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Matt DiBenedetto
Wood Brothers Racing
2020 Sprint Stats
Points
568
Starts
22
Wins
0
Poles
0
Top 5
2
Top 10
7
2020 Fantasy Outlook
DiBenedetto is coming off simply an incredible and surprising campaign in 2019. He piloted the small Leavine Family Racing team's Toyota to three Top-5 and seven Top-10 finishes and managed a career-best 22nd-place in the final driver standings. It was a pretty significant jump in performance for the journeyman driver. DiBenedetto's season highlight was easily his near-brush with victory lane in the Bristol night race. He led 93 laps late in that event and looked like a sure winner before Denny Hamlin tracked him down in the closing laps. The runner-up finish was still an incredible feat at a tough short track. DiBenedetto now takes over the seat of the storied No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. He replaces the just-retired Paul Menard at this team. DiBenedetto should push to retain similar performance at this very capable race team, and challenge the Top 20 in driver points. Read Past Outlooks
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Car No. 21 Ford
Crew Chief Greg Erwin
Wins NASCAR Open
NASCAR Cup
July 15, 2020
DiBenedetto won the NASCAR Open at Bristol Motor Speedway Wednesday night.
ANALYSIS
The final 15-lap shootout would offer a good four-driver battle for the final stage win of the event. DiBenedetto would grab the lead from the drop of the green flag and it would quickly evolve into a duel with Clint Bowyer. The driver of the No. 21 Ford would run away and take the win, and DiBenedetto transfers into the All-Star Race field as a result.
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Racing Stats
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2019
2018
2017
2014
DiBenedetto ended a two season relationship with Go FAS Racing and will join Leavine Family Racing for the 2019 season. The 27-year-old journeyman driver is now with his third race team in five years, and this could be his best situation yet. DiBenedetto labored to just one Top-10 finish all of last season, and his 27.0 average finish was a career best mark, but only amounted to a 29th-place finish in the final points of 2018. LFR has made great strides with Michael McDowell and Kasey Kahne the last few years and they see this young driver as the next step in their progression. Crew Chief Mike Wheeler comes in from Joe Gibbs Racing (Denny Hamlin) and will take over the leadership role for the team. The pairing of DiBenedetto and Wheeler is a promising link up. This team could move from a 30th-place team to pushing the Top-25 in 2019.
DiBenedetto wound up making the best out of his situation at Go Fas Racing last season. The 26-year-old Californian took the No. 32 Ford team to new heights and posted good finishes in this small single-car team. DiBenedetto nabbed two Top-10 finishes (Daytona & Indianapolis) and he grabbed five Top-20 finishes. It all led to a 32nd-place finish in the final driver points, and a 27.1 average finish for the 36 events. It was the best campaign of his three-season Monster Energy Cup Series career. DiBenedetto returns to this team in 2018, and crew chief Gene Nead also returns to guide the effort. If he hopes to improve in his fourth Cup season, DiBenedetto will need to reduce the DNF's. He had six of those last year, and it was a bit of a drag on his consistency.
After two full seasons of Monster Energy Cup Series racing with BK Racing, DiBenedetto comes over to Go FAS Racing for the 2017 season. The young driver will team up with veteran crew chief Gene Nead and run the full season for this single-car operation. GFR has purchased some new cars from Richard Petty Motorsports and they plan on racing more competitively this season. DiBenedetto posted his first-career Top-10 finish (Bristol) in 2016 and showed some incremental improvement over his rookie campaign. Those are good signs as he heads over from BK Racing to Go FAS Racing. This team has used multi-driver lineups since their inception five years ago, so to commit to a single driver for an entire season marks a first at GFR. It really shows what they think of DiBenedetto's capabilities and talents.
The 23-year-old Californian launched his Sprint Cup Series career with BK Racing last season. DiBenedetto made 33 of the 36 events and registered only four top-25 finishes, with most coming early in the season. While it has not been officially announced that the team and this young driver are returning in 2016, it's assumed that they will race again in the upcoming season. Gene Nead took over the crew chief duties of the team midway into last season, and he would be expected to return in that capacity. Due to the limited budget and limited resources of this small team, not much if any improvement is expected in the near future.
More Fantasy News
Third at Kentucky
NASCAR Cup
July 12, 2020
DiBenedetto finished third in the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway Sunday afternoon.
ANALYSIS
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Shifting to backup car
NASCAR Cup
May 24, 2020
DiBenedetto will use a backup car for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and is likely to start near the back of the field, Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports reports.
ANALYSIS
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Top-10 Finish in Toyota 500k
NASCAR Cup
May 21, 2020
Despite struggling to find the speed he hoped to have at Darlington Raceway, DiBenedetto came away from two races in four days with two solid finishes, including his second Top-10 finish of the season, a ninth-place effort in Wednesday night's 500-kilometer race at the Lady in Black, woodbrothersracing.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Runner-up Finish at Vegas
NASCAR Cup
February 23, 2020
DiBenedetto finished second in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday afternoon.
ANALYSIS
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Taking over new ride in 2020
NASCAR Cup
September 10, 2019
DiBenedetto will replace Paul Menard in the No. 21 car for the Woods Brothers Racing team beginning in 2020, NASCAR.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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