Race Weekend Central

Matt DiBenedetto Earns Career-Best Finish At Home Track

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Matt DiBenedetto's home track rewarded him with a career-best finish. (Danny Peters)

Matt DiBenedetto‘s Sunday (June 23) afternoon at Sonoma Raceway was one for the books. The Grass Valley, Calif., native — only a couple hours drive away from Wine Country — earned his best career finish in the Toyota/Save Mart 350, crossing the finish line in fourth for Leavine Family Racing’s No. 95 Toyota. “I cannot …

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Up to Speed: Matt DiBenedetto Faces Uncertain Future

Monster Energy Nascar Cup Series

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Matt DiBenedetto and Leavine Family Racing started their season off with a bang.  In his first race piloting the No. 95, DiBenedetto emerged as a surprise contender in the Daytona 500.  Unfortunately, he got wiped out in a crash on lap 191 that collected half the field. Nearly four months have passed since the Great …

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Did You Notice?: In The 2019 NASCAR Playoffs, No Cinderellas Allowed

2018 Cup Michigan Zach Catanzareti Roger Penske

(Photo: Zach Catanzareti)

Did You Notice? … If the season ended today, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series would set a dubious playoff record. Only five owners would be eligible to capture the championship, by far the fewest in the sport’s 16-car postseason era. 2019 PLAYOFF TEAMS (IF THE SEASON ENDED TODAY) Joe Gibbs Racing (4): Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, …

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The Underdog House: What Turn Four?

2019 Las Vegas I Nxs Joey Gase Nkp

Top of The Class Chris Buescher was once again the number one dog in Sunday’s (June 2) Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway. The No. 37 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevy crossed the stripe in the 14th position. For the first time in his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career, Buescher has finished in the top 15 …

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Who’s Hot & Who’s Not in NASCAR: Some Gave All

Monster Energy Nascar Cup Series

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

The Coca-Cola 600 is a marathon slog to close out the greatest day in auto racing, following the Monaco Grand Prix in Formula One and the Indianapolis 500 in IndyCar. Despite a quiet middle half, a chaotic first quarter and wild finish made it one of the season’s better races overall. Tires weren’t cooperating, which …

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Pace Laps: Joe Gibbs Racing Dominates at Charlotte, Simon Pagenaud Crowned Indianapolis 500 Champ

Nxs Cms Reddick Ontrack 052519

(Photo: NASCAR via Getty Images)

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series: Joe Gibbs Racing Endures Roller Coaster 600-Miler Joe Gibbs Racing battled through the adversity of a marathon weekend packed with misfortunes and came out on top. After all three of its Xfinity Series drivers battled tire problems on Saturday, the same issues sent Erik Jones and alliance teammate Matt DiBenedetto …

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Toyota Decimated by Early Tire Issues in Coca-Cola 600

2019 Charlotte Cup Erik Jones Car Nigel Kinrade Photography

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Toyota had shown significant pace all weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and both Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin led laps early in the Coca-Cola 600. However, tire issues have plagued the manufacturer, as four of the six Toyotas entered have had failures in the first half of the race. The first to have problems was …

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The Underdog House: High Plains Winner

2019 Atlanta Cup Chris Buescher Nkp

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Top of The Class Chris Buescher was on a level by himself in terms of underdogs during Saturday night’s (May 11) Digital Ally 400 at Kansas Speedway. The No. 37 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevy was as competitive as it’s been all year and more importantly, Buescher ended up with a finish that matched his strong …

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Who’s Hot & Who’s Not in NASCAR: A Great Recipe, or a Good Batch?

2019 Talladega Cup Mencs Zach Catanzareti Alex Bowman

(Photo: Zach Catanzareti)

Kansas Speedway is maybe the most bland of all the cookie-cutter racetracks, which is saying something. But does the quality of racing this past Friday and Saturday night mean that NASCAR has finally figured out the right recipe for good racing there? Or could it just indicate that this was an anomaly, simply a fantastic …

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Despite Struggles, Passion Shining Through for Matt DiBenedetto, LFR Team in 2019

2019 Phoenix I Cup Matt Dibenedetto Nkp

(Photo: NKP)

Leavine Family Racing has not had the results in 2019 that its driver or owner believes they’re capable of. None of that mattered this week, as team owner Bob Leavine has discovered Twitter, and been a tour de force on said platform this week, engaging in a number of heated and significant exchanges with heavy-hitters …

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The Underdog House: Dover Downer

2019 Dover Cup Zach Catanzareti Matt Dibenedetto

(Photo: Zach Catanzareti)

Top of The Class Rain kept the cars in the garage all day on Sunday, and Dover proved to be rather monstrous to our underdog contingent on Monday. In fact, the 20th-place finish notched by Matt DiBenedetto and Leavine Family Racing is the lowest “best in class” result of 2019 thus far. Part of that …

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Frontstretch Podcast: Corey LaJoie Talks Thrilling Talladega Weekend

Monster Energy Nascar Cup Series

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

In this week’s edition of the Frontstretch Podcast, Dustin Albino and Mike Neff discuss the frantic Talladega Superspeedway weekend that arguably saw one of the best superspeedway races in a long time. It must be that the new rules package worked well, right? The Chevrolet brigade teamed up to sweep all three stages at Talladega, including Chase Elliott getting …

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