Bobby Santos III Makes Debut with New Team, Wins Season Opener

Bobby Santos III made a solid debut with his new team, Mystic Missile Racing (MMR), in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. Santos won the season opening Icebreaker 150 at Thompson International Speedway on Sunday.

Santos' debut with MMR could not have started any better as he was the fastest car in practice and won the Coors Light Pole Award at the Thompson, Conn. track.

The 24-year-old dominated the weekend and the race. Santos started off Saturday's first practice session with the top time of 18.410 seconds. He followed that up by setting a new NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour qualifying record at the track, with a lap time of 18.418 seconds and speed of 122.163 mph.

Santos was able to cap his stellar weekend with a win Sunday afternoon. After starting from the pole, Santos lead 91 of the 150 laps and scored his first win with MMR by leading the final 31 laps of the event. This was Santos' second win in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour; his first was also at Thompson International Speedway in 2007.

Santos was all smiles when discussing his winning weekend. "We had an awesome weekend to start off the year," said Santos. "It was great to have the fastest car in practice and then go out and win the pole and break the track record. That really meant a lot to me, especially at Thompson. After capping off the weekend with the win, you just couldn't ask for a better weekend than that!"

Santos, who had been slated to run a part-time schedule with Heinke-Baldwin Racing (HBR), was tapped to run the full season for MMR after HBR owners Al Heinke and Tommy Baldwin worked in the off-season to find their development driver a ride that would allow more seat time. After his record-setting weekend, all parties were happy with their decision to transfer Santos into a full-time position with MMR.

"It is our goal to get him in the best equipment and with the best people to develop his talent, so he can get into the top ranks in racing," said HBR co-owner Tommy Baldwin. "Yesterday showed that we made the right decision by helping Santos move to Mystic Missile Racing."

Santos is also happy about joining MMR. "I am really thankful to Al and Tommy for helping me get this new ride, and I am really looking forward to working with the Mystic Missile team," said Santos. "This is definitely a championship winning team."

He also explained how well he and the new team were already working together. "From when I first came in, they have been very good to me," Santos stated. "They were really easy to work with right off the bat. I have got a great crew chief and a great car owner and a great group of people to work with."

Following the dominating weekend at Thompson International Speedway, Santos is excited and ready for the remainder of the 2010 season. "I am looking forward to this season. We started it out right, and hopefully we can keep it going now. I look forward to competing for the championship," the young driver said.

Santos will be on SIRIUS Speedway with Dave Moody on SIRIUS NASCAR Radio 128 tonight at 5:15 p.m. EST to discuss his victorious weekend.

Santos will next race in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour on Sunday, April 25 in the Tech-Net Spring Sizzler presented by CARQUEST at Stafford Motor Speedway.