Matt DiBenedetto

Matthew Guido DiBenedetto (born July 27, 1991) is an American professional stock car racing driver. DiBenedetto competed full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for two years, which included making the playoffs in 2023. He has previously competed in the NASCAR Cup Series, ARCA Menards Series, and ARCA Menards Series East, as well as late model stocks, and won the track championship at Hickory Motor Speedway in 2004.

Racing career Early career DiBenedetto first showed an interest in auto racing after receiving a Little League trophy around the age of eight. 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. In 2007, DiBenedetto's family sold all their equipment due to financial stress, from then on starting in 2008, Dibenedetto drove for Fat Head Racing Driver Development Program in the UARA-Stars as a teammate to Bubba Wallace, Brennan Poole, and FHR team owner Jamie Yelton. There, he caught the attention of Joe Gibbs Racing, and later ran in the NASCAR Camping World East Series for them.

Xfinity Series Joe Gibbs Racing: 2009–2010

DiBenedetto made his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut in 2009 at the Memphis Motorsports Park and drove the No. 20 Pizza Ranch-sponsored Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. He raced part-time in the No. 20 car in 2010.

DiBenedetto's first race of 2010 came at Nashville Speedway. DiBenedetto had a solid car and ran well all night. Eventually scoring a tenth-place finish. His next race came at Road America. While running eleventh, 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.

Multiple teams: 2011–2014 After being forced out of K&N Pro Series East team X Team Racing due to lack of sponsorship, DiBenedetto then joined The Motorsports Group midway through 2012 and ran as a start and park driver for seven races, finishing 79th in points.

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. Dibenedetto later looked back at the start-and-park time as valuable for the seat time it gave him, which paid off later in his career.

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 twelve races and raced the rest with the No. 40. He scored two top-fifteen place finishes at Road America and Mid-Ohio. DiBenedetto finished a career-high 21st in points.

Cup Series BK Racing: 2015–2016

DiBenedetto moved up to the Sprint Cup Series in 2015. He was originally intended to drive 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 drove the No. 83 in the Daytona 500, DiBenedetto failed to qualify in his first two attempts at Atlanta and Las Vegas before finally qualifying for his Sprint Cup debut at Phoenix. When Sauter eventually decided not to race at any other Cup race after the Daytona 500, DiBenedetto took over the No. 83 full-time and declared for ROTY contention.

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

DiBenedetto returned full-time with BK Racing in 2016, though he ran the No. 93 for the Daytona 500 since Michael Waltrip was in the No. 83 for the race. At Daytona, DiBenedetto crashed with Chris Buescher on lap 92 in what Buescher called the "hardest hit of his career", though the two were not injured. In the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, DiBenedetto finished sixth, a career-best at the time, his first career top ten and the first for BK Racing since Travis Kvapil's eighth-place finish at the 2012 Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. He returned to the No. 93 for the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond while Dylan Lupton drove the No. 83, while also driving the No. 93 at Talladega's Hellmann's 500 as Jeffrey Earnhardt was in the No. 83. DiBenedetto missed the AAA Texas 500 after suffering a concussion during the previous day's Xfinity Series race and was replaced by Earnhardt. He was cleared to return at the following race in Phoenix. For the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead, he drove the No. 49 to promote the video game NASCAR Heat Evolution price change to $49.99.

In 2016, DiBenedetto also made his return in the Xfinity Series, driving the No. 10 Camry for TriStar Motorsports at Fontana, where he started 33rd and finished 40th after starting and parking. DiBenedetto would compete as a start and park driver in various other races throughout the year. At the Fall Texas race, he crashed into the outside fourth turn wall, resulting in a concussion and not racing in the Cup race the following day.

On December 8, 2016, DiBenedetto announced he had parted ways with BK Racing. Two days later he announced that he would drive a single-car effort for Go Fas Racing in 2017. Go Fas is one of the charter teams and as a result, DiBenedetto would make every race in the No. 32 Go Fas Racing Ford Fusion.

