Bobby Santos III Narrowly Holds Point Lead After Stafford Motor Speedway Race
Finishes 23rd after an Engine Failure

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (August 9, 2010) - Going into the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (NWMT) race at Stafford Motor Speedway, Bobby Santos III was sitting pretty with a 67-point lead over modified legend Ted Christopher. A solid points night was not in the cards for Santos and his No. 4 Mystic Missile team at Stafford. A motor problem ended their race early and relegated Santos to a 23rd-place finish.

Having won at Stafford Motor Speedway in the past, Santos unloaded with a car capable of contending for the win. The No. 4 car posted the third-fastest time of 18.375 seconds (97.959 mph) in practice. Unfortunately, the success was short-lived. An early qualifying draw was the start of the rough night for the Mystic Missile team, causing them to qualify 14th with a time of 18.57 seconds around the tight half-mile facility.

"We had no problems in practice, we were running well. Then, we had an early qualifying draw," Santos said. "I think that put us behind for the entire day."

Once the green-flag dropped on the Town Fair Tire 150, Santos went to work picking off cars and eventually making his way to the front. As the laps clicked off, Santos continued marching closer and closer toward the lead and worked up to eighth-place by the halfway point.

By lap 90, Santos was involved in an incident in turn one. Santos survived the spin with little damage. After assessing the damage on pit road, Santos came out in the 11th position. Unfortunately, disaster struck on lap 100 when the motor of the No. 4 Dodge blew, relegating Santos to a 23rd-place finish, 50 laps down.

"We were good in the race and were going forward. I felt like we were going to end up with a top-five finish and ended up breaking the motor," Santos explained. The No. 4 Dodge caused a lengthy delay for cleanup after dumping oil out of the motor and onto the track surface.

The 24-year old handled the disappointment with his chin up, choosing to focus on the next race and continuing his fight for the NWMT Championship. Santos still maintains a slim six-point lead over Ted Christopher.

"It was just kind of a depressing night, but now I have to look at it like starting over because there's pretty much no point difference now," Santos said. "It's like going to the first race of the year. We just have to focus on winning the race and everything else will take care of itself."

The next race for Santos and the No.4 Mystic Missile Dodge team will be the Budweiser King of Beers 150 at Thompson Motor Speedway on Thursday, August 13. Santos and his team should have no problem rebounding from their struggles this weekend at Stafford, after their win at Thompson earlier in the year.

"I'm excited for Thompson it's always been one of my favorite tracks growing up, and we won the first race of the year at Thompson this year. I'm actually really excited to go back," Santos said.

The Town Fair Tire 150 from Stafford Motor Speedway will air on VERSUS on Wednesday, Aug. 11 at 7 p.m. EST.