Beaver Falls, NY (July 27, 2008): Matt Kobyluck's 10-year
career in the NASCAR Camping World Series East has taught him about
one of the most important attributes a driver can possess: patience.
Saturday night, Kobyluck, driver of the #40 Mohegan Sun Casino
Chevrolet, used that virtue to his advantage when he took the lead
from Trevor Bayne on a lap 148 restart to win the Edge 150 at
Adirondack International Speedway. It was Kobyluck's second straight
win in as many weeks, and his third this season.
"There are 10 different guys that can win one of these
races every week. Anytime you can get a win is a huge accomplishment,"
Kobyluck said. "We're going for three in a row at Lime Rock!"
Kobyluck started the race from the seventh position and
was a top-five car throughout most of the event. In the final 25 laps,
however, Kobyluck came on strong and moved into second following a lap
136 restart. He took the lead on the final green-white-checker.
"When it got down to the end there, and it was time to go,
I thought I had a pretty decent car but I didn't think I had enough to
get by the 1," Kobyluck admitted. "I guess he had a problem on the
final restart there and I was able to get by him. I'll tell you, what
a battle. Trevor ran me clean, and everyone ran me pretty clean. There
was just a little bit of rubbing and nothing too dramatic out there.
It was good, hard short track racing. It was a good night of racing
for the fans."
The Mohegan Sun Casino race team is always a favorite at
Adirondack International Speedway. With two previous wins at the
track, Kobyluck knows how to get around the tricky ½ mile oval. Still,
the team changed their strategy for this race, and it paid off big.
"I look back at the years that we've ran here and I
wouldn't classify this as one of the best cars that we've had here,"
said Kobyluck. "I had a different strategy going into this race though
where I would conserve my right front tire. In past years we've ran
hard here and in the last stages of the race I hadn't had as much
right front to get through those last 15-20 laps. Tonight I kind of
laid back. I tried never getting myself to be on the outside on a
restart."
But it was the outside groove that paved the way for
Kobyluck's victory. On the final restart, Kobyluck was running second
to then-leader Trevor Bayne. Bayne appeared to miss a shift and
Kobyluck darted to the front. After taking the white flag, multiple
cars collided in turn four and blocked the track. NASCAR threw the
checkers with the caution flag and the Mohegan Sun Casino race team
secured the win.
"The outside groove I felt was the place to be on the
restarts because it had a ton of grip out there and I could get out
there and sail it right in. The track came around and was probably one
of the best it's been at anytime we've ever raced here," said
Kobyluck. "We're going for the championship this year so this is what
matters."
In eight starts this season, Kobyluck has a series leading
three wins, five top-five and seven top-10 finishes.
Kobyluck's weekend was capped off the following day when
his son, Kyle, won behind the wheel of a Junior Novice unrestricted
quarter midget at Little T Speedway in Thompson, Conn. It was Kyle's
first start in the unrestricted division.
"I won, Kyle won, and my wife Lori won a 50/50 raffle,"
said Kobyluck. "What a winning weekend! It doesn't get any better than
this."
The NASCAR Camping World Series East takes a two week
break and returns to action at Lime Rock Park on Saturday, August
16th.
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