Go Fas Racing: 2017–2018

In the 2017 Daytona 500, his first for Go Fas, DiBenedetto finished 9th for his second career top 10. Statistically, DiBenedetto has been Go Fas Racing's best driver since co-owner Frank Stoddard founded the team in 2011, with him picking up several top twenty and top thirty finishes. DiBenedetto had a great race in the 2017 Food City 500 when he picked up a top twenty finish, his best finish since Daytona. At the Monster Energy Open leading up to the All-Star Race, DiBenedetto drove a Reddit-sponsored car; he learned of the site when driver Josh Wise was voted into the 2014 All-Star Race by the community, who nearly voted DiBenedetto into the 2016 race. The community then repeated their near-feat by having another close call in the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race. After the campaign, DiBenedetto remained an active member of the community, interacting with its users in the NASCAR subreddit regularly.

At the 2017 Brickyard 400, DiBenedetto qualified near the back of the field. Despite this, he managed to avoid the late-race melee to pick up another top-ten finish for the No. 32, finishing 8th. Soon after the race, DiBenedetto, crew chief Gene Nead, and Go Fas extended their contract to the 2018 season, allowing DiBenedetto to remain in the No. 32 for 2018. However, Nead left for personal reasons in late February.

Before the spring ISM race, DiBenedetto reached out on Twitter that his team had no sponsors for that race and needed a last-minute sponsor. Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Darrell Waltrip began to donate money to fund a sponsor, and the team later received Zynga Poker sponsorship. Go Fas eventually launched #TeamBurrito, a program that allows fans to encourage businesses to sponsor the No. 32 car in exchange for various rewards. Later that season, in July, at Daytona, DiBenedetto drove the No. 32 Zynga Poker Ford Fusion to another top ten finish, this time 7th, for the team's best finish.

On September 7, 2018, DiBenedetto announced that he would not be returning to Go Fas Racing in 2019. On October 10, it was announced that DiBenedetto signed a two-year contract with Leavine Family Racing to drive the No. 95 Toyota Camry starting in 2019. The deal, which was a one-year contract with a possible extension, came after LFR failed to extend Kasey Kahne and after a deal with Daniel Hemric fell through to drive the No. 95 car.

For Sonoma Raceway's Toyota/Save Mart 350, DiBenedetto drove a Darrell Waltrip tribute scheme resembling his 1974 car; the race was Waltrip's final as a commentator for Fox NASCAR before his retirement. In the race, DiBenedetto pitted off sequence, completing his stops before the two stages and again with 25 laps remaining to score a fourth-place finish.

Nine years after his last start in the Xfinity series with JGR, DiBenedetto returned to the team in August 2019 for the Road America race. He led the most laps and was in second position when he spun off the track on the final lap at the final corner of the race.

On August 15, 2019, DiBenedetto announced via Twitter that Leavine Family Racing had informed him that he would be dropped from the team following the 2019 season. At the time of the announcement, DiBenedetto stood 23rd in the standings. Two days after the announcement, DiBenedetto led 93 laps at the Bristol Night Race, and appeared late in the final stage that he would finally get his first career win, but damage after contact with Ryan Newman would cause him to lose the position to Denny Hamlin with eleven laps to go. DiBenedetto would go on to earn a career-best second-place finish. DiBenedetto scored zero wins, three top-fives, seven top-tens, led 152 laps, had an average finish of 18.3, and finished 22nd in the standings, all of which were career highs up to that point for DiBenedetto.

Wood Brothers Racing: 2020–2021

On September 10, 2019, Wood Brothers Racing signed DiBenedetto to drive for the No. 21 Ford full-time for the 2020 season, following Paul Menard's announcement that he will retire from full-time racing after the 2019 season. DiBenedetto started the season with a nineteenth place finish at the 2020 Daytona 500, but he rebounded a week later to tie a career-best second-place finish at Las Vegas. In the later weeks of the regular season, DiBenedetto battled with seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and William Byron for the final spots in the playoffs. DiBenedetto would ultimately qualify for his first playoffs when he finished twelfth in the regular-season finale at Daytona and edged out Johnson for the sixteenth and last seed by six points. He was eliminated following the third race of the opening round at Bristol.

