Matt Kobyluck has always stood out from the crowd in the
NASCAR Grand National Division, Busch East Series. At
6-foot-5 and driving a car whose livery mixes shades of
gold and purple with black, it's hard to blend into the
scenery.
Now the 36-year old driver from
Uncasville, Conn. has another reason to attract
attention. By most accounts, whether from media pundits,
internet polls, or the teams preparing their own cars
for the forthcoming campaign, Kobyluck is the pre-season
favorite for the 2006 title.
His credentials? After finishing
third in the 2005 standings, he's the highest-ranking
driver returning for a full season. He also led the
circuit in victories in '05 and captured the Busch Pole
Award championship. His Mohegan Sun Chevrolet team
returns with its personnel, led by crew chief Perry
Waite, virtually intact. And in April he showed the
NASCAR Grand National Division, AutoZone West Series
field the fast line around Phoenix International Raceway
for 45 laps until engine trouble put him behind the
wall.
Kobyluck and the rest of the Busch
East Series teams open their season, and inaugurate the
new identity of the former Busch North Series, at the
historic Greenville-Pickens Speedway in Greenville, S.C.
on Saturday, June 10. The half-mile oval, which played
host to the first live, flag-to-flag NASCAR national
telecast in 1971, will this time be covered live in
high-definition by HDNet, with an enhanced replay to
follow on SPEED.
Like football coaches, race
drivers differ when it comes to the role of favorite.
Some wear it as badge of honor, while others seek to
hide from the limelight and expound on the reasons they
shouldn't even be considered a contender. Kobyluck
chooses to let the speculation pass him by. "Being
a pre-season favorite doesn't amount to much," he
said, adding "I guess if we perform as well as we
did last year, we have a good shot at the championship,
but it's all about the performance out on the track. We
have to get the job done out there."
"It's not really a
disadvantage," Kobyluck continued, speaking of his
pre-season status. "Everybody has expectations, but
a lot of times those expectations are based on things
that happen out on the race track which you don't have
control over. We're going to go out there and try as
hard as we had already planned to do."
While the long haul to Phoenix and
back for April's AutoZone West Series race at PIR's
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup weekend only produced 30th place in
the final boxscore, Matt Kobyluck considers his own
spring training in Arizona to be time, money, and effort
well spent. "We learned a lot as far as chassis,
aerodynamics, and team chemistry," he declared.
"The team was able to get back into the groove of
getting out on the track, doing pit stops, and being
ready for race time. Our performance out there was
exactly what we wanted."
"We were leading the race and
dominating until the engine went on us, so although we
didn't get the results we wanted, we got the performance
we wanted, which is a good indication for our Busch East
season," he explained.
Pre-season favorites from Tiger
Woods to Joe Torre are always asked about the pressure
that comes with the expectation of success. Matt
Kobyluck, who combines the roles of executive with his
family's wide-ranging construction and transportation
business, active spokesman for his sponsor, and father
to a growing family with his racing career, offered a
simple answer.
"I work well under
pressure," he said. "Trust me, the least
amount of pressure in my life is being out on the race
track."