A lot of things seemed to suit Matt DiBenedetto well about Pizza Ranch’s home track, Iowa Speedway.  Those good vibes culminated with a Nationwide series career best, top-ten finish.  Despite racing at Iowa Speedway for the first time, Matt took right to it and posted the fastest time in Saturday morning’s delayed practice.  Although none of the double-duty drivers practiced, it was a good sign that Matt was ready to rebound after back-to-back frustrating outings.

Matt started ninth in front of a sold out crowd of over 50,000, including 400+ Pizza Ranch friends.  Matt battled hard all night with cup and nationwide series regulars to keep the Pizza Ranch No. 20 Toyota solidly in the top ten and as high as 7th.  With 47 laps to go, and in 8th place, a caution came out that shook up the top ten.  Matt dropped back to 14th, after a handful of cars made a position grab going with just 2 tires.  Matt steadily worked back into the top-ten and went door-to-door with Justin Allgaier for the last 20 laps of the race and settled out in ninth place.  Matt’s next race will be Gateway’s curtain closer on October 23.

Congratulations to JGR’s Kyle Busch and the No. 18 crew with their ninth win of the year.  Pizza Ranch victory lane was excited to have Kyle back since his victory last year in the K&N East-West All Star Race.