DiBenedetto tied his career-best finish of second the following week at Las Vegas for the third time in his career and the second time in a row at the track; this time to Kurt Busch. The next week at Talladega, DiBenedetto would run in the top-fifteen for the majority of the day, and made heavy gambles on fuel mileage to get to the top five for most of the final ten laps, and would make the pass on Chase Elliott to get the race lead with two laps to go, before Bubba Wallace would trigger the Big One. On the final restart, DiBenedetto would hold his line and maintain the lead until turn 4 on the final lap, when a block he would make on William Byron would give Denny Hamlin enough room to pass him on the bottom lane, with Hamlin winning over DiBenedetto by only twenty-three one-thousandths of a second (.023). DiBenedetto would be penalized later for forcing Byron below the yellow-line, relegating him to a 21st-place finish. He ended his first season with the Wood Brothers thirteenth in the final points standings with a career-high 11 top tens.

DiBenedetto returned to the Wood Brothers in 2021 in what would be his final season with the team, as Harrison Burton would take over the No. 21 the following year. He missed the Playoffs and finished eighteenth in the final standings, with a season-high finish of fourth at Kansas.

Craftsman Truck Series Rackley W.A.R.: 2022–2023

On January 6, 2022, Rackley W.A.R. announced that DiBenedetto would drive the No. 25 full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for 2022.

At the 2022 NextEra Energy 250 at Daytona, in only his first Truck start, DiBenedetto dodged many wrecks en route to a tenth-place finish, the second one ever for Rackley W.A.R. He would follow with a sixth-place finish at the 2022 Victoria's Voice Foundation 200 at Las Vegas. It was his second top-ten in his second start, and the best finish ever for Rackley W.A.R. in the Truck series.

DiBenedetto struggled the next few weeks, falling out of the top-ten in points with a 30th place at Atlanta Motor Speedway after hitting the wall on the first lap, falling eleven laps down due to damage. He scored a 31st-place finish the next week after running top-ten late in the race before a rear gear failure ended it at Circuit of the Americas followed by a fifteenth-place run at Martinsville Speedway then a 35th-place finish at the 2022 Pinty's Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway after getting stuck together with Austin Wayne Self's truck. He fell two laps down with a flat tire during the 2022 Dead On Tools 200 at Darlington Raceway but got back on the lead lap, scoring tenth before he was sent back to 11th when Matt Crafton's penalty was appealed. He finished 7th at Kansas Speedway, followed by a 10th at Texas Motor Speedway, scoring his fourth top-ten of the season. He would go on to score two more top-ten finishes at Gateway International Raceway and Sonoma Raceway. In the 2022 Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway, DiBenedetto was running in the top-ten when ThorSport Racing driver Ty Majeski took Matt and two other trucks four wide coming into the third turn causing him and the two other trucks to crash ending DiBenedetto's day and putting him in a must-win to make the playoffs. DiBenedetto, after being interviewed, was unhappy and said, "Some of these guys race with such disrespect." On July 23, Rackley W.A.R. announced that DiBenedetto would return to the No. 25 for the 2023 season. On October 1, DiBenedetto achieved his first national series win in the 2022 Chevrolet Silverado 250 at Talladega Superspeedway. DiBenedetto would finish the year thirteenth in the standings.

DiBenedetto started off the 2023 season getting caught up in two wrecks at the 2023 NextEra Energy 250 at Daytona, finishing twentieth, followed by a twelfth-place finish in the 2023 Victoria's Voice Foundation 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He would rebound at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the 2023 Fr8 208 with sixth but would struggle, finishing in the top-ten only twice in the next six races. He would then go on to finish in the top-ten six times in a row, starting at the 2023 Tyson 250 at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Despite finishing seventeenth in the 2023 Worldwide Express 250 at Richmond Raceway, DiBenedetto was able to qualify for the 2023 Truck Series Playoffs. On August 30, it was announced that DiBenedetto would be leaving Rackley W.A.R. after the 2023 season. DiBenedetto was eliminated from the playoffs at Kansas. After the Bristol night race, Rackley W.A.R. removed DiBenedetto from the team and announced plans for a replacement driver for the final three races of the season. Prior to this announcement, DiBenedetto had stated that he was "exploring all options in all series."

