Bobby Santos III NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Advance

Race: The Sunoco World Series
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour: 14 of 14
Track: Thompson International Speedway
Date: October 17, 2010

Bobby Santos III hopes to lock up his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (NWMT) Championship this weekend at Thompson International Speedway (TIS), while the No. 4 Mystic Missile Racing team looks to repeat as champions. The Heinke-Baldwin Racing (HBR) Development Driver will return to TIS for the third time this season.

THOMPSON INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY - Santos has 16 starts at the .625-mile track, with an average finish of 15.9. He has collected two wins, six top-five and 9 top-10 finishes, and one pole. He also holds the qualifying record of 18.418 seconds (122.163 mph) at the Conn., track. Santos won his first NWMT race at the TIS in 2007.

THIS SEASON AT THOMPSON INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY - Santos was successful right of the bat at TIS this season. In the first event at TIS, Santos broke the qualifying record, won the pole, led 91 laps of the 150-lap event and took home the win. He also had a successful run at TIS in his second start. The Franklin, Mass., native paced the lone practice session and posted the fourth-fastest qualifying time. He started the Budweiser King of Beers 150 from the third spot, led 10 laps and finished third.

LAST RACE RECAP: STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY - Santos celebrated his 25th birthday with a win at Stafford. He posted the second-fastest practice time and qualified 10th. Santos held steady in the top-10 for the first half of the race and did not push his No. 4 Mystic Missile Dodge until the second half of the race. He sat in the second position with seven laps-to-go and worked his way around Ryan Preece for the victory. His win gave him a series high four wins in 2010.

CHAMPIONSHIP IN SIGHTS - The win at Stafford Motor Speedway gave Santos a 37 point lead over NWMT veteran Mike Stefanik in the NWMT Championship standings. He went into Stafford Motor Speedway a mere seven points ahead of Stefanik. Santos has led the point standings follow all but one event this season. If he collects his first NWMT Championship, it would be the first time in the series' 26-year history that a driver wins the championship without competing full-time the previous year, as this is his first full-time NWMT season.

CLINCHING THE CHAMPIONSHIP - Santos can clinch his first NWMT Championship if one of the following happens. If he does not lead a lap, he needs to finish fifth, and if he leads a lap he needs to finish sixth. If he leads the most laps, he needs to finish seventh. All of the scenarios include if Stefanik wins the race and leads the most laps.

WINNING TEAM - The Mystic Missile team came into the 2010 season as returning champions. They won the 2009 NWMT Championship with Donny Lia. This was their second championship in three years as Lia also won in 2007.

THE COMPETITION - Stefanik is competing for a series high 10th NASCAR touring series championship. He has won at TIS 14 times in his career. Ted Christopher, who sits fourth in the point standings (113 points behind Santos), is the 2010 TIS track champion. He also won the 2008 and 2009 TIS Sunoco World Series events and has 10 NWMT wins at TIS.

Bobby Santos III Quotes:
ON RACING AT THOMPSON INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY - "I am excited to get back to Thompson. We have had a good year there. The track conditions should be similar to what they were in the spring, so that should play in our favor. We are bringing the same setup we had when we won in April."

ON RACING FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP - "I try to take the thoughts of points out of it. We just need to go out, win and collect the maximum points at Thompson. That is our goal. Just competing for the championship is an honor to me. Competing with Mike Stefanik and Ted Christopher for the championship is what has made this season so exciting for me. They are both drivers that I have looked up to growing up and to be competing with them right now is neat."

RACE INFORMATION:
Race length: 150 laps, 93.75 miles
Track layout: .625-mile
Shape: Oval

SCHEDULE: (All times in EST)

Saturday, October 16:

Practice 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Qualifying 2:30 p.m.

Sunday, October 17:
The Sunoco World Series 3:30 p.m.

The Sunoco World Series will be broadcast on VERSUS Wednesday, October 20 at 8 p.m. EST. Live lap-by-lap updates will also be available at hometracks.nascar.com.