Race 18 of 36:
The field was coming back to the white flag in the Daytona 500, and Matt DiBenedetto found himself running 5th with just one more full circuit around the 2.5-mile superspeedway. Unfortunately, the No.32 Hurricane Heist Ford never made it back around to see the white-flag. A massive crash involving DiBenedetto, Kurt Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Martin Truex Jr. among others took the No.32 Ford Fusion out of contention in the biggest race of the season. With the same strategy that put them in position to win the biggest race of the season, the Zynga Poker teams hopes to put themselves in the same position towards the end of the race this weekend
Zynga Poker, “The World’s Leading Poker Game!” will be the primary sponsor for Matt DiBenedetto this weekend. Zynga Poker first joined the team at Phoenix Raceway earlier this season after a social campaign led by DiBenedetto and the team, where the team reached out to fans via social media to ask for sponsorship leads. The campaign went viral with many drivers jumping at the opportunity to help DiBenedetto and led to a fully sponsored racecar, led by Zynga Poker as the primary sponsor.
Last Week For the No.32 Team:
Last weekend, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series was in Joliet, Illinois racing at Chicagoland Speedway, a 1.5-mile racetrack located about a one-hour drive away from Chicago, Illinois. Anest Iwata was the primary sponsor for the No.32 team and debuted a new red, white, and blue scheme. With an “enhanced schedule weekend”, the Anest Iwata team was busy on Saturday with two practices and qualifying in the same day. Late Saturday evening, DiBenedetto was able to qualify the Anest Iwata Ford in the 30th position for Sunday’s race.
The race began with a few long green-flag runs, with long-run speed reigning supreme. DiBenedetto moved up from 32nd into the 28th position for much of the first two stages, but ultimately had a mechanical failure causing a loss of brakes for the No.32 Ford. Persevering through tough conditions with little braking throughout the last stage, DiBenedetto brought the Anest Iwata Ford home 29th at the end of the 400-mile race.
DiBenedetto on racing at Daytona International Speedway:
“It’s been interesting to see the progression over the years at Daytona. In the last couple races, more than ever before, setup has become key at these superspeedways. The July race in Daytona is always so hot and we will be sliding around a bit more than we did in the Daytona 500. As the green-flag runs progress, we fight the handling on these things more and more, and you’ll definitely see the drivers working the wheel a lot and will probably see a few big incidents. The new ride height rule this year allows us to tune on the car more and find a good balance between speed and handling, something we never really had to worry much about in the past. I’m sure [Crew Chief] Randy Cox and I will work on race-pace and not worry much about qualifying-trim. We’ll play a safe strategy like we did in the [Daytona] 500 and be there at the end. I’m excited to have the Zynga Poker group with us this weekend to experience their first-ever superspeedway race. We’ll do all we can to bring them a top-10 finish.”
Matt DiBenedetto Career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Stats at Daytona International Speedway:
Starts: 5
Average Start: 25th
Average Finish: 21st
Best Finish: 9th (2017)
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About Our Team
About Zynga:
Since its founding in 2007, Zynga’s mission has been to connect the world through games. To-date, more than 1 billion people have played Zynga’s games across Web and mobile, including FarmVille, Zynga Poker, Words With Friends, Hit it Rich! Slots and CSR Racing. Zynga’s games are available on a number of global platforms including Apple iOS, Google Android, Facebook and Zynga.com. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and has additional offices in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, India, Turkey and Finland.
Check out Zynga Poker at @ZyngaPoker and on Facebook at facebook.com/TexasHoldEm.
Get Matt DiBenedetto Updates:
To get live updates during the race weekends follow @mattdracing on Instagram and Twitter. Make sure to give Matt a “like” on Facebook – “Matt DiBenedetto Racing”. For a detailed bio and updated in-season statistics, please visit www.mattdracing.com
About Go Fas Racing:
Go Fas Racing (GFR) currently fields Ford Fusion’s in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series for Matt DiBenedetto. Located in Mooresville, North Carolina, GFR has competed in the NASCAR’s premier series since 2014; fielding cars for some of NASCAR’s top drivers, including past champions. To find out more information about our team please visit www.GoFasRacing.com.
