Good debut For Matt in the #20 (Race Recap)

It was a strong debut weekend for Matt DiBenedetto in the #20 Pizza Ranch car.  Here’s what Matt had to say about the two practice sessions on Friday.  ”When I first came out, the main goal was to go out there and take it easy.  No need to go out there and take any chances.  So I just eased it up on speed.  I’m just being calm with it all.  The first practice was mostly me getting comfortable with the car and everything and the race track because I’ve never seen this place before.  After that, second practice (I) went out there and felt comfortable and made some big gains on the car,” said DiBenedetto.  DiBenedetto ripped off the 5th fastest time during “happy hour.”

Then in qualifying Matt came out fast earning the P4 spot.  During the first 50 plus laps of the race Matt held the #20 Pizza Ranch car in the top 5 and for just a moment was running in 1st when he overtook the veteran Mike Bliss (though he won’t get credited for leading a lap.)  Then under yellow around lap 60, Matt came in for his first pit stop.  Unfortunately, Matt sustained front right damage when pulling the car out of the pit and collided with charging double-duty driver David Reutimann.  The damage and subsequent stops to fix the damage dropped Matt way back in the pack around p34.  Then to make matters worse, Matt had to drop down to the grass in turn 1 to avoid a crash in front of him.  Even with some good driving Matt still picked up some damage.  The ailing #20 car led to Matt going a lap down to the leaders.  After some needed adjustments to the car, Matt dug hard to get in position to get the “Lucky Dog” free pass to get back on the lead lap.

Then the race got really exciting.  Crew chief Dave Rogers gave his rookie the following advice, “Don’t think about how badly you can finish, think about how you’re going to get around these guys in front of you.”  Matt then went on an amazing surge going from p22 all the way up to p6.  Then unfortunately there were 4 cautions in the last 20 laps which set up a bad situation for Matt.  About the 2nd lap into a restart, Brad Keselowski sput out Carl Edwards a few car lengths in front of Matt.  Matt let off the gas to try and avoid the wreck and got rear-ended by Jason Leffler which sent Matt spinning.  NASCAR put Matt at the back of the lead lap cars (16th) for helping bring out the yellow flag (even though Matt didn’t even cause the crash).  Matt was able to get 2 spots back and ended the day in 14th place.

It was quite a first run for Matt.  He drove great and handled the adversity during the race well.  I know Matt can’t wait to get behind the wheel of the #20 Pizza Ranch car again in the Nationwide series in 2010.