NASCAR: Ryan Newman’s run-in with Matt DiBenedetto landed him a playoff spot

Ryan Newman holding up Matt DiBenedetto in the race at Bristol Motor Speedway is what ultimately allowed Newman to qualify for the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

The way things work out in the NASCAR Cup Series can be strange at times, and this is one of those instances.

Roush Fenway Racing’s Ryan Newman has always been known as one of the toughest drivers to pass, whether that’s for the race lead, for 15th place or for someone trying to put him a lap down.

That proved to be the case once again in the race at Bristol Motor Speedway last month, and it proved to be the case for Leavine Family Racing’s Matt DiBenedetto.

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The 28-year-old Grass Valley, California native appeared to be on his way to earning his first career Cup Series victory and locking up his first career playoff berth as a result of it.

Just days after confirming that Leavine Family Racing would not renew his contract for the 2020 season and that he was effectively fighting for his career, DiBenedetto was well out in front of this 500-lap race around the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) high-banked Bristol Motor Speedway oval in Bristol, Tennessee.

Then he came across Newman’s #6 Ford.

Newman, clearly not interested in letting the fan-favorite put him a lap down, held his ground and made it difficult for him to get by. As a result, the two cars made contact, causing damage to the front of DiBenedetto’s #95 Toyota.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin was able to run DiBenedetto down and pass him with just 12 laps remaining, relegating DiBenedetto to a career-high second place finish after leading a field-high 93 laps. Hamlin took the checkered flag just 0.502 seconds ahead of DiBenedetto.

But while Newman faced tons of criticism at the time — after all, he did something similar at Dover International Speedway in October of 2017 to cost Chase Elliott, another fan-favorite, what would have been his first career win — it ended up landing him a playoff berth.

DiBenedetto finished the 26-race regular season in 22nd place in the championship standings. Had he won this race, he would have locked up a berth in the 16-driver, four-round, 10-race playoffs despite the fact that he finished the regular season outside of the top 16 in the standings.

Newman, meanwhile, ended up finishing in 16th place in the standings. Had DiBenedetto won this race, Newman would have failed to advance to the playoffs, even as the 16th place driver, and this would have been the case for the second consecutive season, as the playoff cut line would have effectively moved up from between the 16th and 17th place drivers to between the 15th and 16th place drivers.

Last season, Newman finished the regular season in 16th place in the standings driving for Richard Childress Racing. Teammate Austin Dillon finished in 19th, but because he won the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, he advanced to the playoffs instead of Newman.

Ryan Newman racing Matt DiBenedetto hard in the race at Bristol Motor Speedway last month proved to be about a lot more than just “racing hard”, whether he knew it at the time or not. This run-in ultimately netted the 41-year-old South Bend, Indiana native a berth in the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.