Third Place Finish At Dover Clinches Series Crown For Mohegan Sun Racing

Matt Kobyluck and the Mohegan Sun Racing team locked up their first NASCAR Camping World Series East Championship Friday night after posting a third place finish in the Sunoco 150 at Dover International Speedway. Kobyluck, a ten-year veteran of the series, left the event with a 219-point advantage over second place driver Austin Dillon with one race remaining on the schedule. NASCAR’s President Mike Helton was at the track to present the championship trophy to the team.

“I had a race winning car today and I could have

gotten up there and competed for the win. In the bigger picture, the championship was locked up if we stayed where we were. If I had pushed the envelope and had gotten too dicey I might have ended my championship run right here,” said Kobyluck. “I had the best spotter that a guy could have calling me to the end, and I had (crew chief) Perry Waite settling me down and keeping me focused. At the end of the day a race win is great, but this is so much more.”

Kobyluck was among the drivers on top of the speed charts during two practice sessions on Thursday afternoon, and he backed it up with a qualifying lap of 151.675 seconds to earn a fifth place starting position.

Kobyluck maintained in the early laps and made it up to third by lap 22, but dropped back to fourth before opting to pit on lap 55 with a majority of the lead lap cars. After the cycle of pit stops was complete, Kobyluck was up front to bring the action back to green at lap 60.

The team earned five bonus points for leading, and decided to pit again to take on tires. They resumed the race at lap 77 in the eighth position, and quickly moved back into the top-five. One more round of pit stops shuffled his running order again, but the cycles had completed by lap 126 and Kobyluck was fourth.

He gained one more position in the latter part of the race, and began putting pressure on Marc Davis for the second spot – looking for a way around on both the high groove and low groove. Kobyluck didn’t press the issue, and took the checkers in third place.

Kobyluck’s four wins, nine top-five’s and 11 top-10’s have locked in the championship even if he doesn’t start the last remaining race at Stafford.

“Now we can go to Stafford and do what we do best – try to win the race,” said Kobyluck. “Contending for the win today would have been great. Winning the race and the championship would have been great. At the end of the day though, we’re walking away with the championship and that is forever.”

Kobyluck, a member of the Mohegan Tribal Nation, is the first Native American to ever win a championship in the NASCAR Camping World Series East.