Kobyluck Disappointed With Runner-Up Finish At Stafford

Matt Kobyluck felt he had the car to win.

The Uncasville-CT driver had led the most laps and showed no signs of faltering when a late race accident brought out a 22-minute red flag and ultimately ended his chances of winning the TSI Harley Davidson 150 at Stafford Motor Speedway. Instead, the driver of the No. 40 Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet on the NASCAR Busch East Series, had to let out of the throttle on the final restart and allow Sean Caisse to drive by for the lead and eventual win.

“What happened on that last restart was exactly what I told NASCAR was going to happen. There was so much speedy-dry left in that corner that I had to choose to let out of the throttle or put Sean Caisse in the wall,” a dejected Kobyluck said after the race. “We really needed a little more time to get the track cleaned up. I’m not taking anything away from Sean Caisse – he did a great job – but I had no chance getting through that turn at full speed.”

Kobyluck proved he would be a force to reckon

with early on in qualifying with a lap of 19.842 seconds (90.717 mph). The time sat atop of the leader board through several cars before Caisse just beat out his lap.

Starting from the second position, Kobyluck raced Caisse side-by-side for a full circuit before the young driver was able to settle out front. Kobyluck kept the pressure on, but didn’t take over the lead until a lap 45 restart. Caisse was able to reclaim the lead on the following circuit, where he remained for the next seven laps before Kobyluck put the Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet back on the point.

A total of ten caution periods kept the action exciting as Caisse continued to try to overcome Kobyluck. On a few of those restarts, Caisse was able to get by for a lap, but Kobyluck was always able to reclaim the lead.

“The cautions hurt us because we needed about five laps to get going,” said Kobyluck. “We were set up for the long run, and Sean had a much better short run car.”

The trouble for Kobyluck came following a restart at lap 131. Kobyluck once again powered to the head of the pack, but just behind him the 8 car driven by Rich Gould and the 96 driven by Mike Johnson collided. Fluids were all over the turn two surface and a red flag had to be brought out to allow for the massive clean-up that was needed. After 22 minutes, NASCAR brought the field to yellow flag conditions. Under the pace laps, Kobyluck realized that the clean-up had not been sufficient and trouble would be brewing if they restarted the race. Unfortunately, the race did go back to green at lap 139.

Caisse went to the front right away, and Kobyluck never had the chance to mount a challenge for the lead.

“It was disappointing from the perspective that we had a car good enough to win, and something out of our control took that chance away. I’m not saying that we would have won, because Sean was good on the short run, but I think we would have had a really good chance without that speedy dry everywhere. I don’t expect people to feel sorry for us for finishing second, because in the large scope of things it is a good finish. I just felt we were a winning car.”