Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Matt DiBenedetto is 300/1 to win first at Richmond

DiBenedetto has top-5s in 3 of last 4 using 750 HP package.
Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway
No. 95 Toyota Express Maintenance Toyota Camry Notes:


DIBENEDETTO BY THE NUMBERS: In nine Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career starts at Richmond, Matt DiBenedetto has an average start of 29.1, an average finish of 30.3 and he’s completed 3,526 of 3,613 (97.6 percent) career laps at the 0.75-mile Virginia track.

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RACE INFO: The Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway (0.75-mile) begins at 7:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, September 21st. The race will be broadcast live on NBCSN, Sirius XM Channel 90 and MRN Radio.

From the Driver’s Seat:

Matt DiBenedetto: “Looking ahead to this weekend at Richmond, it’s a track that is more of a strong suit for us as a team since it is a short track. I enjoy the fact that this weekend at Richmond drivers will need to lay off the gas, use the brake pedal, and that we slide around a bit more than other tracks. When we raced there earlier in the season, we learned that track position meant more there than it has in the past, so driving through the field was more challenging than before. Even though it’s a short track, we’re very grip-limited in the corner at Richmond, so dirty air was a big deal in the spring race. It made for a challenging day if you happened to have any problems during the race where you would’ve gotten stuck back in the field. Richmond is a better type of track for us than the 1.5-mile ones since we’ve typically been faster at the short tracks so far this year.”

From the Pit Box:

Mike Wheeler: “Richmond is as challenging of a short track as Loudon and Phoenix since each one of those tracks has their own unique characteristics. Even though it’s one of the smaller tracks, the aero contribution Richmond has because of the speed versus banking combined with the tire combination, is definitely a challenge. Richmond is only slightly bigger than Martinsville, but it reacts more like an intermediate track. Tire falloff can be substantial at Richmond and that can make for good racing, however, there’s not many multiple grooves that are really preferred so you can find it difficult to pass. Everyone has improved their packages since the spring race as it was one of the earlier short track races of the season. Practice was also cut short when we raced there in the spring due to rain and we found that if you were off to start, you generally didn’t get enough time on track to be able to catch back up which happened to our group. So hopefully some of the stuff we’ve learned through the summer with our success at Loudon we can apply this weekend at Richmond to hopefully be a few steps better.”

No. 95 Toyota Camry Team:
Driver: Matt DiBenedetto Crew Chief: Mike Wheeler
Car Chief: Greg Emmer Spotter: Doug Campbell
Engineer: J.R. Houston Engineer: Etienne Cliche
Mechanic: Bill Mares Mechanic: Matt Kimball
Shock Specialist: Sean Studer Mechanic: Zach Marquardt
Tire Specialist: Tony Ramirez Jackman: Charles Thacker
Fueler: Bailey Walker Rear Changer: Deven Youker
Front Changer: Jason Charles Tire Carrier: Chris Hall
Hauler Driver: Damon Lopez Pit Support: Brian Eastland

About Toyota:

Toyota (NYSE:TM), creator of the Prius hybrid and the Mirai fuel cell vehicle, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota and Lexus brands. Over the past 60 years, we’ve built more than 38 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ more than 47,000 people (more than 37,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold nearly 2.8 million cars and trucks (2.4 million in the U.S.) in 2018 – and about 87 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 16 years are still on the road today.

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