By: Mitchell Breuer

After years of working his way up through the NASCAR Cup Series, Matt DiBenedetto is a playoff driver.

Following a 12th place effort Saturday at Daytona International Speedway, the driver of the No. 21 narrowly squeaked past Jimmie Johnson for the final spot in the field of 16. However, while this year he may competing for a championship in the final ten races, he still finds himself in a position where his ride for next season is not guaranteed. Or is it?

When asked by POPULAR SPEED about how his playoff berth affects his efforts in trying to solidify a job for the 2021 season, DiBenedetto seemed optimistic due to his initial agreement with Wood Brothers Racing.

“When I came over here to the Wood Brothers, to this team, and our alliance with Team Penske, it was real encouraging that they heavily expressed that my contract is a ‘multi-year opportunity’ with them and heavily expressed they wanted this to be a relationship that we build for a long time to come, to build this team and continue to improve and get it to where we are winning,” DiBenedetto said. “That was really encouraging because a lot of my situations have been one-year type deals and really make or break, and you always have to perform. I’m just proud of this team and I wanted this to happen for all of them.”

In fact, the 29-year-old says he and the team been solely focused on just making this year’s playoffs rather than thinking ahead to next season.

“We honestly haven’t even talked about next year, or moving forward because we, I included, are so focused on just getting through Daytona and making the playoffs. I never even brought it up, I just wanted to get through this moment,” DiBenedetto said.

From an ownership standpoint, it would make a lot of sense to bring him back. Aside from the playoffs, the California-native has scored two-top five’s and seven top-10’s, all improvements from the 2019 season with Paul Menard.

Shifting the focus back to present time, as the playoffs start this weekend at Darlington Raceway, DiBenedetto will go from doing everything to stay above the cutoff line, to having to work his way back up, as he begins the first round with the 16th seed with no bonuses earned during the regular season. Fortunately for him, there is only five-points that separates his team from the 12th position.