Savings Pays Off For Kobyluck

By Jason Cunningham, NASCAR
July 19, 2008 - 10:39pm

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Matt Kobyluck earned his second victory of the season when he took the checkered flag in the Strutmasters.com 150 Saturday night at the Music City Motorplex.

In a race that saw 12 changes at the front, Kobyluck (No. 40 Mohegan Sun Resort Chevrolet) grabbed his first lead of the night on lap 136 and made it stand through the last final 15 circuits for the victory ahead of runner-up Peyton Sellers (No. 44 E.J. Prescott/Castle Chevrolet).

“This place is prone to wearing out tires,” Kobyluck said. “My strategy going in was to lay back and save the tires as much as I could for when we got to crunch time and I needed to be able to make a move. When it got to go-time there at the end, I had some good grip left on my car and I just used it up.”

For Kobyluck, of Uncasville, Conn., the win was his second in seven races this year. He had previously visited Victory Lane at Watkins Glen International on June 8. The win was the 14th of his NASCAR Camping World Series East career.

Sellers, who captured the Coors Light Pole Award earlier in the day, protected the pole position for more than half the race. It took until the 78th lap of the race for Trevor Bayne (No. 1 Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet) to wrestle the lead away coming out of Turn 2.

Bayne’s lead would be short-lived, however. Following the third caution of the night, Austin Dillon (No. 3 Garage Equipment Supply Chevrolet) took the lead on the lap 84 restart. The lead would change nine more times on the evening between Bayne, Dillon, and finally Kobyluck

The series point leader, Dillon finished third for his fourth top-five finish of the season. Ricky Carmichael (No. 4 Monster Energy Drink Chevrolet) came home fourth, the best finish of his young career in the series. Like Carmichael, Derek Thorn’s (No. 80 ALS Associates/Racinforacure.com Ford) fifth place finish was the best of his career.

Steve Park, Jesus Hernandez, Brian Ickler, Craig Goess and Max Dumarey rounded out the top 10 finishers.

The eighth race of the 2008 NASCAR Camping World Series East will be contested at Adirondack International Speedway. The Edge Hotels 150 will be held Saturday, July 26 in Beaver Falls, N.Y.