Matt DiBenedetto appreciation thread

https://apnews.com/826d515a01ab4b0986f75a4951254c21


DiBenedetto falls short of win but earns immense respect
By JENNA FRYERyesterday




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FILE - This is a Nov. 11, 2018, file photo showing NASCAR driver Matt DiBenedetto in Avondale, Ariz. DiBenedetto says he was told by Leavine Family Racing that he will not be back for a second season with the team in 2020. DiBenedetto is a career-best 23rd in the points standings. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri, File)


BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) — When his sponsorship dried up early last season, Matt DiBenedetto took the unique step of making a social media video asking for funding ideas.

Denny Hamlin was among those who saw the clip and then donated $5,000 to his fellow competitor. The gesture brought more attention to DiBenedetto’s plight and ultimately a partial sponsorship that helped him get through the 2018 season.

So there was a twinge of sadness for Hamlin after he chased down DiBenedetto in the closing laps of Saturday night’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway and denied the underdog an upset victory. DiBenedetto had learned four days before the race that Leavine Family Racing wasn’t bringing him back for a second season, and a Bristol victory would have been a tremendous résumé boost during free agency.

Hamlin, who immediately apologized to DiBenedetto and crew chief Mike Wheeler for beating them when he climbed out of his car, said later that he and DiBenedetto aren’t particularly close but his donation last year harkened back to Hamlin’s early racing days.

“I just thought to pay it forward. Someone gave me that opportunity, kept my career going,” Hamlin said. “I think a lot of people have a lot of respect for him. He’s humble. This is not a story of he’s just going to go away. This is only the beginning for him. He’s writing his résumé on TV every weekend.”

DiBenedetto was enjoying the best season of his career in his Toyota driving for a tiny team that has aligned itself with Joe Gibbs Racing. Wheeler, who won a Daytona 500 with Hamlin, is under contract to Gibbs. The team gets a ton of assistance from the Gibbs group, and Gibbs has too many drivers under contract and not enough Cup seats to keep everyone happy.

Someone had to go to make room for Christopher Bell’s promotion from the Xfinity Series next season, and DiBenedetto got the boot even though this is his best year statistically in every measurable category in his five full Cup seasons. His fight to keep a job at NASCAR’s top level has left a mark on Hamlin, who recalled the moment his career nearly ended in 2002 when his parents ran out of money to continue funding his late model racing.

“My parents said, ‘No, this is it. We’re about to lose everything, so this is it,’” Hamlin said. “I’m just going to work at my dad’s trailer shop. That’s my future. That’s what I’m going to do for the rest of my life. I was content with it. I really was.”


Nice article from a jayski link
 
Ventisca said:
Again, for Reddit, it is not their business to choose a driver; and for their users, it is not their business, it is their entertainment -- which means zip-point-sh1t to running a Team and choosing a driver. :)
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If Reddit wants to sponsor a driver or fans want to sponsor a driver through crowdfunding, they have that right.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
If Reddit wants to sponsor a driver or fans want to sponsor a driver through crowdfunding, they have that right.
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I agree. But until they do, they are not parties to the business -- that was my point.
 
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4 years ago the Cup spotters were surveyed about a few questions, one of which being who they believe is the most underrated driver. The highest vote-getter was Josh Wise. I have a strong suspicion that if the current spotters were surveyed 2 weeks ago, DiBurrito would have garnered the top spot. Now I think he's a shoe-in.

Ironically, Ryan Newman got the second-most amount of votes in regards to the "which driver scares you the most when he's around your driver?" question.
 
Truex_rox said:
Pretty sure that Matt D has enough common sense to realize that if the situation was more in Bob Leavine's hands, things wouldn't be going down this way.

Now I'll admit, like aunty, I think this is probably the first post in this thread by you that makes sense. I don't know what your beef is with athletes showing emotion, especially after coming so close to seeing years of hard work pay off, but your post here shows that you're not completely blind to what all is going on and what all is at stake here.
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Yeah for sure on both counts

 
jaqua19 said:
This makes sense, but I can't see JGR being that shallow.

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well, they were race fixing at Indy and it blew up in their face, so preacher takes it out on Truex's team and pulls some of his damn good pit crew while he is leading the series. Shallow? I can see it, never had that happen before that I know of that degree of manipulation. And the preacher was calling it team mates. Sounds and looked like the fix was in for Barney months before it happened.
 
