OSWEGO, N.Y. — Zach Sobotka came one restart away from being only the third driver ever to win the Chevy Performance 75 twice.
The eighth place starter Sobotka bided his time early as polesitter Cody McPherson set a torrid pace, however just like on Saturday evening, the yellow flag flew plenty of times in the Sportsman feature.
As the event went on, the Oswego Speedway surface started to take some rubber and would loosen the cars up, which worked to Sobotka’s advantage.
“I feel like I had a perfect car,” Sobotka said. “It was getting better as the race went on. I really did not want to see all those yellow flags.”
The one that bit him the most was a caution on lap 72 when he closed in on McPherson in lap traffic. That setup a dash to the finish on a restart, where fourth place starter Chad Edwards slipped under him and took over second, which sealed the deal.
“It was driver error on that last restart,” Sobotka said. “I miss judged Cody (McPherson’s) throttle response. He took off and I thought I was gonna get under him but I hit my right front off the back of him which shot me up the track and Chad (Edwards) was able to get by.”
The race was long for only a 75-lap race with the winner McPherson commenting that it felt like he ran a 200-lap race instead. However, Sobotka didn’t know what would happen.
“I wasn’t sure what I was expecting there at the end,” He said. “It felt like it was getting more grip towards the end. I was trying to bury the right front in the grip and drive as hard as I could to the middle of the corner. It felt like a long race, a lot longer than 75 laps.”
When it comes to racing, no matter the form, traffic is the big equalizer.
Sobotka felt he had the better car through lap traffic, despite finishing third.
“We only saw lap traffic once,” He said. “I did not want to see all those yellows. I wanted to get deeper into that and see how it played out. It was on me though for not winning the race.”