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DiBenedetto was "hanging on for dear life" to finish eighth at Indy

The wild finish to Sunday’s Brickyard 400 left Matt DiBenedetto with a self-described “crazy day” but a good day, nonetheless.

Matt DiBenedetto, Go Fas Racing Ford

Matt DiBenedetto, Go Fas Racing Ford

Matthew T. Thacker / NKP / Motorsport Images

Matt DiBenedetto, Go Fas Racing Ford
Paul Menard, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, Ty Dillon, Germain Racing Chevrolet, Matt DiBenedetto, Go Fas Racing Ford
Matt DiBenedetto, Go Fas Racing Ford
Trevor Bayne, Roush Fenway Racing Ford, Michael McDowell, Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet wreck

DiBenedetto, in his first season with Go Fas Racing, ended up finishing eighth in what many consider the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series’ second-biggest event of the year at the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

It was just his second top-to of the season but both have come in big events (he was ninth in the season-opening Daytona 500).

“A top 10 in the Daytona 500 and a top 10 in the Brickyard 400 finishing eighth today. It’s crazy. It was a crazy day. It’s pretty unreal what we’ve been able to accomplish this year,” he said. “I’m so proud. It’s not all me. My team are the ones that deserve the credit and I’m more happy for them than myself. 

“I’ve worked so dang hard the old-school way to get here, countless late nights for these guys working, many sleepless nights in my career thinking it was over about 30 to 40 times and that’s not even an exaggeration, and to have these kind of races this year is just unbelievable.

“It’s been fun.”

DiBenedetto earned his career-high sixth-place finish at Bristol, Tenn., while competing with BK Racing but moved to Go Fas in the off-season hoping for more stability.

Both are relatively new and smaller teams and lack the resources of NASCAR’s top organizations.

“Obviously being a smaller team we just try and get a good handle on our cars. We come here and dial in our car the old-school way, through communication. We have no simulation or nothing,” he said.

“We just have 15 guys and we work our tails off. Through the race we had a good handling car. It felt good in practice, so we were able to run competitive all race.

“Then, because we had a good handling car, we were able to take advantage of everybody else’s mistakes by being competitive and being in front of a lot the guys that were racing, and being in the right place at the right time there a lot of times at the end.”

DiBenedetto said the two overtime periods – particularly the restarts – were the most aggressive of the race.

“You’ve got to really go on the restarts, which makes it fun and makes it exciting for the fans,” he said, “but you’re also just hanging on for dear life and hoping you’re in the right place at the right time.”

 

 

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