LewTheShoe said:
It's not obvious to me. It's not obvious that a one-year free ride is worth it for Bob Leavine to give up control of LFR.

a) The Erik Jones contract extension in the #20 is a one-year deal, according to Jordan Bianchi.

b) The Christopher Bell contract extension is most probably a one-year deal, since Gibbs exercised the option year and rarely are there multiple options (although it's possible).

a + b = c) Gibbs won't need a 5th seat after 2020. Gibbs will use LFR for one year like Gibbs used the #77 for one year... to solve his immediate short-term problem. Gibbs left Visser holding the bag on #77 personnel and other infrastructure.

I hope Leavine enjoys his full factory support in 2020 with a rookie driver on a one-year deal, because 2021 will be like starting over again.
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Unless LFR can parlay it into sponsorship that continues the relationship with Toyota and he can attract a Level 1 driver. Toyota desperately needs another quality team to go along with Gibbs.
 
Spotter22 said:
Unless LFR can parlay it into sponsorship that continues the relationship with Toyota and he can attract a Level 1 driver. Toyota desperately needs another quality team to go along with Gibbs.
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They HAD a quality team, a DAMN good one, but they either (take your pick) blew it up, or allowed it to be blown up. Good luck trying to duplicate what they already had.
 
Spotter22 said:
Unless LFR can parlay it into sponsorship that continues the relationship with Toyota and he can attract a Level 1 driver. Toyota desperately needs another quality team to go along with Gibbs.
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Yep they need another Toyota team for guys like Harrison Burton, Todd Gilliland, or somebody like Chandler Smith. Any one of them that gets their **** together to get to Cup down the line in 3-5 years.
 
So many people so concerned about how Visser and Leavine ran / run their businesses and who their puppet-masters are.

If I'm ownin' race cars I'm pretty happy to have more talent than I have seats.
 
Formerjackman said:
They HAD a quality team, a DAMN good one, but they either (take your pick) blew it up, or allowed it to be blown up. Good luck trying to duplicate what they already had.
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I said if they find a sponsor, meaning they have the resources to continue the relationship. Barney didnt have that sponsorship and with his health issues and his family business he didnt want to continue funding it himself.
 
They had ENOUGH sponsorship that Toyota could have helped them fill the gap. Whatever they would have ended up spending, it probably wouldn't be any more than what it will take to turn Leavine into a comparable replacement. Look, I could care less what Toyota does, and I really hope it blows up in their face, but as somebody that is interested in the business of racing, the whole thing is just a head scratcher. On one hand, we are told these Toyota guys are brilliant and a step ahead of everybody else, and then they let a championship team die, so they can turn around and try to duplicate what they already had.
 
Formerjackman said:
They had ENOUGH sponsorship that Toyota could have helped them fill the gap. Whatever they would have ended up spending, it probably wouldn't be any more than what it will take to turn Leavine into a comparable replacement. Look, I could care less what Toyota does, and I really hope it blows up in their face, but as somebody that is interested in the business of racing, the whole thing is just a head scratcher. On one hand, we are told these Toyota guys are brilliant and a step ahead of everybody else, and then they let a championship team die, so they can turn around and try to duplicate what they already had.
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How do you know how much they had from sponsorship and how much Barney had to put out?
 
Well, the 19 team kept two of the three 78 car sponsors from 2018, and only added Sirius XM for a few races (which is probably a Toyota BtoB deal) and seems to be doing just fine, so it isn't that hard to imagine that Toyota couldn't have helped fill in the gaps to keep Furniture Row on the track. Worse case scenario, work it out so Leavine acquires FRR, adds in the sponsors they claim to already had, and give them a super base to build around (Truex and Pearn). Either scenario would have made a hell of a lot more sense than what we are seeing now.
 
Formerjackman said:
Well, the 19 team kept two of the three 78 car sponsors from 2018, and only added Sirius XM for a few races (which is probably a Toyota BtoB deal) and seems to be doing just fine, so it isn't that hard to imagine that Toyota couldn't have helped fill in the gaps to keep Furniture Row on the track. Worse case scenario, work it out so Leavine acquires FRR, adds in the sponsors they claim to already had, and give them a super base to build around (Truex and Pearn). Either scenario would have made a hell of a lot more sense than what we are seeing now.
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Visser was still 14 races short for 2019. Thats almost half a season. Thats alot of money and his family didnt like him funding the team out of his pocket any longer.
 
About Matt D. in today's nascar business he either brings sponsor dollars so he can keep his ride OR someone else replaces him. If he had a ride at HMS he would be better off for the simple fact that "Rick" brings in the sponsors.
I predict Custer will NOT start his cup career at SHR simple because they don't produce sponsors on the same scale as HMS. The same can be said for Chip. His priority is IRL.
Penske never uses his own money, that is a fact so the Sponsor has full say who is in the car.
The only team I can see who could put up a decent ride for Matt would be RCR.
Richard could drop down to 2 cars, move his grandson into the office and hire which ever drivers the sponsors will back. He does have a couple good ones right now but if Matt can
get a sponsor to OK him, he would be a good 1 year addition with 2 yr option.
I say this because ALL the teams are starting over with new cars very soon and we don't know whose style they will fit the best.
 
