Source: NASCAR Public Relations

South Boston, Va. – Ever since winning the Toyota All-Star Showdown to close out the 2006 season, Matt Kobyluck has had nothing but misfortune on the track.

Four races. Four cars to fix.

Twice he was running in the top five when bad luck hit. He cut a tire at Phoenix at the West Series race, and then got caught in a spin by lapped cars at the Busch East Series opener a week later. His trip to Elko (Minn.) and Iowa Speedway weren’t much better, although he salvaged a 12th in the latter.

Running Saturday in the fourth race of the NASCAR Grand National Division, Busch East race, Kobyluck was looking for a strong finish before the series headed back to one of his home tracks in Connecticut next week.

He wound up with the victory, beating hometown favorite Peyton Sellers to do it.

“Everywhere we’ve gone, we’ve had a legitimate top five car,” Kobyluck said. “I feel as though this is what the team needed – to capitalize on our effort and how fast a race car we’ve had so far.”

With the victory, Kobyluck earned an automatic spot in the season-ending Toyota All-Star Showdown in Irwindale (Calif.).

Kobyluck’s biggest challenge at South Boston was Sellers, who was the track’s Late Model champion in 2005 en route to winning the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series title. Sellers, who has a grandstand at the track named after him, also won the Busch Pole earlier in the day.

“It feels good to run well in front of my home fans,” Sellers said. “I think it just shows people, it’s no fluke I’ve gotten to where I’m at. South Boston is a tough track to get around.”

Point leader Joey Logano and Marc Davis finished third and fourth, respectively. Rogelio Lopez was fifth. Jamie Hayes, Mike Olsen, Eric Holmes, Tim Schendel and Chase Austin rounded out the top 10.

Logano stretched his points lead to 39 over Lopez (664-625). Sellers is 69 back in third at 595 and Olsen, the defending Busch East champ, is fourth at 584. Sean Caisse, who entered second in points and led the first three laps Saturday, battled overheating problems and finished 27th.

Logano was coming off a victory over Kevin Harvick at Iowa – his third Grand National victory in four starts. He spent most of Saturday’s race battling Davis, his fellow Joe Gibbs Racing development driver, for third.

“We where a little faster than Marc and that’s it,” Logano said. “Those first two cars, they were gone.”

Kobyluck and Sellers swapped the lead 11 times. They each led six different times, Sellers for a race-high 101 laps and Kobyluck for 46.

The two restarted on the front row four times over the last 50 laps. The first two times, they ran side-by-side for three laps with both drivers coming out on top once. However, on the final two restarts – with 10 to go, and again with four to go – Kobyluck got the jump on the restarts to take the lead.

“I guess the main difference was me getting up on the wheel and getting after it,” Kobyluck said. “On those last couple, it was go time.”

“I knew we had a better car. “We were better through the middle, and better up off.”

Sellers agreed.

“We had a second-place car,” Sellers said. “And he was being smart – he was letting me run hard.”

Kobyluck knew he had a car to win.

And he’s happy to have the trophy to prove him right.

Race Statistics
Time of Race: 1 hour 13 minutes 15 seconds
Margin of Victory: 0.411 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: Peyton Sellers. ( 92.414 mph, 15.582 seconds)
Caution Flags: 8 for 52 laps.
Lead Changes: 12 among 3 drivers.
Lap Leaders: Caisse 1-3; Sellers 4-20; Kobyluck 21-30; Sellers 31-66; Kobyluck 67; Sellers 68-82; Kobyluck 83-99; Sellers 100-102; Kobyluck 103; Sellers 104; Kobyluck 105-110; Sellers 111-139; Kobyluck 140-150.

Standings: 1. Logano 664; 2. Lopez 625; 3. Sellers 595; 4. Olsen 584; 5. Caisse 566; 6. Chew 562; 7. Hayes 546; 8. Kobyluck 535; 9. Anton 531; 10. Hernandez 520.