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NASCAR Cup Series: 5 easy predictions for the 2019 season

By William Richard

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 18: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 60th Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 18, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 18: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 60th Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 18, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – JANUARY 31: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Matt DiBenedetto drives during testing at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on January 31, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – JANUARY 31: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Matt DiBenedetto drives during testing at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on January 31, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images) /

#3: Matt DiBenedetto has career-best season

Talk about taking the bait on this one! Again, these easy predictions aren’t supposed to be mind-blowing, but they aren’t guaranteed. That’s why this prediction still intrigues me.

Matt DiBenedetto has become a fan-favorite over the last few years driving for Go Fas Racing. Fans have begged for bigger teams to give the Grass Valley, California native an opportunity, and now “DiBurrito” has his shot.

DiBenedetto may be the most intriguing driver in the NASCAR Cup Series garage heading into the 2019 season. The relatively low-tier Leavine Family Racing team are currently in a very interesting position as fans wait to see what kind of caliber they can become.

In case you missed it or have lacked full understanding, Leavine Family Racing have switched their manufacturer from Chevrolet to Toyota for the 2019 season, and they have formed a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing similar to the one that the now defunct Furniture Row Racing formed with Joe Gibbs Racing prior to the 2016 season.

DiBenedetto, who has made his mark with Go Fas Racing, will be the guinea pig to see if Leavine Family Racing’s new technical alliance means instant success or if it results in yet another team getting the short end of the stick when it comes to partnering with top-tier organizations.

Personally, I believe that Leavine Family Racing will have intermediate success but won’t blow fans out of the water in year one. I have discussed before that this technical alliance will truly test the power of Joe Gibbs Racing in the Cup Series garage. I’m not sure if this will turn out quite as successful as Furniture Row Racing’s technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing did, but we never thought the #78 Toyota would win a championship, either.

No matter how the cookie crumbles, I can’t help but believe that it’s low-hanging fruit to predict that DiBenedetto will have a career-best season in 2019.

All DiBenedetto needs to do to accomplish such a goal is record one top five finish, three top 10 finishes and record an average finish of 26.9 or better. His best finish in the championship standings is 29th place, another statistic that he should be able to better with his eyes closed in the 2019 season.

Obviously, this new technical alliance could be a complete failure, but I’d make this prediction if DiBenedetto was driving for the Leavine Family Racing of the past. Him driving for the team would have been a step forward in his career, and this technical alliance makes this an even bigger step.

Who knows? Maybe we could even see the #95 Toyota in victory lane by the end of the season.

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