Kobyluck Picks Up Coveted Watkins Glen Win After Two-Lap Shootout

The final restart of the Camping World Series East 125 at Watkins Glen International road course Sunday afternoon produced an exciting three-wide battle that saw Matt Kobyluck prevail over Marc Davis for the win after leading only three laps of the 55-lap event. Kobyluck used the outside groove to challenge Davis on that restart while polesitter Antonio Perez went to the inside. The three-wide battle was settled when Kobyluck, despite continued pressure from Davis, moved his No. 40 Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet out to the front.

“Marc (Davis) said he had a left front tire going down. There was minor impact on my end. Just a little bit of rubbing. Nothing out of the ordinary when you are going for a green-white-checker,” said Kobyluck. “This is pretty exciting for us. A win at Watkins Glen was truly what I felt like would classify me as a top notch road racer. Its one thing to win at the same track twice, and it’s another thing to go to Watkins Glen and win. I was able to back up what I’ve been able to do the last three years at Lime Rock.”

Kobyluck used patience at the onset of the race – settling into second behind pole winner Antonio Perez. He remained about a carlength behind Perez for the next 16 laps before pulling onto pit road at lap 17. The Mohegan Sun Casino race team opted for a fuel stop only and returned to the track in the 11th position.

Kobyluck quickly worked his way back up, and with other cars pitting during green flag conditions, was running fifth when the caution was displayed at lap 19. On the restart, Kobyluck dove to the bottom groove and took over second from Tim George, Jr., but had to give the spot back when NASCAR deemed he had started too soon.

Kobyluck moved back into second on the following circuit and set his sights on leader Marc Davis. On lap 25, the Uncasville, Conn.-native saw his opportunity and passed for the lead. The caution came out just after the Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet went past the start/finish line, however, the entire field had not taken the yellow and NASCAR reverted to the last scored green flag lap. Davis was put back at the head of the field with Kobyluck in second.

A severe thunderstorm brought out a two hour red flag condition, and Kobyluck expected to challenge for the lead as soon as the race went back to green. Davis, however, had other plans.

“Up through the esses, he was a groove-and-a-half out of the groove, through the carousel turn he was a groove out of there. He was so out of shape everywhere, but he would motor right away from me everytime I ducked underneath him. At that point I just wanted to ride behind him, put pressure on him, and hope that he would make a mistake,” said Kobyluck.

The laps were winding down and Kobyluck was running out of time when a car blew his engine and brought out the caution at lap 49. The race was extended to allow for a green-white-checker finish. It was Kobyluck’s final shot.

“My original plan was to outbrake him coming into the bus stop.  Unfortunately for him, I don’t know if he had a bad restart or what, but he didn’t get off the line real good and he left the outside wide open. I had a run going and I just bailed it down in there.”

Kobyluck took one more circuit on the 2.45 mile road course before taking the checkers under yellow flag conditions. He had no challengers.

“This is just incredible. When we found out we were coming back to the Glen I was as excited as hell. I told the guys to pay special attention to this race because I wanted to win it. They really did a great job putting an awesome car underneath me. They deserve a lot of the credit here today.”