Kobyluck Finishes Third At Stafford
Matt Kobyluck was not too disappointed about his third place finish in the NASCAR Busch East Series’ TSI Harley Davidson 150 at Stafford Motor Speedway Friday night. The driver of the No. 40 Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet led 38 laps of the event en route to his second straight top-three finish in as many weeks.
“I’m not disappointed because at that point (in the race) that was the best we were going to do,” said Kobyluck. “I’m happy to get another top-five. I’m just disappointed because the car was so much better earlier than it was at the end. I don’t know if it was something that broke or if the tires just went so bad that you couldn’t drive it. We’ll have to check it out and see.”
Kobyluck started on the outside pole after turning a lap of 91.227 mph (19.731 seconds) in qualifying. Sean Caisse led the first 30 laps, but handed the lead to Kobyluck when he went down pit road. Once out front, Kobyluck pulled out to a convincing margin.
“I had almost a straightaway lead on the rest of the field, and the car wasn’t changing at all. I thought the car was going to be golden until the end and we were just going to check out there. I guess that’s why they say it’s never over until it’s over.”
Kobyluck led all but one lap of the next 39 circuits, but lost the lead to Eddie MacDonald following a lap 70 restart. The field took the green and MacDonald beat him to the line. A caution came out and halted Kobyluck’s attempt to get a run on the driver.
“I kind of thought we hadn’t completed the lap, but there’s no arguing with city hall. You have to work with the hand they deal you,” he said.
The caution tightened the field up once again, and MacDonald was able to duplicate the feat of the previous green flag run and drive right out in front of the Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet.
Kobyluck continued to be a contender in second, but started to fall off in the closing laps of the race. At lap 137, Kobyluck went high in turns one and two and allowed Mike Olsen to go under him and relegate the team to third. Many speculated that Kobyluck, whose brakes were glowing red in turn three, did not have brake issues.
“I didn’t lose any brake, but it was like something broke in the car. The nose was just driving up the racetrack like the locker in the rear end broke or something. It would just lock up instead of letting it release so I could turn in the corner,” he explained. “It was a handful those last few laps.”
Kobyluck held on for third as the field took the checkers in its scheduled distance of 150 laps.
The Busch East Series, Grand National Division is off until June 29th when they embark on New Hampshire International Speedway.
Matt found himself on the podium at Stafford. (Jim Dupont photo)
