DiBenedetto 落ちるs short of 勝利，勝つ but earns 巨大な 尊敬（する）・点
BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) - When his 後援 乾燥した，日照りのd up 早期に last season, Matt DiBenedetto took the unique step of making a social マスコミ ビデオ asking for 基金ing ideas.
Denny Hamlin was の中で those who saw the clip and then 寄付するd $5,000 to his fellow competitor. The gesture brought more attention to DiBenedetto's 苦境 and 最終的に a 部分的な／不平等な 後援 that helped him get through the 2018 season.
So there was a twinge of sadness for Hamlin after he chased 負かす／撃墜する DiBenedetto in the の近くにing （競技場の）トラック一周s of Saturday night's race at Bristol モーター Speedway and 否定するd the underdog an upset victory. DiBenedetto had learned four days before the race that Leavine Family Racing wasn't bringing him 支援する for a second season, and a Bristol victory would have been a tremendous r?sum? 上げる during 解放する／自由な 機関.
Hamlin, who すぐに わびるd to DiBenedetto and 乗組員 長，指導者 マイク Wheeler for （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing them when he climbed out of his car, said later that he and DiBenedetto aren't 特に の近くに but his 寄付 last year harkened 支援する to Hamlin's 早期に racing days.
"I just thought to 支払う／賃金 it 今後. Someone gave me that 適切な時期, kept my career going," Hamlin said. "I think a lot of people have a lot of 尊敬（する）・点 for him. He's humble. This is not a story of he's just going to go away. This is only the beginning for him. He's 令状ing his r?sum? on TV every 週末."
DiBenedetto was enjoying the best season of his career in his Toyota 運動ing for a tiny team that has 提携させるd itself with Joe Gibbs Racing. Wheeler, who won a Daytona 500 with Hamlin, is under 契約 to Gibbs. The team gets a トン of 援助 from the Gibbs group, and Gibbs has too many drivers under 契約 and not enough Cup seats to keep everyone happy.
FILE - This is a Nov. 11, 2018, とじ込み／提出する photo showing NASCAR driver Matt DiBenedetto in Avondale, Ariz. DiBenedetto says he was told by Leavine Family Racing that he will not be 支援する for a second season with the team in 2020. DiBenedetto is a career-best 23rd in the points standings. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri, とじ込み／提出する)
Someone had to go to make room for Christopher Bell's 昇進／宣伝 from the Xfinity Series next season, and DiBenedetto got the boot even though this is his best year statistically in every measurable 部類 in his five 十分な Cup seasons. His fight to keep a 職業 at NASCAR's 最高の，を越す level has left a 示す on Hamlin, who 解任するd the moment his career nearly ended in 2002 when his parents ran out of money to continue 基金ing his late model racing.
"My parents said, 'No, this is it. We're about to lose everything, so this is it,'" Hamlin said. "I'm just going to work at my dad's trailer shop. That's my 未来. That's what I'm going to do for the 残り／休憩（する） of my life. I was content with it. I really was."
A n 介入 （機の）カム from a 競争相手 team owner who heard Hamlin wouldn't be at the final race of the season and didn't feel his drivers would have beaten the best if Hamlin was not in the field. He 最初 申し込む／申し出d the 財政上の 援助 to get Hamlin's team to the final race, but a 新たな展開 of 運命／宿命 put Hamlin in the owner's car and he 負傷させる up second.
"Anyway, he said, 'Tell your family to go ahead and sell everything, you're going to 運動 for me next year,'" Hamlin 解任するd. "I thought about that when I saw Matt's ビデオ that the team didn't have the 財政／金融s."
Hamlin and DiBenedetto 株d a 深く心に感じた moment 概略で an hour after the race when DiBenedetto 設立する Hamlin on the NBC Sports 始める，決める. Hamlin was in the middle of a live interview - some of it spent chiding car owners for not giving DiBenedetto a 職業 - when he put his microphone 負かす／撃墜する and embraced the 走者-up. The two had a 簡潔な／要約する 雑談（する）, then Hamlin leaned into DiBenedetto's ear and 配達するd a 非常に長い message he said was between the two drivers.
DiBenedetto, who led a race-high 93 （競技場の）トラック一周s, was 近づく 涙／ほころびs as the （人が）群がる 溺死するd him in 元気づけるs during his interviews broadcast inside the 跡をつける. The victory would have put him in the プレーオフs, albeit with a team not ready to compete for the 肩書を与える. The Bristol 勝利，勝つ would not have saved his 職業 at Leavine, but if nothing else, it supported Hamlin's argument that a car owner needs to 雇う DiBenedetto for next year.
"It's been a hard week but I am not done," DiBenedetto said. "I am here to 勝利，勝つ in the Cup Series, I am going to 勝利，勝つ in the Cup Series, that's not going to change. I'm not going anywhere. Someone is going to 選ぶ me up for next year and they will be glad they did because I am going to 勝利，勝つ for them."
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Matt DiBenedetto enters a turn at the end of the 支援する straight during the NASCAR Cup Series 自動車 race Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019, in Bristol, Tenn. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)
Matt DiBenedetto (95) goes 負かす／撃墜する the 支援する straight during a NASCAR Cup Series 自動車 race, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019, in Bristol, Tenn. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)
