By Sarah Handy, Staff Writer
LOUDON, N.H. – It was a solid and consistent day for Matt DiBenedetto in the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Toyota at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301.
It was a major turn around from final practice on Friday when DiBenedetto had tire issues twice that results in two flat tires and 20th place on the speed charts after making only 11 laps before going to the garage.
(Photo: Sarah Handy/KTT)
DiBenedetto would rebound and have a solid qualifying effort – earning a 7th-place starting spot for the 301-lap event.
The race would play out in his favor as he was able to consistently run a majority of the race within the Top-15. As the laps came to a close he was able to work his way into the Top-10 and pick his way through the field.
“It was cool. We try to improve and get better as a team everywhere,” DiBenedetto said. “These ones, the short tracks, where you’re slip-sliding around, it’s just in our wheelhouse as a team. Man, that was fun. I’m just proud of my guys. It shows they’re the ones that deserve the credit. I’m just able to be the one who holds the wheel. It just shows what a good team we have.”
DiBenedetto credited his crew chief with the call that was made on the last pit stop to only take two tires, “Wheels made the call for two tires there at the end and it was the perfect blend,”
“You know getting some track position but also having speed in the car, you fought aero tight it being a lot worse this year,” he said. “It just really makes you execuite more.”
The finish showed how consistent the team has been, as they earned their third Top-10 in the last five races after finishing fourth at Sonoma and eighth at Daytona. The fifth place run was his best ever at NHMS.
“The first part of the year I was so discouraged because I knew we had speed in our cars but we had really horrific luck,” DiBenedetto said. “It can just go that way sometimes. I was discouraged by that but I knew we had the speed and when things would just kind of go our way we’d be able to show what we can do and that’s what we’ve done.
“We’ve just had things go our way, smooth races, executed well and then we get three top-10’s in our last five races it just shows what we can do when things fall your way and we have good smooth weekends.”