Kobyluck Takes Over Point Lead With Thompson Win
It was the perfect end to a frustrating week.
Matt Kobyluck asked for a scoring recheck after last week’s event at Holland International Speedway took him out of contention for a top-five finish. The error occurred when the electronic scoring system malfunctioned and mistakingly put him a lap down. The mishap was noticed when Kobyluck was told he would receive a beneficiary, a procedure in a Busch East Series race that gives a lapped car his lap back. After much discussion with NASCAR officials following the race, Kobyluck filed for a scoring recheck.
This week, Kobyluck learned the results of that recheck, which relegated him from a ninth place finish to tenth. Though dejected by the entire situation, Kobyluck wasn’t about to hold a grudge. Instead, the Mohegan Sun Casino team answered their decision by winning the Pepsi 100 Busch East Series, Grand National Division race at Thompson International Speedway.
“We had a big points day today and now we’re back where we want to be,” Kobyluck said. “We gained back everything we lost(at Holland) and we lost a lot. To gain all that back, and take over
the lead – that’s a huge night for us. It was really discouraging at Holland. This team works extremely hard, but they never gave up. They came to the track even more determined to do a better job and make things happen. It’s just a testament to those guys and how they give 110 percent regardless of the circumstances.”
Kobyluck’s day kicked off under cloudy skies and an imminent threat of thunderstorms. The team was able to heed off the looming forecast with a qualifying effort of 20.604 seconds (109.202 mph).
“The weather didn’t look good and it didn’t seem like we were going to get it in, and then all of a sudden the skies parted and the sun came out,” said Kobyluck. “It was definitely worth the wait.”
Kobyluck took over the lead on lap 14 when polesitter Sean Caisse suddenly slowed on the frontstretch. Kobyluck, who was pressuring the young driver for the lead, just missed getting hit by a piece of driveshaft that fell off of Caisse's car.
“I was right behind him (Caisse) when it happened. I had just swerved to the high side. We came down into turn three and I was right behind him. We came out of turn four and he just stopped right in front of me, and I cut to the outside real quick and missed him. I dodged a bullet there because it was really, really close. I mean really close,” explained Kobyluck.
Kobyluck, Brian Hoar, Mike Olsen, and Dave Dion made up the first two rows for the restart at lap 19 with Kobyluck jumping out to a comfortable lead. His No. 40 Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet was unstoppable as he led the field unchallenged for much of the remainder of the event.
Kobyluck did get an impressive challenge from runner-up finisher Brian Hoar on a lap 63 restart with the two running door-to-door around the entire length of the 5/8th’s mile oval. A caution was flown before the lap was completed.
“I knew at some point in time, Brian was going to show his cards and give me a run for my money, and he did on one of those restarts. The caution came back out again and I wasn’t going to let it happen again. He never got another chance to run door-to-door with me through two turns. The last couple of restarts I got some really good starts and do what I had to do to seal the deal.”
Kobyluck took the checkers a half-second ahead of Hoar and Charles Lewandoski. Seven caution flags slowed the event for 45 laps.
“The cautions didn’t hinder me, but I don’t think the fans got the best race in the world because there were so many cautions. Our car was just as good on the short runs as it was on the long runs so it didn’t really matter to me, but we would just run two laps and there would be a caution, run another two laps and there would be a caution. We’ve got to be able to do a better job than that. That’s just the way it went down. It’s kind of frustrating having all those restarts in a 100-lap race.”
The Busch East Series returns to action Saturday, July 8th at Lake Erie Speedway.
