diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 122b390..181f3ef 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
 /target
 /.idea
 /Cargo.lock
-progress_tracking/progress.xlsx
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/progress_tracking/collect_benchmarks.py b/progress_tracking/collect_benchmarks.py
index e2adcf9..d88d129 100644
--- a/progress_tracking/collect_benchmarks.py
+++ b/progress_tracking/collect_benchmarks.py
@@ -151,7 +151,8 @@ def main():
 
         last_row_commit_val = ws.cell(row=ws.max_row, column=commit_col_index).value
 
-        if last_row_commit_val == "local":
+        # FIXED: Check if the value is a string and strip whitespace before comparing
+        if isinstance(last_row_commit_val, str) and last_row_commit_val.strip() == "local":
             ws.delete_rows(ws.max_row)
             print("Overwriting previous 'local' entry.")