Bobby Santos III Earns First Modified Tour Win at Stafford Motor Speedway

Mooresville, N.C. (May 30, 2010) - Bobby Santos III continued his dominating ways in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Stafford Motor Speedway on Friday. Santos and the No. 4 Mystic Missile Racing team had the fastest car in practice, secured the top spot in qualifying and won the TSI Harley-Davidson 125. This marked Santos' third career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory. Additionally, his three poles in three races to start the season tied the record set by Ted Christopher last season.

"We actually had a problem in practice, so we didn't get much practice time," Santos said. "We straightened that out and ended up going out and being fast in practice. We backed that up in qualifying and got the pole, which was really good."

Santos started the race on the outside pole, after drawing the second position in the qualifying redraw. It did not take him long to get the lead, as he beat Eric Berntc to the line on the first lap. Santos and Berntc traded the lead back and forth for a few laps, until Santos pulled away on lap four.

Santos fell back to second on lap 11, where he stayed until the first caution on lap 35. Santos, and the other race leaders, chose to say out and the Franklin, Mass., native continued in second until the next caution fell on lap 42. Following the restart, Santos fell back to fourth on lap 50. Santos quickly moved into third position, where he remained until taking back the lead as the caution flag flew on lap 111.

Santos had to battle the hard-charging No. 14 car and maneuver through several cautions over the remaining laps of the event. Two green-white-checker attempts were made to close out the race. On the final restart, Santos was charged with jumping the restart, and he had to allow Blewett in the No. 14 to get even with him to avoid being penalized. Blewett beat Santos to the white flag, but Santos was able to pull ahead on the final lap and drive away with the victory.

"The race was really exciting, especially the ending," said Santos. "I ran second or third most of the race, but then I got lucky and got back out front. It got really close at the end because Jimmy Blewett was really fast. On the last lap, he and one other car passed me, because I had to let off the gas to give him his spot back after I jumped the restart. Going into turn one and two on the last lap, I passed them back somehow on the bottom. I actually still don't know how it worked out and I got the lead back, but it was a fun finish."

Following the race at Stafford Motor Speedway, Santos immediately traveled to Indiana where he participated in the 65th Night Before the 500 race at O'Reilly Raceway Park on Saturday. Santos, running for his family-owned Santos Motorsports team, finished the feature race in the 10th position.

With two wins and a second place finish to start the season, Santos currently leads the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour point standings. Santos will return to NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour racing this Sunday, June 6, at Martinsville Speedway.