Kobyluck Off To Strong Start With Top-10

Finish At Greenville

Easley, SC (April 12, 2009): The Camping World Series East kicked off its 2009 season Saturday night with the NASCAR Home Tracks 150 at Greenville-Pickens Speedway where defending champion Matt Kobyluck wheeled his No. 40 Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet to an eighth place finish despite having no grip in the tires for the last 75 laps of the race.

“About a third of the way through the race the rear grip just totally went away. It didn’t matter what I did. I couldn’t get into the corner, I couldn’t get through the middle, I couldn’t get off. The rear end was coming around on me coming in and in the middle. I couldn’t even touch the throttle. I don’t know what happened. It was unfortunate because we had a really good car.”

Kobyluck and his crew, led by crew chief Perry Waite, used the entire two-hour practice session to get the Mohegan Sun Chevrolet set up perfectly. When they were done, they were confident they had a top-three car. In qualifying, Kobyluck turned a lap of 21.049 seconds. It was his fastest lap of the day and earned him an eighth place starting position.

“We were happy with that,” Kobyluck said. “It’s not about starting on the pole or leading the most laps – although those things are great to do. It’s about being there at the end.”

It only took a single lap for Kobyluck to get the Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet into the top-five once the race got underway. He remained a staple in that position until the race reached the halfway mark when he suddenly fell off and dropped back to ninth.

“At the end of practice I felt we had a top-three car – no question. I had a really solid car. When we dropped the green flag I just didn’t have the grip that I had during practice. It was unfortunate because we had a really good car. You bolt on a set of tires and you expect them to be the same. This is no fault of the team. It’s just a tire circumstance.”

At lap 98, Kobyluck fell a lap down to the leader and eventual race winner Brian Ickler, but quickly regained it when the caution came out. On lap 110, Kobyluck brought the Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet down pit road where the team adjusted the air pressure on the tires.

The adjustment stopped his backward slide through the field, but Kobyluck was only able to gain one position before taking the checkers. He finished the race with an eighth place finish.

The NASCAR Camping World Series East will return to action at Tri-County Motor Speedway in Hudson, N.C., on Saturday, April 25.