Matt DiBenedetto Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – NASCAR celebrated the Independence Day holiday the only way it knew how on Thursday, by taking to the track at Daytona International Speedway for Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice and the fireworks certainly started early. The first of two sessions were entertaining and full of action, with drivers running two and three-wide in an effort to feel out the package that makes its debut at Daytona after receiving rave reviews at Talladega a few months back. Though the typical FloridaRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer SONOMA, California — In 223 NASCAR national touring starts, with 155 in the Cup Series, Matt DiBenedetto has never scored a top-five. That all changed Sunday as a fourth-place result in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway capped off a career-defining afternoon. Through tremendous strategy and a solid all around car, DiBenedetto and the entire Leavine Family Racing kept working on the No. 95 Procore Toyota Camry all afternoon, and it paid off as he’s now 25th in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standingsRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SONOMA, Calif. – Dominant in defense of last year’s victory in the Toyota/Save Mart 350, Martin Truex Jr. held off Kyle Busch, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, to win Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event at Sonoma Raceway. With three-lap fresher tires after the final set of green-flag pit stops at the 2.52-mile road course—which for the first time since 1997 featured use of the carousel connecting Turns 4 and 7—Busch closed an 8.269-second gap to slightly more than a second over theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – Uncertainty surrounded the first day of on-track activity at Talladega Superspeedway, with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series getting their first glimpse at the new post-restrictor plate aero package that will be used at the 2.66-mile facility as well as Daytona for the foreseeable future. The new package features a tapered spacer instead of a restrictor plate, making it the first race since 1987 to feature the horsepower sapping device. To counteract the increase in horsepower, about 100 more than the teamsRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – With the first off weekend of the season in the rear-view mirror, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series gets back to business in grand fashion as they get set to take on the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway and Sunday’s running of the GEICO 500. Racing at Talladega has always been crazy from the time the track opened back in 1969. From the driver boycott of the first race that led to unknown driver Richard Brickhouse scoring his one and only win in theRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. –  Shattered dreams and a wad of junked cars surrounded the garage area after an 21-car crash on Lap 191 brought out the first of two red flags during Sunday’s 61st Daytona 500. Heading into Turn 3, Matt DiBenedetto, who led a race-high 49 laps, was running in fourth when contact by Paul Menard caused a wicked ripple effect that went from a fierce and clean race, to an absolute barn burner. As cars tried to avoid the mess, some weren’t as fortunateRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Halfway through last season, Matt DiBenedetto made the choice to bet on himself if he was going to have any future in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The Grass Valley, Calif. native announced he was leaving Go Fas Racing, the team he had been with for the two seasons prior, without a place to land for the 2019 season. That gamble could pay off in spades if this season goes to plan. Not long after he made the decision to lookRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer *Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season for the full-time drivers in the series leading into next month’s 61st running of the Daytona 500. Age: 27 Years in Cup: Four Career Wins: Zero While Matt DiBenedetto joins a growing list of NASCAR drivers taking a chance of themselves, his journey will come full circle in 2019. DiBenedetto will move from Go Fas Racing, his home since 2017, to Leavine Family Racing. The move also marks a return to Toyota Racing, and anRead More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer The final race for Leavine Family Racing as a Chevy Racing team never got off the ground. The team, in its’ third full-time season, lost 26 laps due to an oil leak under the parade laps for the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Next season, the team will be a member of the Toyota Racing Development camp. Regan Smith in the teams’ No. 95 Dumont Jets Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 started well behind the preverbal eight ball. In the car designed to be a tributeRead More