DiBenedetto was 13 years old when he and his parents, Tony and Sandy, left California and moved to Hickory, N.C.
“I have a brother who is in the military; he’s stationed at Homestead-Miami now, and I have two sisters and they still live in California. They were all older. My brother had just gone into the military and my sisters were in college when we moved, so they all stayed put,” DiBenedetto said. “It was just me and my parents who moved to North Carolina and took that leap of faith to try and pursue racing.
“We moved across country and started racing at Hickory Motor Speedway in the Pro 4 Series and then we graduated to limited late models. We won the championship in both of those,” DiBenedetto continued. “Then we started racing late models with the UARA-STARS touring series, but it became too expensive for us and put us in a tough situation as a family. All of our guys were volunteers, but it was just too much for us to handle.
“I came home from high school one day and my parents were devastated. They couldn’t even get it out to tell me. I came home and our truck, trailer, race cars and every piece of racing equipment we had in our shop were sold and gone. That was back in 2007. I was on my own from then and that was the first of about a hundred times I thought my career was over.”
DiBenedetto overcame that obstacle and eventually landed a ride with a late model team that had better equipment and more funding than his family operation.
“We were winning races like crazy with them and ended up getting an opportunity to do a test, a driver combine test, with a company named MMI, an old management company,” DiBenedetto explained. “We were the fastest and the best at the test and that got some attention. Long story short, we ended up getting the chance to drive for Joe Gibbs Racing and that’s what ultimately got my foot in the door with NASCAR.”
DiBenedetto eventually made his NASCAR Cup Series debut in 2015 and after four years of outperforming his equipment at BK Racing and Go FAS Racing, he joined Leavine Family Racing prior to this season.
His new ride with Wood Brothers Racing is the best opportunity of his career.
“I’ve been a huge fan of the Wood Brothers ever since I started watching NASCAR. I’m still having trouble comprehending that’s who I’ll be driving for next season,” DiBenedetto said. “When I look at their list of drivers, and some of them are my heroes, it’s hard to believe my name will be tacked on to that list.
“My progression has been incredible. Thankful isn’t even a strong enough word to describe how I feel — through every opportunity I’ve gotten, whether it was BK Racing, Go FAS Racing, those guys are still like family to me, Leavine Family Racing this year and now the Wood Brothers opportunity,” he added. “It seems surreal, but I’ll always have to look at my career as swimming upstream because you always have to fight, claw and bleed for this. You don’t ever let yourself feel comfortable. I am passionate and really competitive, so I’m always going to live my life this way. I don’t care if I have a 10-year contract. At this level, you always have to perform.
“It’s a cutthroat business and you are paid to perform and be the best, so you don’t ever get comfortable.”