NASCAR Cup Series: Is it time to sell on Matt DiBenedetto?

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. But fool me three times, and I’m now at a crossroads with Matt DiBenedetto breaking through in NASCAR.

Matt DiBenedetto perfectly fits the mold of the NASCAR fan-favorite good guy. If he was a pro wrestler, the crowds would be hijacking wrestling shows all over the world chanting his name instead of CM Punk.

The day this became a reality was Saturday, August 17, 2019 at Bristol Motor Speedway. DiBenedetto was just 12 laps away from winning before he was passed by Denny Hamlin.

Fans, including myself, were heartbroken. But this was the moment we bought into the hype and believed he could be a true force in the Cup Series in the right equipment. Sure enough, he signed with the historic Wood Brothers. His stock was rising, and a win was on the horizon.

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Skip ahead to Saturday, February 23, 2020 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway: the second race of the 2020 season, back when we could pack a race track with tens of thousands of people without a worry in the world about hand sanitizer — and even toilet paper.

A risky strategy call to stay out heading into overtime gave DiBenedetto a small sliver of hope, restarting in third place. One divebomb later, and he found himself finishing in second. Only Joey Logano ended up ahead of him. Good, but not good enough.

“The win is coming.”

We all probably thought after that race. A third place run at Kentucky Speedway backed that up. But there were nothing more than top 15 finishes and a few rare top 10 results otherwise.

But consistency earned DiBenedetto a playoff berth. Although a championship is as rare as a royal flush, his stock was up, and it only takes a little bit of momentum to make it far. Austin Dillon is prime example number one.

His chances of making it into the round of 12 were dashed as quickly as it took for you to read the paragraph above. His stock tanked, and you started to wonder if it’s you, or him.

Now skip ahead to Sunday, September 27, 2020, also at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Here we go again.

Pit strategy once again came into play, and DiBenedetto came out in the lead ahead of Kurt Busch. Busch’s Las Vegas Motor Speedway history doesn’t add up; that second place finish DiBenedetto earned just seven months ago beats Busch’s entire 20-year history at the track.

DiBenedetto had three restarts to give Busch a run for his money. Yet after Busch passed him cleanly, he stayed ahead of him…

Every. Single. Time.

I write this article reflecting back on his first second place finish. I was so hopeful that maybe the Wood Brothers could give him the equipment that he had been dying for throughout his entire career so that he could deliver them their 100th win.

But this might have been his last real chance for a win this season, and because of that, I worry about DiBenedetto’s future. Openings for an upgrade in speed are few and far between.

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The only hope for DiBenedetto’s career is to re-sign with Wood Brothers Racing. If that doesn’t happen, then I’m cashing out. I won’t cry because it’s over. I’m going to smile because we got so close to a win.

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