Formerjackman said:
Well, the 19 team kept two of the three 78 car sponsors from 2018, and only added Sirius XM for a few races (which is probably a Toyota BtoB deal) and seems to be doing just fine, so it isn't that hard to imagine that Toyota couldn't have helped fill in the gaps to keep Furniture Row on the track. Worse case scenario, work it out so Leavine acquires FRR, adds in the sponsors they claim to already had, and give them a super base to build around (Truex and Pearn). Either scenario would have made a hell of a lot more sense than what we are seeing now.
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As far as I'm concerned the 19 car is the 78 with a different number.

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Team Penske said:
About Matt D. in today's nascar business he either brings sponsor dollars so he can keep his ride OR someone else replaces him. If he had a ride at HMS he would be better off for the simple fact that "Rick" brings in the sponsors.
I predict Custer will NOT start his cup career at SHR simple because they don't produce sponsors on the same scale as HMS. The same can be said for Chip. His priority is IRL.
Penske never uses his own money, that is a fact so the Sponsor has full say who is in the car.
The only team I can see who could put up a decent ride for Matt would be RCR.
Richard could drop down to 2 cars, move his grandson into the office and hire which ever drivers the sponsors will back. He does have a couple good ones right now but if Matt can
get a sponsor to OK him, he would be a good 1 year addition with 2 yr option.
I say this because ALL the teams are starting over with new cars very soon and we don't know whose style they will fit the best.
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Cole Custer will start his career in CUP at SHR, Gene Haas money says so.
 
Formerjackman said:
They had ENOUGH sponsorship that Toyota could have helped them fill the gap. Whatever they would have ended up spending, it probably wouldn't be any more than what it will take to turn Leavine into a comparable replacement. Look, I could care less what Toyota does, and I really hope it blows up in their face, but as somebody that is interested in the business of racing, the whole thing is just a head scratcher. On one hand, we are told these Toyota guys are brilliant and a step ahead of everybody else, and then they let a championship team die, so they can turn around and try to duplicate what they already had.
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“They let a championship team die”

Clearly, they had no control over Mr. Visser or his team. If they had, those cars would still be sround.
 
Spotter22 said:
Visser was still 14 races short for 2019. Thats almost half a season. Thats alot of money and his family didnt like him funding the team out of his pocket any longer.
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I understand what you are saying, but then how is JGR doing it with only adding Sirius XM, which I'm pretty sure is not on for 14 races for 2019? If JGR can field that car, FRR should have been able too. I'm pretty sure Joe isn't dipping into his own pockets to run it. This is why so many people are so hinky over the whole FRR deal. Barney doesn't have enough sponsorship money, but suddenly Joe does with basically the same sponsors. Seems a little odd. The millions of dollars question is how much JGR was charging FRR, and how much if any TRD was helping FRR compared to JGR.
 
Formerjackman said:
I understand what you are saying, but then how is JGR doing it with only adding Sirius XM, which I'm pretty sure is not on for 14 races for 2019? If JGR can field that car, FRR should have been able too. I'm pretty sure Joe isn't dipping into his own pockets to run it. This is why so many people are so hinky over the whole FRR deal. Barney doesn't have enough sponsorship money, but suddenly Joe does with basically the same sponsors. Seems a little odd. The millions of dollars question is how much JGR was charging FRR, and how much if any TRD was helping FRR compared to JGR.
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did a similar thing with Kenseth, said it was a lack of sponsorship. but he ran those same lack of sponsors on Jones's car. Preacher must be broke spending all this money
 
Spotter22 said:
Visser was still 14 races short for 2019. Thats almost half a season. Thats alot of money and his family didnt like him funding the team out of his pocket any longer.
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some people can't see all the players in the game is all I am saying.
 
Formerjackman said:
I understand what you are saying, but then how is JGR doing it with only adding Sirius XM, which I'm pretty sure is not on for 14 races for 2019? If JGR can field that car, FRR should have been able too. I'm pretty sure Joe isn't dipping into his own pockets to run it. This is why so many people are so hinky over the whole FRR deal. Barney doesn't have enough sponsorship money, but suddenly Joe does with basically the same sponsors. Seems a little odd. The millions of dollars question is how much JGR was charging FRR, and how much if any TRD was helping FRR compared to JGR.
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It's not odd; the facts are well known. The ~$3 million that Visser had been paying Gibbs got jacked up to ~$12 million for 2019. Once Visser exits the scene, Gibbs carries on with the same level of expenditures as before.
 
