By: Mitchell Breuer

It was a complete day at Kentucky Speedway for Matt DiBenedetto.

The driver of the No. 21 Ford scored points in both stages of the Quaker State 400 and pushed Cole Custer to the win while grabbing a third-place finish. The day was ultimately something Wood Brothers Racing has wanted to see all season, as this is only DiBenedetto’s second top-five of the year.

Despite this lack of success in the stat sheet, it is not quite indicative of the team’s performance.The No. 21 has been consistent towards the front, constantly scoring stage points, which has contributed to the team’s solid position in the standings.

“We’re a new group working together this year,” DiBenedetto said post-race. “We’ve been building.  We’ve had a lot of speed most everywhere we’ve went.  We have to work on our execution, communication, things like that.”

While the finishes may not all be there, days like the one he had in Kentucky where he can go out and finally finish the day with strong result as well are the reason DiBenedetto’s confidence is higher than it has ever been. The podium finish is also a reminder of what the team is capable of, and why despite his standing, the California-native was actually not satisfied with some of the season.

“We were disappointed with most of the first part of our season because we were really working on it, making some mistakes, working on a lot of things,” DiBenedetto said. “Now we’re getting in our groove.  We’re disappointed if we’re not in the top 10.”

This is also why he isn’t too concerned about the playoff picture despite being close to the cutoff line after a win by Custer, who was outside the top-16 in points. DiBenedetto instead believes his team is on the path to contend and have more complete days.

“I think we’ll just keep continuing to climb up in the points,” DiBenedetto said. “I really think we can be contenders all the way down through it now we’re getting in a groove.  We’re building that team where it needs to be.”

However, looking ahead at the long season remaining, DiBenedetto knows he will actually need to have those days like he did in Kentucky to truly solidify himself as someone who can contend for a championship.

“Looking forward to the rest of the season, consistency is going to be key,” DiBenedetto said.  “That’s what we’re having lately, is consistent runs from start to finish.  We’ve gotten stage points in all the last six stages or something like that of these last handful of races.  That shows the strength of our team moving forward for the rest of the year.”

Leaving Kentucky, DiBenedetto sits 68 points above the cutoff, and 44 ahead of current cutoff driver, Jimmie Johnson; which may prove to be important if another winner outside the picture emerges again.