Matt DiBenedetto | |||||||
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DiBenedetto at Road America in 2012
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Born |
Grass Valley, California |
July 27, 1991 ||||||
Awards | 2007 UARA-STARS Rookie of the Year | ||||||
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
68 races run over 2 years | |||||||
Car no., team | No. 32 (Go Fas Racing) | ||||||
2016 position | 35th | ||||||
Best finish | 35th (2015, 2016) | ||||||
First race | 2015 CampingWorld.com 500 (Phoenix) | ||||||
Last race | 2016 Ford EcoBoost 400 (Homestead) | ||||||
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NASCAR Xfinity Series career | |||||||
68 races run over 6 years | |||||||
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) | ||||||
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Statistics current as of November 20, 2016. |
Matthew "Matt" Guido DiBenedetto (born July 27, 1991) is an Italian-American professional driver. He currently competes full-time in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 32 Ford Fusion for Go Fas Racing.
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.
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 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 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.