No. 95 Toyota Express Maintenance Toyota Camry Notes:
DIBENEDETTO BY THE NUMBERS: In nine Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career starts at Kansas, Matt DiBenedetto has an average start of 29.0, an average finish of 27.1 and he’s completed 2,360 of 2,409 (98.0 percent) career laps at the 1.5-mile track.
DiBenedetto’s Career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Stats at Kansas:
Date Event: S F Laps Status
05/09/15 Sponge Bob Square Pants 400 35 25 266/267 Running
10/18/15 Hollywood Casino 400 34 30 265/269 Running
05/07/16 GoBowling.com 400 24 30 264/267 Running
10/16/16 Hollywood Casino 400 27 24 267/267 Running
05/13/17 Go Bowling 400 23 32 243/267 Running
10/22/17 Hollywood Casino 400 30 22 267/267 Running
05/12/18 KC Masterpiece 400 37 22 263/267 Running
10/21/18 Hollywood Casino 400 31 23 264/267 Running
05/11/19 Digital Ally 400 20 36 261/271 Engine
Races Wins Top 5s Top 10s Poles
Cumulative 9 0 0 0 0
DiBenedetto’s 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Season Stats:
Starts Wins Top-5’s Top-10’s Poles Laps Led Avg. Start Avg. Finish
31 0 3 7 0 152 21.0 18.7
DiBenedetto’s Career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Stats:
Starts Wins Top-5’s Top-10’s Poles Laps Led Avg. Start Avg. Finish
171 0 3 11 0 175 29.3 27.1
From the Driver’s Seat:
Matt DiBenedetto: “To me, Kansas is one of the better 1.5-mile tracks we visit because it’s a place that gives us various lane options, which allows you to run almost everywhere around the track and that has been something that’s become really important with this year’s package. With this high downforce package, dirty air is such a challenge. At a place like Kansas, at least you can get a bit of that draft on the straightaway, then get into the corner and be able to run the opposite lane of the car in front of you so that you can find some of that clean air in the corner. Having those opportunities to get out of the dirty air makes it a little less frustrating throughout the race. Restarts at Kansas are pretty wild there and really important due to track position, but I feel like I say how important restarts are every week. Restarts at Kansas can be wild simply because you can run all over the track and those are times when you’re really going to see guys battling to advance their positioning. The lane options really is one of the main things that I focus on when we look ahead to Kansas… and of course all the great food that’s in the area as well.”
From the Pit Box:
Mike Wheeler: “Going back to Kansas this coming weekend, our first race there with this package was earlier in the season and we’ve learned a lot since then. On top of the learning throughout the season, there are a few changes for this coming weekend, including a new Goodyear tire. The first Kansas race earlier this year was fairly cooler temps for an evening race, and this weekend looks to be a cooler temperature race as well, but it will be an afternoon race, so that’s a different animal in itself. The track did widen out decently in the spring to have a couple of different passing lanes, so hopefully that is true again this coming weekend. Tire wear is just enough of a factor at Kansas compared to other intermediate tracks that we go to, that you have to be aware of it. In the spring race at Kansas, some guys were trying to do no tires, or tried staying out to keep track position, and while a few may have made it work, most of them paid a penalty for those attempts. Tracks like Michigan and Texas, you can afford to be on old tires, Kansas is one of those tracks that there is a decent amount of risk to staying out on old tires. With the new tire this weekend that of course could change, but based on the spring race, you didn’t want to put yourself into a bad spot on old tires. Kansas is a fairly smooth track and it actually isn’t a hard track to keep a good platform around. A lot of the better cars that qualify up front, may race up front, but if they have an execution issue they will probably suffer more in traffic. Kansas is still a track where you can catch lapped traffic, and if you’re unable to pass lapped traffic, you’ll suffer as well. This is an impound qualifying session this weekend so our plan will be to qualify in race trim. Our focus for our Camry this weekend is not to over trim it out because dirty air in traffic and tire falloff is substantial at Kansas and there’s a delicate balance of getting everything right there.”
No. 95 Toyota Express Maintenance Camry Team:
Driver: Matt DiBenedetto Crew Chief: Mike Wheeler
Car Chief: Greg Emmer Spotter: Doug Campbell
Engineer: J.R. Houston Engineer: Etienne Cliche
Mechanic: Bill Mares Mechanic: Matt Kimball
Shock Specialist: Sean Studer Mechanic: Zach Marquardt
Tire Specialist: Tony Ramirez Jackman: Charles Thacker
Fueler: Bailey Walker Rear Changer: Deven Youker
Front Changer: Jason Charles Tire Carrier: Chris Hall
Hauler Driver: Damon Lopez Pit Support: Brian Eastland
About Toyota:
Toyota (NYSE:TM), creator of the Prius hybrid and the Mirai fuel cell vehicle, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota and Lexus brands. Over the past 60 years, we’ve built more than 38 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ more than 47,000 people (more than 37,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold nearly 2.8 million cars and trucks (2.4 million in the U.S.) in 2018 – and about 87 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 16 years are still on the road today.
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