On the track there are no friends, brothers, fathers, sons, or lovers; but once off the track NASCAR is one big famiy.
Monster Energy Cup Series driver Matt DiBenedetto suddenly lost his primary sponsorship for his number 32 GoFas Racing car.
DiBenedetto took to social media to seek help in securing some new sponsorship for the race in Phoenix this weekend.
What DiBenedetto found was an out pouring of support from his fellow drivers…and a primary sponsor for this weekend’s TargetGuardian 500 at IMS Raceway in Phoenix.
Zynga Poker has pledged to sponsor DiBenedetto’s car in Phoenix. There is also a possibility of sponsorships from other investors during the season to keep the number 32 on the track.
GoFas Racing is a small single car team.
But the g\biggest surprise for DiBenedetto was the support he found from his fellow drivers. Current Monster Energy Cup driver Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin along with broadcaster and three time NASCAR champion Darrell Waltrip have all pledged to contribute money to the cause.
Noting that he has a great deal of respect for Waltrip, Harvick and Hamlin, DiBenedetto said, “the power of social media can be crazy, and sure enough, it actually blew our minds. Getting the support of Denny Hamlin starting the wave of tremendous support and that led into it just spreading like wildfire.”
He added, “for them to have that much respect for me made just kind of sit in silence for a while on my drive home from the race shop. I needed to just sit there in silence just overwhelmed and darn near about to tear up over those guys having that amount for respect for me, understanding my fight to get to where I am and understanding how much I care about our sport as a whole. For them to see that and appreciate that was really way beyond overwhelming. I’m not very emotional typically, but yesterday I was.”
feature photo credit: By Royalbroil – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11004098