Kobyluck Finishes Thompson Rollercoaster Ride With Seventh Place Finish

To say that Matt Kobyluck had an up and down day at Thompson International Speedway is an understatement.

Kobyluck wrecked in practice, went to a back-up car, and qualified fourth fastest for the NASCAR Camping World Series East portion of the Full Fender Frenzy. He took the lead on lap ten of the race only to have to pit under green flag conditions with a flat right front tire. After getting back on the lead lap, Kobyluck brought his #40 Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet home with a seventh place finish.

“Considering everything that happened today, we’re definitely happy with a seventh place finish,” said Kobyluck after the race.

Trouble started early on the second lap of the first practice session when Kobyluck hit the wall in turn three after hitting a socket and six-inch extension that pierced through his tire. The tool wasn’t found until the tire was removed from the wheel.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Kobyluck. “The damage was so bad that we had to go to the backup car.”

After the team switched everything over to the backup car, Kobyluck went out and posted the fourth fastest time in qualifying with a lap of 20.492 seconds (109.799 mph). It was a triumph of sorts for the team.

“I have to credit my team for this. They worked really hard. We only had 45 minutes between practice sessions and they got everything ready as if this had been our primary car. We went out and ran decent speeds in the second practice and we backed it up with a strong qualifying effort. They were right on with the set-up.”

At the drop of the green, Kobyluck, who had started on the preferred outside groove, took over second from eventual race-winner Trevor Bayne. After seven laps, Kobyluck knew his Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet was good enough to be up front. He tried going by on the low groove, but couldn’t quite get up there. Kobyluck attempted a pass again, but got held up by a lapped car that was also running the low groove. On lap 10, Kobyluck went to the bottom once again, but this time took the lead.

After leading 17 laps of the 100-lap affair, Kobyluck surprisingly brought the Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet down pit road with a flat right front tire.

“It was ten laps in the making actually,” said Kobyluck about the tire. “It had a slow leak and it was getting softer and softer and softer. Then the thing just went down on me altogether coming out of turn four. I somehow kept it out of the fence and had to pit. I could have just spun the thing out but then I would have gotten blackflagged anyway.”

Kobyluck went two laps down in the pits changing the tire. Still, the car was pretty fast, but the team knew something had broke when he lost that tire. Going laps down, however, was not an option. Still, Kobyluck came down pit road once again at lap 43 during yellow flag conditions.

“I thought the right front was going down again. I was weaving under caution and the car felt like it was rolling under like the tire was going down again. I came in and they checked the tire and it was fine. I told the crew what the car was doing and my crew chief thought that it might be from something loosening up in the front end when I did lose the tire earlier and he told me I was just going to have to drive it like that.”

With so many caution periods, Kobyluck received the beneficiary, or lucky dog, twice, and got back on the lead lap for the restart at lap 60. With only 40 laps remaining, Kobyluck still had a challenge in front of him.

After 20 laps, Kobyluck had made it up to 15th and was still on the move. Several more caution periods made it tougher for Kobyluck to move up, but he was still able to get up to seventh before the checkers dropped.

“It was a rough day, but my guys worked extremely hard today. I did what I had to do behind the wheel to get the best finish we could given the circumstances we had to deal with.”