October 28, 2021
As the NASCAR Cup Series season comes down to the final two races, Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team are hoping to end their season with a couple of strong finishes.
The first chance comes this weekend at Martinsville Speedway, the Wood Brothers’ home track, in the 73rd running of the race now known as the Xfinity 500.
The Woods have competed at Martinsville 120 times, beginning with in 1953 when the team’s late founder Glenn Wood drove a Lincoln on the half-mile paper-clip-shaped oval just east of the Woods’ hometown of Stuart, Va.
Since then they’ve won two times at Martinsville, along with posting 28 top-five and 45 top-10 finishes. Two of those top-10s came in 2020, DiBenedetto’s first year with the No. 21 team.
Back in April, DiBenedetto came close to adding a third straight top-10 at Martinsville but wound up 12th.
He’s excited about returning to Martinsville for his 14th career start there and his fourth aboard the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Mustang.
“It’s one of my favorite tracks of the year,” he said. “Our Motorcraft/Quick Lane Mustangs are strong there.”
If DiBenedetto can score top-10 finishes in the next two races, including the season finale at Phoenix Raceway, he’ll tie his career-best season for top-10s, set last year with 11.
He’s vowing to do just that.
“We are going to make the most of it as the end of the season approaches,” he said.
There will be no practice or qualifying prior to the start of Sunday’s 500-lapper. DiBenedetto is set to start 21st, as the line-up was determined using performance metrics from last Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway.
The green flag is set to fly at 2 p.m. Eastern Time, with Stage breaks at Laps 130 and 260. NBC will carry the live TV broadcast.