Return to Xfinity Series RSS Racing/Viking Motorsports: 2024

On March 20, 2024, it was announced that DiBenedetto would drive for Viking Motorsports for five races through the No. 38 entry with RSS Racing, starting at Richmond Raceway. He would finish eighteenth at Richmond followed by a 21st-place run at Martinsville, twentieth at Texas, and eighth at Talladega. On May 1, 2024, it was revealed that DiBenedetto would continue to be the team's primary driver for the remainder of the season. However, a few days later, it was announced that DiBenedetto would run the rest of the season with the team. DiBenedetto scored two more top-ten finishes both being seventh place runs at the 2024 Hy-Vee PERKS 250 at Iowa Speedway and the 2024 Cabo Wabo 250 at Michigan. He finished the season 26th in points.

Viking Motorsports: 2025 DiBenedetto's No. 99 car at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2025 On December 13, 2024, Viking Motorsports announced that they would be switching from Ford to Chevrolet, officially ending their partnership with RSS Racing. It was later announced that DiBenedetto would return to the team to drive the newly renumbered No. 99 full-time. DiBenedetto started season with back-to-back top-fifteens in the first two races at the 2025 United Rentals 300 and the 2025 Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250. DiBenedetto got his career best result in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at the 2025 Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega, finishing fifth. On October 13, 2025, Viking Motorsports announced they had parted ways with DiBenedetto, effective immediately, with Connor Mosack taking over the ride for the remainder of the season.

Personal life DiBenedetto was born in Nevada City, California, to parents Sandy and Tony DiBenedetto, and raised in Grass Valley, California. He has three siblings, Austin, Katie, and Kelley. Austin is a member of the United States Air Force.

In 2015, DiBenedetto married his childhood friend, Taylor Carswell. They currently reside in Hickory, North Carolina. They own a dog named Brian.

In 2018, he made a cameo in the television series Lethal Weapon (S2, E13) as a character named Carl Edwards, which DiBenedetto noted was coincidental and not a nod to the driver of the same name.

In 2021, DiBenedetto was baptized by fellow Cup Series driver Michael McDowell.

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. ** – All laps led.)

Cup Series NASCAR 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 Pts Ref 2015 BK Racing 83 Toyota DAY ATLDNQ LVSDNQ PHO35 CAL42 MAR31 TEX34 BRI21 RCH37 TAL18 KAN25 CLT34 DOV32 POC32 MCH39 SON29 DAY26 KEN42 NHA35 IND32 POC29 GLN26 MCH30 BRI33 DAR25 RCH36 CHI39 NHA30 DOV34 CLT29 KAN30 TAL40 MAR30 TEX35 PHO28 HOM37 35th 399 2016 93 DAY40 RCH37 TAL27 MAR32 35th 386 83 ATL29 LVS31 PHO20 CAL27 MAR29 TEX34 BRI6 RCH30 TAL36 KAN30 DOV40 CLT32 POC40 MCH34 SON31 DAY33 KEN38 NHA31 IND40 POC28 GLN34 BRI17 MCH32 DAR26 CHI30 NHA28 DOV27 CLT25 KAN24 TEXINQ PHO25 49 HOM27 2017 Go Fas Racing 32 Ford DAY9 ATL28 LVS26 PHO29 CAL29 MAR35 TEX31 BRI19 RCH28 TAL18 KAN32 CLT37 DOV29 POC32 MCH28 SON23 DAY13 KEN25 NHA30 IND8 POC37 GLN28 MCH26 BRI26 DAR27 RCH31 CHI31 NHA31 DOV31 CLT23 TAL31 KAN22 MAR39 TEX25 PHO27 HOM30 32nd 363 2018 DAY27 ATL31 LVS22 PHO25 CAL31 MAR32 TEX16 BRI21 RCH16 TAL19 DOV29 KAN22 CLT37 POC37 MCH36 SON17 CHI29 DAY7 KEN37 NHA28 POC27 GLN33 MCH24 BRI22 DAR38 IND36 LVS24 RCH34 ROV13 DOV27 TAL30 KAN23 MAR36 TEX38 PHO21 HOM26 29th 368 2019 Leavine Family Racing 95 Toyota DAY28* ATL26 LVS21 PHO28 CAL18 MAR20 TEX26 BRI12 RCH24 TAL31 DOV20 KAN36 CLT39 POC17 MCH21 SON4 CHI27 DAY8 KEN16 NHA5 POC17 GLN6 MCH20 BRI2* DAR8 IND18 LVS21 RCH14 ROV11 DOV7 TAL30 KAN15 MAR16 TEX14 PHO13 HOM20 22nd 699 2020 Wood Brothers Racing 21 Ford DAY19 LVS2 CAL13 PHO13 DAR14 DAR9 CLT17 CLT15 BRI31 ATL25 MAR7 HOM14 TAL26 POC13 POC6 IND19 KEN3 TEX17 KAN36 NHA6 MCH15 MCH7 DRC15 DOV20 DOV17 DAY12 DAR21 RCH17 BRI19 LVS2 TAL21 ROV22 KAN12 TEX8 MAR10 PHO8 13th 2249 2021 DAY33 DRC37 HOM28 LVS16 PHO14 ATL11 BRD13 MAR12 RCH9 TAL5 KAN4 DAR19 DOV24 COA23 CLT18 SON23 NSH24 POC32 POC18 ROA10 ATL9 NHA11 GLN11 IRC5 MCH6 DAY25 DAR23 RCH18 BRI10 LVS12 TAL35 ROV6 TEX13 KAN23 MAR15 PHO12 18th 775 † – Replaced by Jeffrey Earnhardt

