BRISTOL, Tenn. – The blue-and-white Reese and Draw-Tite colors will adorn the No. 21 Ford Mustang of Matt DiBenedetto for Sunday’s eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series stop at the virtual Bristol Motor Speedway.
DiBenedetto will carry the new paint scheme during the Food City Showdown on Sunday afternoon at the .533-mile concrete oval, seeking his first win against a star-studded field of past and present NASCAR Cup Series stars.
Wood Brothers racing co-owner Eddie Wood said he and his family team are proud to have their virtual Mustang carry the Reese and Draw-Tite brands, which have provided heavy-duty and custom hitches and towing equipment since their inceptions in 1952 and 1946.
“As NASCAR’s oldest continuously operating race team, it always feels special to be associated with companies that have similar histories to ours,” he said.
DiBenedetto is hoping to rally back from a disappointing finish at Texas Motor Speedway last weekend, where he was running 11th before bouncing off the wall and damaging his car on a long green-flag run late in the race.
He finished 15th in the end.
“I was saving my right-front tire, driving smart and smacked the wall all by myself,” DiBenedetto said. “I was faster than a big group ahead of me and had a top-five car, but I messed it up.”
The good news is that DiBenedetto is heading to a virtual version of the track where he finished second in last year’s night race after leading 93 laps.
“Bristol is my best track in real life,” DiBenedetto said. “But iRacing has a different feel to it. It takes a lot of practice to get more comfortable with it and to have the precision you need.”
He said that in addition to working out to keep himself in shape for his eventual return to traditional racing, he’ll spend hours this week in front of his computer preparing for Sunday’s virtual run on the Bristol high banks.
“I’ll definitely put a lot of practice into it,” he said.