LewTheShoe said:
It's not odd; the facts are well known. The ~$3 million that Visser had been paying Gibbs got jacked up to ~$12 million for 2019. Once Visser exits the scene, Gibbs carries on with the same level of expenditures as before.
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I wasn't going to go there simply because that "fact" has been roundly denied, but it WOULD explain what happened. Which begs the question, does Leavine get a better deal than Visser did, because if not, I don't see how they could afford to stay in business either , and if he IS getting a better deal, WHY?
 
https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com...agues-and-Governing-Bodies/Furniture-Row.aspx

In September, with it set to lose Bass Pro Shops and Truex for 2019, FRR announced it would shut down after this year’s season. Its official news release cited the lack of sponsorship and the impact of the increased fee for the alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing.


Visser later tried to downplay that relationship, telling ESPN that the fee increase wasn’t “ridiculous,” and that the sides had been close to extending the deal before 5-hour pulled out.

But clearly he is trying to calm the waters between himself TRD and JGR.
Losing 5hr Energy sponsorship and the Alliance fee was too much to survive.
 
Clutch said:
https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com...agues-and-Governing-Bodies/Furniture-Row.aspx

In September, with it set to lose Bass Pro Shops and Truex for 2019, FRR announced it would shut down after this year’s season. Its official news release cited the lack of sponsorship and the impact of the increased fee for the alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing.


Visser later tried to downplay that relationship, telling ESPN that the fee increase wasn’t “ridiculous,” and that the sides had been close to extending the deal before 5-hour pulled out.

But clearly he is trying to calm the waters between himself TRD and JGR.
Losing 5hr Energy sponsorship and the Alliance fee was too much to survive.
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Good find.

"The sharp increase raised eyebrows in the garage, particularly with it coming at a time when FRR was struggling to make ends meet. But history in NASCAR has shown that when the smaller team buying parts from a bigger team starts to beat that bigger team, the bigger team will naturally feel that its services have gone up in value. For example, Hendrick Motorsports supplied chassis and engines to Stewart-Haas Racing starting in 2009, but Stewart-Haas eventually started winning championships in Hendrick’s equipment, and the relationship eroded and eventually ended in 2016."

In other words, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
 
Just to clarify the article, The Hendrick-SHR alliance lasted several years beyond the first SHR championship, and even past the second one. Also, I have never seen it suggested that the end of the HMS-SHR alliance had anything to do with the fees HMS charged. If somebody has evidence to the contrary, I would be interested in seeing it. Mr. Alibaba had a fair bit to say about the HMS-SHR alliance, and and despite the fact he described it as eventually being a dumpster fire, he never mentioned money.
 
aunty dive said:
Good find.

"The sharp increase raised eyebrows in the garage, particularly with it coming at a time when FRR was struggling to make ends meet. But history in NASCAR has shown that when the smaller team buying parts from a bigger team starts to beat that bigger team, the bigger team will naturally feel that its services have gone up in value. For example, Hendrick Motorsports supplied chassis and engines to Stewart-Haas Racing starting in 2009, but Stewart-Haas eventually started winning championships in Hendrick’s equipment, and the relationship eroded and eventually ended in 2016."

In other words, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
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not even a comparison SHR wasn't priced out of the market. SHR announced they were going with Ford early in Feb of 2016 for 2017. They ran that lame duck 2016 year with Hendrick, I heard they were shut out of some of the engineering meetings but nothing was said about the costs raising exponentially or that they were in bad shape from beating them. Roush was a dumpster fire, the last championship won was 2004, not winning a championship and having to fold.

Stewart, who is currently sidelined indefinitely with a back injury, is retiring at the end of 2016 and will be replaced by Bowyer in SHR’s No. 14 in 2017.
"The more we talked to the group at Ford, the more we realized that our passion and desire to win races and championships, and their approach is very much in line with how we approach it at Stewart-Haas Racing," Stewart said, noting that SHR’s talks with Ford officials began casually a little more than six months ago. "There wasn’t anything in this deal that was a disappointment from the Chevy side. We weren’t disappointed with what we were doing with Chevy, but we felt like when we got in conversations with the Ford group that it just really seemed like a partnership that made a lot of sense the further that we went into it. The longer the conversations went, the more excited that both sides were about making this a reality."

https://www.foxsports.com/nascar/st...y-stewart-kurt-busch-sprint-cup-series-022416
 
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