FORT WORTH, Tex. – Jeffrey Earnhardt will substitute for Matt DiBenedetto in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, a BK Racing spokesperson confirmed to CATCHFENCE.com.
DiBenedetto is sidelined for Sunday’s Sprint Cup race after entering concussion protocol.
The 24-year-old was making his 17th NASCAR XFINITY Series start of the season when he crashed his TriStar Motorsports’ No. 14 Superior Essex Toyota on Lap 134 in Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge.
While elevated and released from the infield care center, DiBenedetto was not cleared by physicians to race in Sunday’s Cup event.
Earnhardt will make his second start of the season for BK Racing. The 27-year-old made his lone start for the Ron Devine-owned team at Talladega Superspeedway last month finishing 34th after starting 39th. He has made 18 additional starts this season for GO FAS Racing in the No. 32 Ford.
DiBenedetto, a Grass Valley, California native tweeted last Saturday that he was fine and looking forward to racing at Phoenix International Raceway next weekend.
Well that didn’t end as planned but a big thanks to @SuperiorEssex and @TriStarRaceTeam
— Matthew DiBenedetto (@mattdracing) November 5, 2016
I’m feeling totally fine…just having to follow the concussion protocol. Hate I can’t drive tomorrow but I’m looking forward to Phoenix.
— Matthew DiBenedetto (@mattdracing) November 6, 2016
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
