Bobby Santos Suffers Disappointing Finish in New Hampshire
Mystic Missile Dodge finished 13th in the F.W. Webb 100

LOUDON, N.H. (July 16, 2011) – Bobby Santos and the Mystic Missile Team suffered a disappointing finish in the F.W. Webb 100 after a problem with the carburetor and a loose racecar relegated the team to a 13th-place finish in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (NWMT) event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Santos posted the seventh-fastest lap in the first practice on Thursday with a fast lap of 29.696 seconds. He then turned a lap of 29.938 seconds in qualifying, giving the No. 4 Mystic Missile Dodge the fourth starting spot for the 100-mile race. The NWMT had no on-track activity on Friday and returned to the track on Saturday for practice.

Saturday opened with a 50-minute practice session, and the Mystic Missile team posted the third-fastest lap of 29.636 seconds. The team felt confident in the brand new racecar they built to debut this weekend and waited in anticipation for the green flag.

Santos took the green flag for the F.W. Webb 100 from the fourth position and looked competitive at the drop of the flag. Santos continued to hold the fourth spot when the first caution was called on lap two for a multi-car incident in turn one.

The field restarted on lap five, and Santos wheeled the No. 4 Mystic Missile Dodge to the second position. Ron Silk in the No. 6 began to challenge the Franklin, Mass., native for the second spot. He worked past Santos by the second caution on lap 10 for a spin in turn four with the Mystic Missile Dodge in third-place.

When green-flag racing resumed on lap 13, Ted Christopher wheeled passed Santos, putting the No. 4 Mystic Missile Dodge in the fourth position. Santos fell back to fifth by lap 16 and started to battle Christopher for fourth place, swapping positions as they ran neck-and-neck.

Santos looked to be poised for a solid finish when disaster struck. On lap 40, the Mystic Missile began to drop back, and by lap 57, fell to 15th. Santos radioed that the Dodge was really loose, and crew chief Bob Mueller believed the No. 4 had a problem with the carburetor.

The 25-year-old driver raced back into the 12th spot by lap 69 and held onto the position before falling a lap down on lap 95. With three laps to go, Eric Beers worked passed Santos, and the No. 4 Mystic Missile Dodge finished 13th in the first of three races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

With the 13-place finish, Santos fell back one spot in the NWMT point standings. He is now seventh, 143 points behind leader Rowan Pennink, 10 points behind Beers in sixth and 16 points ahead of Doug Coby in eighth.

"It was a disappointing day," explained Santos. "We are usually pretty fast here at New Hampshire, but it seems we always have bad luck. The car was good early in the race, and we were just waiting to contend for the lead until later in the race. About halfway through the race, something broke, and we just weren't as fast. We were hoping for a caution in the last half of the race, as there usually is, but the race ran green the entire second half. That's how it falls sometimes. We'll regroup and be ready for Riverhead."

Santos will head to Seakonk Speedway on Wednesday, July 20th for Open Wheel Wednesday's 100-lap open modified race. He will get back behind the wheel of the No. 4 Mystic Missile July 30th for the Lighthouse Mission 200 presented by Baldwin Automotive at Riverhead Raceway.

About Bobby Santos:
Bobby Santos is a third generation driver, who has been racing since he was four years old. After running part-time in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour since 2004, Santos drove the No. 4 Mystic Missile Dodge and took home the 2010 Championship with four wins, four poles, 9 top-five and 11 top-10 finishes in the 14-race schedule.

The 25-year-old from Franklin, Mass. has driven 23 different styles of race cars, including USAC, ARCA, NASCAR Nationwide and Trucks, and the Modified car he currently races. Santos, a driver in the Heinke-Baldwin Racing driver development program, will run both the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and USAC National Pavement Sprint Car season full-time in 2011.

Media Contact:
Heather Lumpp
heather@heinkebaldwinracing.com
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