LAS VEGAS: When the caution waved with six laps to go in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway, there seemed to be only one choice for Matt DiBenedetto and his Wood Brothers Racing team.
Stay out.
While most of the field, including leaders Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman and Kevin Harvick decided to pit for tires for a green-white-checkered finish, crew chief Greg Irwin elected to keep his driver on the track and hope for the best.
The best-paid off with a second-place finish and the team’s best NASCAR Cup Series finish since finishing fifth at Michigan International Speedway in June 2018 with now-retired driver Paul Menard.
“This is all just too surreal,” said DiBenedetto. “Tough to be that close, but, hey, this is only the second race of the season. So, it was the strength of this team. It’s so cool to have the backing of all the people that allow me to drive this thing. It took so many people, Motorcraft, Quick Lane.
“Power under the hood is always good. I’m proud to have that Roush Yates power under the hood. This whole team, Greg Irwin, all of them, we were covered. It wasn’t pretty at the start, but, man, they did an excellent job. So happy to be working with this team. The journey has been pretty cool.”
Restarting third on the bottom lane with two laps to go, DiBenedetto sailed his No. 21 Motorcraft | Quick Lane Ford Mustang into Turn 1 making contact with second-place runner William Byron who found himself under attack from cars on both sides of him.
Clearing himself from the contact scene, DiBenedetto attempted to chase down his fellow Ford Performance teammate Joey Logano for his first Cup Series victory but as the chaos broke out in the tri-oval coming to the white flag lap, the caution waved freezing the field and leaving DiBenedetto the runner-up finisher and scoring his best finish since finishing second at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway last August.
Before the decision to stay out, DiBenedetto and his team seemed comfortable to earn their first top-10 finish together running much of Stage 3 inside the back half of the top-10. The finish was DiBenedetto’s fourth career top-five in 178 races overall and 12th career top-10 effort.
DiBenedetto also praised his sponsor Menards and former driver Paul Menard for the opportunity to drive the iconic No. 21 Ford Mustang and the chance to win the organization’s’ 100th NASCAR Cu Series victory in 2020.
“To be driving this iconic car is so cool, Menards and Paul, I know you’re watching at home and proud and I can’t thank everyone in that whole family for this opportunity for it.”
Sunday’s performance was a nice rebound for the team in their debut together this past Monday at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway where they finished 19th in a chaotic and caution-filled race.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