Daytona 500 Year Team Manufacturer Start Finish 2016 BK Racing Toyota 20 40 2017 Go Fas Racing Ford 25 9 2018 36 27 2019 Leavine Family Racing Toyota 9 28* 2020 Wood Brothers Racing Ford 16 19 2021 23 33

O'Reilly Auto Parts Series

Craftsman Truck Series NASCAR Craftsman Truck 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 Pts Ref 2016 Athenian Motorsports 05 Chevy DAY ATL MAR KAN DOV CLT TEX IOW GTW KEN ELD POC BRI MCH MSP CHI NHAPC† LVS TAL MAR TEX PHO HOM N/A — 2022 Rackley W.A.R. 25 Chevy DAY10 LVS6 ATL30 COA31 MAR15 BRD35 DAR11 KAN7 TEX10 CLT17 GTW6 SON10 KNX14 NSH31 MOH19 POC12 IRP11 RCH17 KAN12 BRI27 TAL1 HOM19 PHO22 13th 521 2023 DAY20 LVS12 ATL6 COA29 TEX32 BRD10 MAR7 KAN29 DAR25 NWS3 CLT8 GTW6 NSH7 MOH8 POC10 RCH17 IRP10 MLW27 KAN3 BRI10 TAL HOM PHO 10th 2102 † – Practiced for John Wes Townley

Season still in progress Ineligible for series points

ARCA Menards Series (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.) ARCA Menards 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 Pts Ref 2011 Hattori Racing Enterprises 14 Toyota DAY TAL SLM TOL NJE CHI POC MCH WIN BLN IOW IRP POC ISF MAD DSF SLM6 KAN TOL12 62nd 370

K&N Pro Series East NASCAR K&N Pro Series East results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pts Ref 2009 Joe Gibbs Racing 18 Toyota GRE10 TRI1* IOW SBO NHA1* TMP3 ADI LRP16 NHA DOV11 14th 1099 Chevy GLN5 2011 X Team Racing 15 Toyota GRE5 SBO2 RCH10 IOW13 BGS1** JFC2 LGY4 NHA27 COL4 GRE10 NHA4 DOV22 4th 1741 2012 Hattori Racing Enterprises 01 Toyota BRI GRE RCH IOW BGS JFC LGY CNB COL IOW20 NHA DOV GRE CAR 72nd 24