By Sarah Handy, Staff Writer
As the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season approaches, Kickin’ the Tires previews Wood Brothers Racing and their driver Matt DiBenedetto.
DiBenedetto, a native of California will embark on his sixth overall season at NASCAR’s highest level.
However, 2020 his be his first full-time season behind the iconic No. 21 Ford Mustang for Wood Brothers Racing.
Unquestionably, DiBenedetto has continued to improve his on track results every season of NASCAR Cup Series competition and 2019 was no different.
Last season he piloted the No. 95 Toyota for Bob Leavine’s family owned Leavine Family Racing where he tallied up three top-five and seven top-10 finishes.
DiBenedetto’s average start improved drastically from 2018 to 2019 going from 29.1 to 20.5. In addition, his average finish did the same going from 27.0 to 18.3.
Bristol Motor Speedway’s night race last August proved to be DiBenedetto’s best race of the season and his Cup career to this point.
He led 93 laps around the famed NASCAR short track but wound up finishing second to a on the charge Denny Hamlin who chased down the driver with 12 laps remaining.
DiBenedetto will look to capture his first win in the NASCAR Cup Series and the 100th win for the Wood Brothers in the series.
It should be noted, that while that win could come at any track, Daytona or Bristol are high possibilities as both are good tracks for the driver known as Guido.
In nine starts at the 2.5-mile famed Daytona International Speedway, he has three top-10 finishes in only nine starts.
Last February, DiBenedetto ran a good portion of last year’s Daytona 500 at the front of the field before a crash relegated him to a disappointing 28th place finish.
At Bristol Motor Speedway he has one top-five and two top-10 finishes in 10 starts since 2015. It’s also the site of the best finish of his career as noted earlier, a second place finish last summer.
Last September, it was announced that DiBenedetto would be taking over the No. 21 as Paul Menard announced his retirement from the sport.
“It’s been a dream of mine to be able to drive for one of the most legendary teams in NASCAR.
It’s going to be unbelievable, it’s surreal and it’s been amazing to have the opportunity”, said DiBenedetto.