LONG POND, Pa: As CATCHFENCE.com first reported Saturday, Matt DiBenedetto will return to Rackley WAR Racing for the 2023 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season allowing both driver and team to look ahead and elevate the Tennessee-based team into a championship caliber operation.
After losing his Cup Series opportunity at the end of the 2021 season with Wood Brothers Racing, DiBenedetto spent much of the off-season rideless but when Rackley WAR needed a full-time driver to enhance their program, DiBenedetto was their top-choice.
Weeks before Daytona, the pairing was announced and the team went to work quickly.
The team didn’t make the Truck Series Playoffs after finishing 12th in Saturday’s CRC Brakleen 150 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, but the duo has continued to make improvements throughout the season that has led to an extension of their relationship for what will be the organization’s third year of full-time Truck Series competition in 2023.
“It’s cool,” DiBenedetto said of remaining at Rackley WAR in 2023. “We just talked; we haven’t signed anything yet but this team has become my family. So, they started talking about next year and I said I don’t want to go anywhere because I have Rackley Roofing as my sponsor behind us and the team fulltime and doing anything and everything to get this team to the next level.”
After delivering a top-10 finish in their first race together at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in February, DiBenedetto has delivered six top-10s in total through the opening 16 races of the season, but with their connection coming together so late into the off-season, there wasn’t much time to develop a gameplan.
With their plans set for 2023, DiBenedetto knows what he wants and the team is willing to oblige and become a powerhouse of their own.
“Get it (Rackley WAR) stepped up to where it needs to be where we’re winning races consistently,” added DiBenedetto. “The team is still in its sophomore year, and I didn’t join until January of this year, so it was kind of last-second.
“Now it’s really nice that we can start talking, having that dialogue and come up with a game plan on how to take the team to the next step.
“Everyone has seen it’s a growing team that we’ve had. I’m just thankful to have a home.”
Throughout his NASCAR career, DiBenedetto often had his name in the silly season chatter, but with his confidence in the Chad Kendrick-led team, no chatter is needed and instead he’s focused on getting his team to Victory Lane this season and next.
“It’s a blessing to have home and to have someone like Rackley Roofing behind me that much that they are that dedicated to me and say, ‘Hey, we want you back. That’s so heart-warming and I’m so thankful to be a part of the family to where there’s no doubt as to the commitment of the team to take it to the next level to where we are consistently a top-performing truck team.
“If I had any doubts whatsoever, I wouldn’t do it. We’re here to win and that’s why I’m like absolutely all-in with this team,” DiBenedetto explained.
While the Grass Valley, Calif. native won’t compete for a championship title in 2022, he says his team won’t hold back on trying to improve their average finish of 16.5 in the remaining seven races and focus on earning the organizations’ first tip to Victory Lane.
“We’re not holding back,” sounded DiBenedetto. “We’re doing everything to start doing better the rest of this season, growing and improving our team now and then obviously working on the big game plan to be a championship contender next year.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
