Third-Place Finish Gets NHMS Monkey Off Matt Kobyluck's Back

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Loudon, N.H. (June 27, 2008) -- For years, Matt Kobyluck has struggled with New Hampshire Motor Speedway, as the Mohegan Sun Casino race team has posted only a single top-10 finish since 2003 despite having a solid, competitive car at every event.

Bad luck was the culprit. However, Friday night Kobyluck changed all that when he posted a third-place finish in the Heluva Good Summer 125, his first top three since 2002. Kobyluck’s finish catapulted the Uncasville, Conn., driver into second in the NASCAR Camping World Series East point standings.

“I would have liked to get a victory here, and with 10 (laps) to go, I thought we had a car good enough to do it,” Kobyluck said. “For me, to come out of here, New Hampshire, with a top-three is a huge day for us. The car literally has barely a scratch on it, and it was a good points day. I’m really excited about that.”

Austin Dillon and Kobyluck paced the field to the green after rain lined up the field by points, but it was all Kobyluck out front after he took the lead as they exited turn two. Dillon remained a threat, however, just a short car length behind.

Dillon turned up the heat on lap 2 and began looking for a way around the Mohegan Sun Casino driver. On lap 10, Dillon drove to the low side exiting the second turn, got side-by-side with Kobyluck heading into turn three, but couldn’t complete the pass and settled back into second.

The first caution flag flew with 22 laps completed. Dillon led a procession onto pit road. Kobyluck elected to stay out and take a chance that the race would not make it to the end.

“Our strategy at first was just not to pit. We thought we’d run out of daylight before they got the whole race in,” Kobyluck admitted. “As the laps ticked off, we knew we had to change our strategy.”

Kobyluck led until lap 35 when a caution sent him down pit road for fuel. He returned to the track in 14th. By the time the race hit the halfway mark, Kobyluck was back in the top 10 and moving forward.

At a restart on lap 101, Kobyluck was fourth behind Brian Ickler, Jesus Hernandez and Brad Leighton, respectively. Leighton took the lead, but spun after colliding with Ickler. Ickler was sent to the rear of the field and Kobyluck was placed on the outside front row for the restart at lap 106. Like earlier in the race, Kobyluck used the outside groove to his advantage and took the lead from Trevor Bayne. Caution tightened up the field once again on lap 108.

“When we went back to green, I needed three or four laps to get heat back in the tires,” Kobyluck said. “I had old tires that were wore out, so it took a little bit to get back going. I was a sitting duck at that point.”

Racing resumed on lap 117 and both Eddie MacDonald and Trevor Bayne challenged for the victory. It was three wide heading into the turns. The action got heated and Kobyluck settled into third. As MacDonald and Bayne battled for first, Kobyluck patiently awaited for a chance to capitalize.

“Once they got by me, I could hang right with them,” Kobyluck said. “They were battling and I didn’t want to make it a three-way battle. I figured if something happened, I’d be right there to capitalize on it. They did a crossover a couple of times, and one time, I had my nose right in there so I had to back out of it to not wreck all of us.”

One final restart extended the race to 127 laps to allow for a green-white-checker finish with Kobyluck placing third.

“I didn’t have anything for them on that last restart, not with them both having fresher tires,” Kobyluck said. “It feels good to leave here with a car in one piece and second in the points. This is almost like a win to us.”

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