Matt DiBenedetto – No. 95 Procore Thanks DW Throwback Toyota Camry Preview
Toyota / Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway
No. 95 Procore Toyota Camry Notes:
· JOIN THE PROCORE CREW: With a new car, new driver, and a new season ahead of us, now’s your chance to join our Procore crew. Become a member of the No. 95 Crew today to get your free, collectible Matt DiBenedetto 95 hero card. Plus, you can enter to win exclusive Procore No. 95 Car merchandise throughout the season. Visit www.procore.com/95crew to enroll today.
· DIBENEDETTO BY THE NUMBERS: In four Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career starts at Sonoma Raceway, Matt DiBenedetto has an average start of 30.0 and an average finish of 25.0. He’s completed 439 of 440 (99.8 percent) career laps at the Sonoma, California road course. The series will return to the original 12-turn course for the first time since 1997 with no current MENCS driver having driven this configuration.
· THANKING A LEGENDARY PERSONALITY: This weekend at Sonoma, the No. 95 Procore Toyota Camry will run a special paint scheme saluting the tremendous career of Darrell Waltrip. Waltrip had a 29-year career in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series making 809 starts, with 35 of those career starts being in the No. 95. Following his driving career, Waltrip seamlessly transitioned to the broadcast booth when he joined FOX Sports in 2001. This weekend will be Waltrip’s last broadcast as he heads off into retirement leaving behind countless contributions both on the track and in the broadcast booth. The No. 95 Procore Thanks DW Throwback Toyota Camry will be unveiled on Wednesday, June 19th during the FOX Sports “NASCAR Race Hub” broadcast.
· RACE INFO: The Toyota / Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway (2.52-mile road course) begins at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 23rd. The race will be broadcast live on FOX Sports 1, Sirius XM Channel 90 and PRN Radio.
DiBenedetto’s Career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Stats at Sonoma:
Date Event S F Laps Status
06/28/15 Toyota / Save Mart 350 30 29 109/110 Running
06/26/16 Toyota / Save Mart 350 33 31 110/110 Running
06/25/17 Toyota / Save Mart 350 27 23 110/110 Running
06/24/18 Toyota / Save Mart 350 30 17 110/110 Running
DiBenedetto’s Career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Stats at Sonoma:
Races Wins Top 5s Top 10s Poles
Cumulative 4 0 0 0 0
DiBenedetto’s 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Season Stats:
Starts Wins Top-5’s Top-10’s Poles Laps Led Avg. Start Avg. Finish
15 0 0 0 0 50 22.2 24.5
DiBenedetto’s Career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Stats:
Starts Wins Top-5’s Top-10’s Poles Laps Led Avg. Start Avg. Finish
155 0 0 4 0 73 30.3 28.5
From the Driver’s Seat:
Matt DiBenedetto: “Road course racing, and short tracks, are my favorite tracks we go to all year. Road courses are my favorite because they’re different than anything else we do, and Sonoma in particular is my favorite course on the circuit because I have family who live out in the area and it’s what I would call a short track of road courses. Sonoma has lower speeds and is a slower pace for a road course, so it kind of mixes up the best of both worlds to me. Sonoma is a more technical track than some other places, and that’s what makes it more fun to me to do the road racing, because it separates the drivers and makes their abilities stand out more. I ran well there last year finishing 17th which was a good run for us on that deal. I’ve learned a lot over the years when it comes to road courses just from experience. I took to road courses quickly, and just loved them early on especially when I found speed at them. Over the years I’ve learned how to be better and set up your race so that you can set up your passes and how to work on what I needed out of my car for those races. I also look back at past year’s races as well as leaning on A.J. (Allmendinger) for information about what to do in certain areas and what I need the car to feel like since you’re focusing on different parts of the track to set up passing for somebody. Having this year’s downforce on the cars will change them a bit for this weekend at Sonoma, but hopefully things are still similar to what we’ve seen in the past there. Tires do wear out and that can allow teams to try some varied strategies. Through the esses and Turn 10 will be areas that we’ll be learning about this weekend since those probably will see some faster speeds. Turn 10 is an important turn since it sets up how you enter the passing zone and Turn 11, so it’ll be tough if you have more trouble this year following closely to a car in front of you.”
From the Pit Box:
Mike Wheeler: “The neat thing about going road course racing midseason is giving us a change of pace. Sonoma is a nice racetrack because it’s always a good place to maximize your car and driver’s talent. One of the main things you need to do well at the road courses is to make sure that you can handle all of the corners appropriately while making sure that you are better than all the other guys in the passing zones. One of the biggest concerns with Sonoma is the curb strikes and how much impact load the suspension gets from those. There can be a durability concern with a lot of the suspension parts from that, but fortunately, we’ve had decent success with that in the last few years in the JGR cars. However, the new section could play into it being a new part of the course that we haven’t been on both for set-up and for durability. Ultimately, tires fall off a lot at Sonoma which makes for varying strategies and passing opportunities and really makes for some good racing. I would say that this year’s aero package is going to change some of the faster sections of the course; through the esses and through Turns 8 and 10, will be faster with the added downforce because it is a chunk more of downforce now. Turn 4, Turn 7 and Turn 11 will most likely be just as slow as they used to be because at 45 m.p.h. the amount of downforce we are adding is minimal compared to the mechanical aspects of the car making the corner. Ultimately, I think the fast sections could be faster than they have been in the past.”
No. 95 Procore 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: Brian Eastland Rear Changer: Dakota Ratcliff
Front Changer: Adam Hartman Tire Carrier: Chris Hall
Hauler Driver: Damon Lopez
About Procore Technologies:
Procore is a leading provider of cloud-based applications for construction. Procore connects people, applications, and devices through a unified platform to help construction professionals manage risk and build quality projects—safely, on time, and within budget. Procore has a diversified business model with products for Project Management, Construction Financials, Quality & Safety, and Field Productivity. Headquartered in Carpinteria, California, with offices around the globe, Procore is used to manage billions of dollars in annual construction volume. For more information about Procore, visit procore.com.
