Matt DiBenedetto will not complete the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season with Rackley WAR, the team announced Sept. 19.
A different driver will pilot the No. 25 for the final three events of the season.
The team’s roster for Talladega Superspeedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway and Phoenix Raceway will be announced at a later date.
DiBenedetto had previously announced that he would be departing Rackley at the end of the 2023 season.
His plans for 2024 have not yet been revealed.
In 2023, his second season with the team, DiBenedetto has two top fives and 12 top 10s. He scored his first win — and the team’s first — in 2022 at Talladega.
DiBenedetto has not commented on his early leave from the team.
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Strange move. I wonder if it’s for the sake of cost savings and/or getting a head start on next year. Could be a few other things. But the oddest element of this is that it’s right before Talladega. Matt has a knack for finding his way to the front at that track in whatever he’s in more than other drivers, so it was definitely a race they had a higher chance of winning as they did last year.
It strikes me that Rackley Roofing does not want to or is not able to continue to subsidizing the team by “sponsoring” it. The team would rather put a driver with funding in the car for the rest of the season and beyond than stick it out with Matt and hope his winnings cover expenses. Even Matt Kaulig is looking for drivers with funding so he doesn’t have to put LeafFilter on cars every race.
3 races left? Great employees always deserve a better send-off. If it’s the greenbacks, you would think some smart social post person on your payroll would have done a fund deal on line for Matt for a better ending than this.