Viking Motorsports took to social media to officially reveal that Matt DiBenedetto will be returning to the organization for a full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series campaign in 2025.
The 33-year-old DiBenedetto from Grass Valley, California, will be piloting Viking’s No. 99 entry that has been re-numbered from 38. In addition, the organization, which collaborated with RSS Racing for its first appearance in NASCAR in 2024, will be fielding Chevrolets after switching manufacturers from Ford this past December. Don Sackett, the CEO of SciAps Inc., will continue to serve as the owner of the organization that will now be technically aligned with Richard Childress Racing.
The announcement of Viking’s competition plans in 2025 comes as DiBenedetto competed in 28 Xfinity events with Viking in 2024. Beginning at Richmond Raceway in mid-March 2024 through the finale at Phoenix Raceway, the Californian recorded three top-10 results, an average-finishing result of 23.2 and finished in 26th place in the final driver’s standings. His best on-track results throughout this past season were a pair of seventh-place finishes at Iowa Speedway in June and at Michigan International Speedway in August, which also marked his career-best results in the series ever.
The 2025 season is scheduled to mark DiBenedetto’s ninth with at least one start in the Xfinity Series division, but his first as a full-time competitor. The most events that DiBenedetto has competed in an Xfinity season was 29 of 33 in 2014, where he was driving for The Motorsports Group.
Through 97 previous starts in the Xfinity circuit, DiBenedetto has recorded five top-10 results, 19 laps led and an average-finishing result of 30.4 as he strives to both achieve his first series’ victory and first Playoff berth. In addition to his Xfinity Series stats, DiBenedetto has made 248 career starts in the Cup Series, where he has recorded 31 top-10 results and made the 2020 Playoffs. He has also made 43 career starts in the Craftsman Truck Series, where he notched his first career victory at Talladega Superspeedway in 2022.
With his plans for this upcoming season set, Matt DiBenedetto’s 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series campaign with Viking Motorsports is scheduled to commence at Daytona International Speedway on February 15 with a starting broadcast time at 5 p.m. ET on the CW Network.