Popular NASCAR driver Matt DiBenedetto tweeted on Thursday that he would not return to BK Racing for the 2017 Cup Series season.
The 25-year-old spent the past two years with the underfunded Toyota outfit and has experienced both highs and lows during his first 68 races at the highest level. The former Joe Gibbs Racing development driver earned a hard-fought sixth-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway in April but also missed a start in November due to a concussion. Through it all, he averaged a 30.4 average finish, up five positions from his rookie campaign.
Now it appears that ‘Guido’ is moving on.
On SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Thursday night, DiBenedetto said there are a handful of opportunities that had been presented to him and he was honest with BK Racing from the start of the negotiation process.
“I can only say so much at this time but I was kind of evaluating and I had been in talks with BK Racing but there are no hard feelings,” DiBenedetto said. “I appreciate everything they’ve given to me… But I was evaluating the team situation for next season and what’s going, and from my end, there were too many unknowns and I needed to make a decision.
“I’m excited for what the future holds and everyone will have to stay tuned.”
DiBenedetto said there’s no timetable for him to announce his 2017 plans but says he feels confident they will get finalized sooner rather than later.
“I feel confident,” he said. “I can’t answer those questions as good as you all might like me to. But I felt like I needed to be honest with BK Racing. They asked me if I was going to sign up for next season and we had some honest dialogue. I told them I was exploring my options. I had reached out to some people and had some folks reach out to me too.”
