Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Menards/Dutch Boy team put themselves in position to win Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, but their involvement in a late-race, multi-car crash knocked them out of contention for a win and the Playoff berth that would have come with it.
DiBenedetto and the Menards/Dutch Boy team earned the ninth starting spot for Saturday’s regular season finale and took the green flag in seventh place. The team’s strategy called for playing defense early on, so they rode near the back of the pack for most of the first two Stages, hoping to avoid damage to their No. 21 Mustang.
Those plans worked as he finished 27th in both Stages but had an unblemished Mustang to put to work in the final segment of the race.
DiBenedetto and his fellow Ford drivers were able to leapfrog to the front after the Blue Oval contingent made their final pit stops under the green flag on Lap 123.
When the caution flag flew on Lap 141 and their competitors drove to pit road, the Fords cycled to the front, with DiBenedetto lining up in fourth place for the restart.
His outside line didn’t advance, and he dropped to seventh place but had recovered to sixth place when the next caution flag – and eventually the red flag – flew.
Back under green, DiBenedetto initially dropped to the back of the top 10 as the outside line didn’t keep pace, but he worked his way into the lead with four of the scheduled 160 laps left to run.
But his chances for victory ended there after contact with Chase Elliott took him out of contention and brought out a caution flag that extended the race into Overtime.
DiBenedetto recovered to finish 26th as the race ended under caution for another multi-car crash.
“Our strategy going into the race was to be smart and be there when it counted,” DiBenedetto said. “We worked on the car, got it right and had a shot at winning.”
DiBenedetto said he wasn’t surprised when Elliott moved to block him as the Menards/Dutch Boy Mustang surged forward.
“We had prepared for that exact scenario,” he said. “We had a good push and a huge run.
“We were all racing for the win, so there are no hard feelings. But [Elliott] double blocked us, and we had too big a run for him to do that.”
Despite being disappointed by the outcome, DiBenedetto’s focus remained on the positives.
“No regrets,” he said. “We did everything right.
“Our Menards/Dutch Boy team should be proud. We’ll take our good momentum and go get a win.”
DiBenedetto and the No. 21 team now head to Darlington Raceway for next Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500.
Menards
A family-owned and run company started in 1958, Menards is recognized as the retail home center leader of the Midwest with 236 stores in 15 states. Menards is truly a one-stop shop for all of your home improvement needs featuring a full-service lumberyard and everything you need to plan a renovation or build a home, garage, cabin, shed, deck, fence or post frame building. Menards is known for friendly Customer Service and as the place to “Save Big Money” with low prices every day, and sales too! For more information, please visit Menards.com to learn about our store locations, offerings and services.
Wood Brothers Racing
Wood Brothers Racing was formed in 1950 in Stuart, Va., by Hall of Famer Glen Wood. Wood Brothers Racing is the oldest active team and one of the winningest teams in NASCAR history. Since its founding, the team won 99 races (including at least one race in every decade for the last seven decades) and 120 poles in NASCAR’s top-tier series. Fielding only Ford products for its entire history, the Wood Brothers own the longest association of any motorsports team with a single manufacturer. Glen’s brother, Leonard, is known for inventing the modern pit stop. The team currently runs the Ford Mustang driven by Matt DiBenedetto in the famous No. 21 racer.
Chase will do anything to anyone to get a win. Blaney found that out at Daytona road course. I just wished he would have raced Matt cleanly. Seems Matt got penalized at Talladega for same deal. Oh well 21 needs to get into victory lane so Matt maybe can impress owner for a Cup ride in 22.
Not only did Elliott double block Matt…he then slid up to pin him against the outside wall to prevent Matt from passing through to potentially race again for the final playoff spot on the restart! Instead, all the media are focused on Wallace and his distant 2nd place finish after the late crashes wiped out all the lead cars.