Catchfence

Lakeville, Conn. (July 3, 2010): All indications were pointing to Matt Kobyluck and the Mohegan Sun Casino race team at least posting a podium finish at Lime Rock Park. Kobyluck, a three-time winner at the K&N Pro Series’ only road-course venue, was on top of speed charts in practice and was third fastest in qualifying. But luck didn’t remain with the team in the race, and they were forced to settle with an 18th place finish after a mechanical issue put them five laps down.

Kobyluck firmly placed the No. 40 Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet in second following the drop of the green flag, but havoc would cut loose at lap four when Kobyluck spun.

“When we spun out at first we were coming out of the esses and something locked up in the steering – like maybe a piece of debris got jammed in when I came out of the corner. When I corrected it, it straightened out, but when I went to turn the wheel back it locked up and I spun right out there,” he explained.

The 40-year-old veteran dropped back to tenth, but was still optimistic for a solid run. It was still early in the race. He worked his way back up to eighth before heading to pit road for fuel at lap nine. He dropped back quickly to 17th by lap 12. There was still a problem.

The team thought the left front tire was going flat after Kobyluck reported that the car just wouldn’t roll through the corners. They had to bring him onto pit road.

“The rumble strips in the new chicane are way too aggressive for us to be running through there. Everyone is dipping their tires off of the track and creating a hole outside of the rumble strip where they are hitting with their right side tires. I dropped the right side tire in that hole where everyone was running and it bent the bracket on the control arm that the sway bar hooks to. It bent it right over sideways and from there it felt like I had a left front flat tire. It was sunken down on the sway bar and it was making it roll over so much on the left front that it ultimately ended up popping the left front tire. By the time we fixed that, we were five laps down,” Kobyluck explained.

The Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet ran speeds comparable to the leaders for the remainder of the race, but with only 66 total laps and very few caution periods, could not make up the five lap deficit. Kobyluck did gain some positions running the remainder of the race, but finished a disappointing 18th place.

“At that point I was not racing anybody, I was just racing the track and getting out of it what I could. We had a top-five car no doubt. The car was good before that. We were saving it so we didn’t burn off the tires, but its just one of those things,” Kobyluck concluded.

The K&N 100 at Lime Rock Park will air on SPEED this Thursday, July 8 at 6 p.m. ET. Kobyluck returns to action on Friday, July 30 at Lee USA Speedway in New Hampshire.

For more information on Matt Kobyluck or Mohegan Sun Casino, visit www.mattkobyluck.com.

- Mohegan Sun Racing Press Release