DiBenedetto rebuilding his career in Xfinity Series – Scranton Times-Tribune

LONG POND — Things were going well for Matt DiBenedetto five years ago. He was driving full time in the NASCAR Cup Series and qualified for the 2020 playoffs.

Then, it all came apart. He lost his ride with Wood Brothers Racing at the end of the 2021 season.

Since then, the 33-year-old driver from California has been working his way back. He finds himself in the Xfinity Series with independent Viking Motorsports. He will be behind the wheel of the No. 99 Chevrolet on Saturday in the 10th annual Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 at Pocono Raceway. His car is being sponsored by the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau.

Viking Motorsports and DiBenedetto appear to be the perfect fit for each other. The team is building in its first season on its own after getting help last season in an alliance with Ryan Sieg Racing. The driver provides talent and experience while starting his career over.

DiBenedetto admits being a bit humbled when he lost his Cup Series ride.

“Sometimes when you get stripped of things in life, you get a lot of clarity and you learn to appreciate the things you forget to appreciate,” he said.

“Today, I’m truly having more fun than I’ve ever had in my whole life and career. I appreciate it so much more and my faith journey has changed. I’ve had so much fun doing it and this team giving me this opportunity to build something together. I’m driving for such good people, I’m hoping to drive for this team for the remainder of my career, which hopefully is a long time.”

In seven seasons and 248 races in the Cup Series, DiBenedetto had nine top-five and 31 top-10 finishes. Three times he placed second — at Bristol in 2019 and both Las Vegas races in 2020.

After losing his ride with the Wood Brothers, he spent two seasons in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, making 43 starts with one win at Talladega in 2022.

Last year, DiBenedetto was recommended to Viking Motorsports owner Don Sackett as someone who could help the new team qualify for races and get its feet off the ground. His first race was at Richmond, six races into the Xfinity season. What started as ‘Let’s try this for five races’ turned into 10 races, which turned into the rest of the season. He posted three top-10 finishes.

Then, in January, DiBenedetto was announced as the team’s full-time driver for the 2025 campaign.

“After getting to know him (Sackett) in a short time, I was like, Man, I want to be a part of what this guy is building and be a part of his vision,” DiBenedetto said.

Through 15 races, DiBenedetto has a season-best finish of fifth at Talladega, along with four top-20s, including a 16th last week at Mexico City. There have been plenty of challenges and ups and downs such as moving its operation from Georgia to North Carolina and switching manufacturers from Ford to Chevrolet. But DiBenedetto likes the direction the team is moving.

“We’ve had our successes, our good runs, but we’ve also had DNFs or crazy circumstances bite us,” he said.

“But recently we’ve had a lot of very fast race cars where our speed is continuing to improve. We’re all meshing as a team, everything is starting to come together. We’re all synched up and unified, our communication is really good. I would expect the rest of the season to be a lot more speed and consistency than the first part of the year.”

Finishing in the top 20 in points would be a good accomplishment for the team. But DiBenedetto feels he can run consistently in the top 15 during the second half of the season. It wouldn’t even surprise him if he had a shot to win a race and qualify for the playoffs.

“That would be an extra bonus and total overachievement for the year,” DiBenedetto said. “But I’m not ruling that out, especially seeing the speed and confidence I’ve had. We’ve had fast, good, consistent race cars. Me and my crew chief Pat (Tryson) are really firing on all cylinders.

“I’m like a little kid in a candy store because I can see it all coming together. We’re going to be rockin’ and rollin’ the rest of this year.”

At Pocono, DiBenedetto ran 14 Cup races with his best finish being sixth in 2020. He also has two Truck Series starts and Saturday will be his third Xfinity start there.

“As a driver, coming here is one of my favorite places,” DiBenedetto said. “We always go to tracks that you can compare to somewhere else. Except for here. This is the only track we come to where it’s absolutely not comparable to anywhere else we go, which is what makes it fun. You’ve got three completely different, unique corners that present a lot of challenges, the racing is really fun. You’ve got to really plan ahead in the decision you make; you’ve got to be really calculated.”

Among the keys to success at Pocono, according to DiBenedetto, are a good qualifying effort, surviving the wild restarts and being able to get your car off Turn 3 well.

“It needs to turn and exit Turn 3 well because you’ve got a really, really long straightaway that it leads into,” he said. “If you’re not good off Turn 3, you’re going to struggle all day and struggle to pass.”

Practice for the Explore the Mountains 250 is 10 a.m. with qualifying to follow at 11:05 a.m. The race is scheduled to get the green flag at 3:40 p.m.

One interesting aspect for the race is Dale Earnhardt Jr. serving a crew chief for his team’s No. 88 Chevrolet and driver Connor Zilisch. Earnhardt is making his debut as crew chief while Mardy Lindley serves a one-race suspension for a missing lug nuts violation following the race at Nashville three weeks ago.

Also, Cup Series regular Chase Elliott is pulling double duty. He is driving the No. 17 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. Elliott also ran the Xfinity race at Darlington in April and finished second.