Matt DiBenedetto – No. 95 Procore Toyota Camry – Texas 2 Preview

DiBenedetto’s Career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Stats at Texas:

Date                Event                                      S          F         Laps                Status
04/11/15          Duck Commander 500           42        34        330/334            Running
11/08/15          AAA Texas 500                       38        35        328/334            Running
04/09/16          Duck Commander 500           29        34        327/334            Running
04/09/17          O’Reilly Auto Parts 500          26        31        327/334            Running
11/05/17          AAA Texas 500                       28        25        332/334            Running
04/08/18          O’Reilly Auto Parts 500          30        16        329/334            Running
11/04/18          AAA Texas 500                       31        38        300/327            Crash
03/31/19          O’Reilly Auto Parts 500          26        26        331/334            Running

DiBenedetto’s Career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Stats at Texas:
Races     Wins     Top 5s    Top 10s       Poles
Cumulative         8            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
33               0                 3                 7                0                   152                       20.9                 18.5

DiBenedetto’s Career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Stats:
Starts         Wins        Top-5’s     Top-10’s         Poles        Laps Led            Avg. Start       Avg. Finish
173              0                 3               11                  0                 175                       29.2                  26.9

From the Driver’s Seat:

Matt DiBenedetto: “The two ends of the track at Texas are different from one another, so that’s the main thing that sets Texas apart from other 1.5-mile tracks on the circuit.  In Turns 1 and 2, you have to slow down more, where in Turns 3 and 4, you just hold the throttle wide open since it’s super high banked on that end.  When they redid the track, they took banking out of (Turns) 1 and 2 so that makes drivers have to lift off the throttle more on that end of the track and in (Turns) 3 and 4 it’s almost like a superspeedway type of corner because we’re wide open.  As for the things we need out of our Camry to run well at Texas, our car needs to have good speed when you’re running wide open, but it also has to handle well on the Turn 1 and 2 side of the track.  Finding that good balance with speed and handling are important for Texas.  We’re a bit limited on lane options, but during the race you’ll hopefully be able to try the areas where they’ve sprayed to help with grip to be able to use it in both ends of the track to hopefully race side-by-side.  Kansas we were able to run in whatever lane the guy in front of you wasn’t, but at Texas is a bit more line-sensitive which makes it a little more track position dependent.  There can be a little more tire strategy at Texas this weekend than we had at Kansas since Texas we typically don’t seem to use up tires as much so you will probably see more tire strategies in play.”

From the Pit Box:

Mike Wheeler: “Texas is one of those places that has two different and distinct corners, which makes it a bit unique, even though it’s similar to Kentucky.  It used to be similar to Charlotte, but that went away when they repaved it.  The repave and the hard tire combination makes for it being a separate track from the rest of the 1.5-mile tracks on the circuit.  There is very little tire falloff over the course of a run.  The banking in Turns 3 and 4 is so heavy at 24 degrees that you end up being wide open there most of the time where Turns 1 and 2 are flat enough that it becomes a fairly typical corner for the 550 spec.  You truly have to worry about the handling in one of the corners and not both of the corners at Texas which is neat in the fact that you just need to get in and off Turns 1 and 2 to race well.  If you do not have a good corner there, you pay big speed penalties in a hurry because you are wide open in (Turns) 3 and 4 and any kind of speed deficient you are in (Turns) 1 and 2 will hurt you the entire time.  There will be grip spray in the upper lanes this weekend and that might allow for some passing abilities, especially when it comes to lapped traffic or slower cars, as well as it will be helpful for restarts.  Texas will be a track position and execution race.  It’s supposed to be pretty cool this weekend temperature-wise which amplifies the no tire falloff scenarios, so I see it playing out very similar to how it did in the spring.”

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: Bailey Walker                         Rear Changer: Deven Youker
Front Changer: Blake Houston         Tire Carrier: Chris Hall
Hauler Driver: Damon Lopez            Pit Support: Brian Eastland

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.