Matt DiBenedetto has lost a lot of ground at Dover International Speedway and will have a lot to do going into the last race of the regular season to qualify for the playoffs.

Coming out of the doubleheader at Dover, DiBenedetto has higher chances of not making the 2020 Cup Series playoffs as his playoffs competitors William Byron and Jimmie Johnson performed well over the races. He finished 20th in the first race and 17th in the second. In contrast, Johnson had two top-10 finishes, one of them inside the top-five and Byron also had a top-five finish in one of them.

Speaking about his performances in the doubleheader, DiBenedetto said:

“Dover killed us. We were pretty horrendous both days. I just tried to make the most of it that we could and it just wasn’t much. It was the perfect storm of really losing a lot of points and having a rough weekend. Going to Daytona. I hate to be negative but if we were going somewhere else I would feel better about it because we have been pretty strong at most tracks aside from here. I have struggled here. Going to Daytona and the Ford’s are strong but I have ended up at the infield care center the last two years there. We keep getting caught up in everyones mess.”

Although two positions above the playoffs cutline, DiBenedetto is only five points ahead of Byron (16th) and nine points ahead of Johnson (17th, below the cutline).  DiBenedetto is hoping that he could turn out a good performance in the final race of the regular season.

I am going to sit and hope and pray all week that we can just come out of there clean and make the playoffs. We shouldn’t be this close to the bubble. It is frustrating. A couple weeks messed us up. Getting wiped out at Texas and Kansas and then really hurt us points wise and then we come here and really hurt ourselves here. It has been a tough go of circumstances and going to Daytona is going to make it quite an uncomfortable week.”

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