XFINITY: Matt DiBenedetto’s XFINITY ride fast, but last again at Loudon

SOURCE: Rubbin's Racin' Forums

Matt DiBenedetto picked up the 8th last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s AutoLotto 200 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway when his unsponsored #10 TriStar Motorsports Toyota fell out with a vibration after 3 of 200 laps.

The finish, which came in DiBenedetto’s 58th series start, was his seventh of the season and second in a row.

DiBenedetto may still have been on “start-and-park” duty in the XFINITY Series, but his #10 showed some speed at Loudon.  He ran the fewest laps of anyone in Friday’s final practice - three - but managed to put up the 20th-fastest lap of 40 drivers.  He improved to 19th in qualifying Round 1 with a speed of 127.066mph.  DiBenedetto and teammate Jeff Green sat out Round 2, and would start Saturday’s race 23rd and 24th, respectively.  Missing the race was Josh Williams, 2nd in the ARCA standings, his #92 bumped from the field by team owner Mario Gosselin’s #90 by one-hundredth of a second.

Starting 40th on race day was Chris Cockrum, making his fifth start of the season and first since Michigan in the #25 Advanced Communications Group Chevrolet.  Joining him at the rear of the field were Ray Black, Jr., J.J. Yeley, and Morgan Shepherd, penalized for unapproved adjustments, and Jeff Green, whose team needed an engine change.  Green made it 109 laps before brake issues stopped him, leaving the #14 in 34th.

Three laps into the race, DiBenedetto took last, beating Shepherd’s #89 Racing With Jesus / Malamphy Electric Chevrolet by 22 circuits.  38th-place Carl Long in his #40 CrashClaimsR.us Toyota finished behind Corey LaJoie, whose #24 Youtheory Toyota for JGL Racing crashed in Turn 2 on Lap 65.  36th-place David Starr in RSS Racing’s #93, sponsored last week by Massimo Motors and Stripling Technology, rounded out the Bottom Five.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*The last-place finish was TriStar’s fourth in the previous five XFINITY Series races at New Hampshire.  The lone exception during that span was DiBenedetto’s run on July 12, 2014, when his #46 Chevrolet fielded by The Motorsports Group pulled out with brake issues after 1 lap, edging TriStar’s Blake Koch by three circuits.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #10-Matt DiBenedetto / 3 laps / vibration
39) #89-Morgan Shepherd / 25 laps / handling
38) #40-Carl Long / 38 laps / brakes
37) #24-Corey LaJoie / 64 laps / crash
36) #93-David Starr / 82 laps / overheating

2016 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Matt DiBenedetto (7)
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 (11)
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 (11)
2nd) Chevrolet (5)
3rd) Ford (1)