Watkins Glen, N.Y. (June 7, 2009): Matt Kobyluck, driver of the No. 40 Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet, posted his first top-five of the season at Watkins Glen International road course Saturday morning and moved up to third in the point standings with his effort. Kobyluck took advantage of a last lap battle between Patrick Long and Ryan Truex to move up from third to second on the last corner of the track.
“Things played out there at the end,” said Kobyluck. “We had a top-five car just not a car good enough to win. They started tangling there at the end, and I didn’t have anything for either one of them. I was right there to take advantage of it. They made contact and the 03 got up on the rumble strip going through the corner and I was able to go by him. I gave everything I had going down into turn 11 to try and catch the 00, but he ran hard and he got the position.”
Kobyluck began his road to the championship last year with a win at the Glen, and he’s confident that this finish will mark the beginning of a solid championship bid. The team came into the event with high hopes of defending that win, and kicked it off optimistically with a third place qualifying effort of 118.686 mph.
Kobyluck settled in right behind early leader Matt DiBenedetto and Ryan Truex at the drop of the green. The Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet was relegated to fourth at lap 12 when Patrick Long drove by for the third position.
Following a lap 15 caution, Kobyluck followed a procession down pit road that included everyone except Eric Curran and Jonathan Smith. After a quick fuel up and go, Kobyluck was lined back up in the 10th spot. By lap 20, Kobyluck had already gained five spots and was running fifth when a caution came out.
The team moved up to fourth when Kobyluck passed Eddie MacDonald during the next green flag run, but caution again slowed his efforts. On the restart at lap 35, Kobyluck passed DiBenedetto for third and ran strong there for the next 20 laps.
A green-white-checkered flag extended the race by three laps from its originally scheduled distance with Kobyluck still in third. When Ryan Truex made his race-winning move on Patrick Long for the lead, Kobyluck was able to take advantage and wheel his way into second place for the checkers.
“Anytime you can get a top three it’s a momentum builder and puts some enthusiasm into the team.,” said Kobyluck. “We’ll take this and parlay it into something more at New Hampshire. I’m proud of my guys. They worked hard all weekend long as they always do, and we brought home a second place finish for Mohegan Sun Casino. We wanted to win this thing, and coming in here we thought we had a car good enough to do it, but changes between yesterday – the cloud cover and cooler temperatures – and today – sunshine and the warmer temperatures – we missed it just a little bit.”