By: Mitchell Breuer

The first year at Wood Brothers Racing has gotten off to a solid start for Matt DiBenedetto.

Through eight races, the driver of the No. 21 has collected one top-five and two top-10’s, which may not seem like flashy stats, but is currently enough to put him in 11th in the standings with a 35-point cushion over the playoff cutoff. He is also ahead of the likes of Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Jimmie Johnson, and William Byron.This is in large part due to DiBenedetto’s consistency, as so far this season he is averaging a 12.8 finish and has yet to have a result worse than 19th.

“We pay very close attention to that, I do at least myself, even though it’s early in the season because it’s just so crucial,” DiBenedetto said. “Points are crucial. Stage points are insanely crucial. Thank goodness we grabbed some stage points yesterday in the first stage, finishing third. I watch very closely.”

Despite the current sense of security, DiBenedetto believes improvement is going to be needed throughout the season in order for a playoff run to happen.

“We do have a little cushion right now, but we as a team have to get a lot better, in my opinion,” DiBenedetto said.“We’ve got, for sure, the car speed and the people to do it, so it’s nice that we’re still sitting there in points when, honestly, we’re a little bit disappointed with some of our end results of these races because we know that we can do a lot better and we will do better moving forward, so I feel good about that part of it.”

Car speed has been one thing that DiBenedetto has been really impressed with this season. Comparing to last season, where he struggled at intermediate tracks with Leavine Family Racing, this year has been different. The California-native says his team has been fast in most of the races that and an ability to be up front, which has helped with the learning curve that comes with joining a new organzation.

“I’d say we’re not in our rhythm yet, but we will be. I have no doubt about that, but we’re still learning each other and making little mistakes figuring out each other’s communication,” DiBenedetto said.“Greg Erwin and I are figuring out working together and we still have a lot of room for improvement, which is a good thing because I know we can run up front and can contend for wins quite often. We have a lot of room for improvement on the execution side as far as putting our race together perfect from start to finish.”

Sunday, DiBenedetto returns to one of his best tracks, Bristol Motor Speedway, a place where he captured his first top-ten in 2016, and nearly his first win last fall, coming just short to Denny Hamlin.