto called Stewart "an arrogant prick".[5]

DiBenedetto returned full-time with BK Racing in 2016, though he ran the No. 93 for the Daytona 500 since Michael Waltrip was in the No. 83 for the race.[6] At Daytona, DiBenedetto crashed with Chris Buescher on lap 92 in what Buescher called the "hardest hit of his career", though the two were not injured.[7] In the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, DiBenedetto finished a career-best sixth place,[2] his first career top ten and the first for BK Racing since Travis Kvapil's eighth-place finish at the 2012 Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.[8] He returned to the No. 93 for the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond while Dylan Lupton drove the No. 83,[9] while also driving the No. 93 at Talladega's Hellmann's 500[10] as Jeffrey Earnhardt was in the No. 83.[11] DiBenedetto missed the AAA Texas 500 after suffering a concussion during the previous day's Xfinity Series race[12] and was replaced by Earnhardt.[13] He was cleared to return at the following race in Phoenix.[14] For the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead, he drove the No. 49 to promote the video game NASCAR Heat Evolution's price change to $49.99.[15]

Personal life

DiBenedetto's brother Austin is a member of the United States Air Force.[2]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

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

Sprint Cup Series

Daytona 500
Year Team Manufacturer Start Finish
2016 BK Racing Toyota 20 40

Xfinity Series

ARCA Racing Series

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

* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points

References

  1. ↑ Matt DiBenedetto Career Statistics
  2. 1 2 3 Gluck, Jeff (April 17, 2016). "Gluck: Matt DiBenedetto writes fairy tale with sixth place at Bristol". USA Today. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
  3. ↑ Wolkin, Joseph (April 21, 2013). "Matt Dibenedetto to Return to NASCAR Nationwide Series with Vision Racing". Rant Sports. Retrieved 2013-08-24.
  4. ↑ Eddinger, Mark (July 4, 2014). "Dakoda Armstrong Wins Pole as Downpour Causes 7-Car Crash in Round 1 of Nationwide Qualifying at Daytona". Sports Media 101. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
  5. ↑ Spencer, Lee (March 27, 2015). "Dibenedetto: Stewart has anger issues". Motorsport. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  6. ↑ Pockrass, Bob (February 5, 2016). "Michael Waltrip to race in Daytona 500 for BK Racing". ESPN. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
  7. ↑ Olson, Jeff (February 21, 2016). "Chris Buescher, Matt DiBenedetto endure hard collision at Daytona 500". USA Today. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
  8. ↑ Menzer, Joe (April 17, 2016). "Career-best finish leaves Matt DiBenedetto emotional after Bristol". Foxsports.com. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  9. ↑ "E.J. Wade Construction Returns to Sponsor Matt DiBenedetto, Dylan Lupton at Richmond". BK Racing. September 1, 2016. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Talladega Entry List". Jayski's Silly Season Site. Retrieved October 17, 2016.
  11. ↑ "JEFFREY EARNHARDT TO DRIVE FOR BK RACING AT TALLADEGA". NASCAR. October 17, 2016. Retrieved October 17, 2016.
  12. ↑ Pockrass, Bob (November 5, 2016). "Matt DiBenedetto in concussion protocol, out of Sunday's race". ESPN. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Matt DiBenedetto out with concussion; Jeffrey Earnhardt called in as replacement". Sporting News. November 6, 2016. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
  14. ↑ "DIBENEDETTO SAYS HE IS 'CLEARED TO RACE THIS WEEKEND'". NASCAR. November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
  15. ↑ "$49.99 NASCAR HEAT EVOLUTION JOINS BK RACING, MATT DIBENEDETTO FOR HOMESTEAD". BK Racing. November 11, 2016. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
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