After more than a decade of trying, and several close calls, Matt DiBenedetto is finally a winner in NASCAR’s top-three series.
Capturing the victory in Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at Talladega Superspeedway, the 31-year-old was able to steal the victory away from NASCAR Playoff contenders Ben Rhodes and Christian Eckes in the race’s closing laps.
While making a move to the inside of Ben Rhodes, the ThorSport Racing driver attempted to throw a late block on DiBenedetto, pushing him to the inside and making him nearly lose control of his Chevrolet Silverado.
After the start-finish line, DiBenedetto would get clipped once again, sending the Rackley WAR entry spinning after the race’s conclusion.
In fact, the seven-year veteran of the NASCAR Cup Series didn’t even cross the start-finish line in the lead, Bret Holmes did, but the triggering of the caution lights by NASCAR forced the sanctioning body to go back and look at time-stamped video of the finish.
After a five-minute wait for NASCAR to determine the race’s official winner, it was officially declared that both DiBenedetto and Rackely WAR would capture their first victory in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
Bret Holmes, despite being the first driver across the start-finish line, wasn’t even credited with the runner-up position, but rather third-place, after NASCAR determined that the runner-up spot belonged to Ben Rhodes.
Amidst the chaos, Ryan Preece and Christian Eckes – who led a race-high 25 laps – were both credited with finishes inside the top-five.
Hailie Deegan would pull off a career-best sixth-place result with Chase Purdy, Colby Howard, Parker Kligerman, and Tyler Ankrum completing the race’s top-10 finishers.
After choosing to stay out of the carnage in the race’s closing laps, Chandler Smith came home in 14th, maintaining a decent gap the playoff cutline heading into the elimination race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Zane Smith would come home in 17th, with Stewart Friesen completed the top-20 finishes in 20th. Ty Majeski – who has clinched a spot in the Championship Four with his win at Bristol – finished 23rd.
The scariest accident of the race happened on Lap #19, when Jordan Anderson appeared to suffer a motor issue, while running inside the top-10. Anderson’s truck had burst into flames, with fire intruding the cockpit.
As the No. 3 truck veered to the inside of the track, he climbed on the window attempting to get out of his truck, before it hit the inside wall, launching Anderson onto the SAFER barrier in a seated position.
Anderson was airlifted to a local hospital following the accident, with multiple burns. Later on the broadcast, it was mentioned that the South Carolina-native was awake and alert at the hospital.
Up next for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is the penultimate race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the last opportunity for a driver to advance to the Championship Four with a victory.
