XFINITY: Matt DiBenedetto extends 2016 LASTCAR XFINITY lead

SOURCE: Rubbin's Racin' Forums

Matt DiBenedetto picked up the 8th last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Friday’s Alsco 300 at the Kentucky Speedway when his unsponsored #10 TriStar Motorsports Toyota fell out with rear gear trouble after he completed 3 of 201 laps.

The finish, which came in DiBenedetto’s 57th series start, was his sixth of the season and first since Michigan, three races ago.  With 17 races to go, he now holds a two-finish lead over Jeff Green in the 2016 LASTCAR XFINITY Series Championship.

DiBenedetto once again ran double-duty at Kentucky for the first appearance of TriStar’s #10 since Tyler Young’s 39th-place showing three weeks ago at Iowa.  DiBenedetto was one of six drivers who didn’t participate in the opening practice on Thursday, but jumped in the second session with a strong 21st-fastest lap of 37 drivers.  In qualifying, he came just 0.081sec away from making Round 2 of qualifying, settling for 25th with a lap of 180.264mph.

Starting 40th on Friday was John Jackson, whose Carl Long-owned #40 was also making its first XFINITY start since Iowa.  DiBenedetto pulled off the track after three laps, along with Dexter Bean in the #92 BuckedUp Apparel Chevrolet for King Autosport.  Bean returned to the track to complete a total of 47 laps, moving him to 36th while DiBenedetto held 40th.  Between DiBendetto and Bean in the Bottom Five were 39th-place Jackson and teammate Harrison Rhodes in the #13 Shaffer’s Racing Oil Chevrolet, 38th at the finish.  37th went to veteran Morgan Shepherd in his #89 Racing With Jesus / Barney’s Inc. Chevrolet.

DiBenedetto had a rough weekend in Kentucky.  The next day, his #83 Anest Iwata Toyota had a hard crash in Turn 3 after 79 laps, leaving him 38th.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is DiBenedetto’s first XFINITY Series last-place run at Kentucky since his inaugural last-place run on June 27, 2014 when his #46 The Motorsports Group Chevrolet broke a rear gear after 2 laps of the John R. Elliott HERO Campaign 300.
*This is the fourth-straight XFINITY Series last-place finish for TriStar Motorsports.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #10-Matt DiBenedetto / 3 laps / rear gear
39) #40-John Jackson / 9 laps / vibration
38) #13-Harrison Rhodes / 17 laps / oil pump
37) #89-Morgan Shepherd / 43 laps / suspension
36) #92-Dexter Bean / 47 laps / fuel pump

2016 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Matt DiBenedetto (6)
2nd) Jeff Green (4)
3rd) Josh Wise (2)
4th) Justin Marks, B.J. McLeod, Ryan Preece, Josh Reaume (1)

2016 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) TriStar Motorsports (10)
2nd) RSS Racing (3)
3rd) B.J. McLeod Motorsports, Inc., Chip Ganassi Racing, JD Motorsports (1)

2016 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (10)
2nd) Chevrolet (5)
3rd) Ford (1)