Matt DiBenedetto

Matt DiBenedetto
DiBenedetto at Road America in 2012
Born	(1991-07-27) July 27, 1991 Grass Valley, California, U.S.
Awards	2007 UARA-STARS Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Cup Series career
33 races run over 1 year
Car no., team	No. 83 (BK Racing)
2015 position	35th
Best finish	35th (2015)
First race	2015 CampingWorld.com 500 (Phoenix)
Last race	2024 USA Today 301 (Loudon)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
49 races run over 5 years
2014 position	21st
Best finish	21st (2014)
First race	2009 Kroger On Track for the Cure 250 (Memphis)
Last race	2014 Ford EcoBoost 300 (Homestead)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 2 0
Statistics current as of November 22, 2015.

Matthew "Matt" Guido DiBenedetto (born July 27, 1991 in Grass Valley, California) is an Italian-American professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the No. 83 Toyota Camry for BK Racing competing for the Rookie of the Year Award.

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. 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.

NASCAR career

DiBenedetto made his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut in 2009 at the Memphis Motorsports Park and drove the #20 Pizza Ranch Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. DiBenedetto raced part-time in the #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 bagged a top 10 performance in 10th. His next race came from Road America. While running 11th he had an axle problem due to running over the curbs too hard, and that lead to him being 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 dried up, 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 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. For the second race he joined The Motorsports Group, where he start-and-parked the #46 Chevrolet for 12 races and raced the rest with the #46. He had an 11th finish at Road America and a 13th at Mid-Ohio, both at road courses.

DiBenedetto moved up to the Sprint Cup Series in 2015. He was originally intended to driving 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 drive the #83 in the Daytona 500, he 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 #83 full-time and declared for ROTY contention.

At Martinsville during a practice session, DiBenedetto was involved in an incident with 3-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 3 to let Stewart pass. "When I got to (Turn) 3 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".

Images

• 
  2010 Nationwide car at Road America
• 
  DiBenedetto at Thompson Speedway in 2009

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

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	NSCC	Pts
2015	BK Racing	83	Toyota	DAY	ATL DNQ	LVS DNQ	PHO 35	CAL 42	MAR 31	TEX 34	BRI 21	RCH 37	TAL 18	KAN 25	CLT 34	DOV 32	POC 32	MCH 39	SON 29	DAY 26	KEN 42	NHA 35	IND 32	POC 29	GLN 26	MCH 30	BRI 33	DAR 25	RCH 36	CHI 39	NHA 30	DOV 34	CLT 29	KAN 30	TAL 40	MAR 30	TEX 35	PHO 28	HOM 37	35th	399

Nationwide Series

NASCAR Nationwide Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	NNSC	Points
2009	Joe Gibbs Racing	20	Toyota	DAY	CAL	LVS	BRI	TEX	NSH	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	NHA	DAY	CHI	GTY	IRP	IOW	GLN	MCH	BRI	CGV	ATL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CAL	CLT	MEM 14	TEX	PHO	HOM	124th	121
2010				DAY	CAL	LVS	BRI	NSH	PHO	TEX	TAL	RCH	DAR	DOV	CLT	NSH 10	KEN	ROA 29	NHA	DAY	CHI	GTY 29	IRP 31	IOW 9	GLN	MCH	BRI	CGV	ATL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CAL	CLT	GTY 24	TEX	PHO	HOM	64th	585
2012	The Motorsports Group	46	Chevy	DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	TEX	RCH	TAL	DAR	IOW	CLT	DOV 42									GLN 41															79th	21
		47														MCH 41	ROA 41	KEN	DAY	NHA	CHI	IND	IOW 41		CGV 40	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI	KEN 41	DOV	CLT	KAN	TEX	PHO	HOM
2013	Vision Racing	37	Dodge	DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	TEX	RCH	TAL	DAR	CLT DNQ	DOV 39	IOW	MCH	ROA	KEN	DAY	NHA	CHI 39	IND DNQ	IOW	GLN	MOH	BRI 37	ATL 33	RCH 37	CHI		DOV	KAN	CLT	TEX	PHO	HOM			67th	31
	The Motorsports Group	46	Chevy																											KEN 36
2014	Vision Racing	37	Dodge	DAY DNQ																																			21st	369
	The Motorsports Group	46	Chevy		PHO 38	LVS 38	BRI 39	CAL 37	TEX 39	DAR 38	RCH 37	TAL 39			DOV 39	MCH DNQ		KEN 40	DAY DNQ	NHA 40		IND 39
		40											IOW 25	CLT			ROA 11				CHI 34		IOW 30	GLN 32	MOH 13	BRI 19	ATL 26	RCH 26	CHI 27	KEN 26	DOV 30	KAN 16	CLT 36	TEX 31	PHO 24	HOM 38

^* Season in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

External links

• Official website
• Matt DiBenedetto driver statistics at Racing-Reference