Santos Produces Sixth-place Finish After Incident Spoiled Hopes of Win
No. 4 Mystic Missile started on the pole and led the most laps of the Granite State Classic

LOUDON, N.H. (August 15, 2011) – Bobby Santos drove the No. 4 Mystic Missile to the pole for the Granite State Classic at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend. Santos led 57 laps before a flat tire from a lap 86 multi-car incident marred the Mystic Missile back in the pack. Short green-flag runs did not allow Santos to move back to the front, so he had to settle with a sixth-place finish in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (NWMT) event.

Santos posted the third-fastest time of 29.6 seconds in first practice on Friday. He paced final practice with a fast time of 29.394 seconds and took the Coors Light Pole with a lap of 29.858 seconds.

Santos took the green flag for the 95-lap race and shot to the lead. He held off the competition and led the first 29 laps. The third yellow flag waved on lap 21, and the Mystic Missile team elected to stay out while eight of the lead lap cars pit. The field restarted on lap 24 with Santos leading the charge. He raced nose-to-tail with fellow Tommy Baldwin Racing Development Driver Erick Rudolph until Rudolph worked passed him on lap 30. Santos drove back around Rudolph to regain the lead on lap 31. Rudolph settled into second and the pair worked together to gain a solid lead over the rest of the field.

Shortly after the two-some began to get a lead on the field, the caution was called for Ted Christopher on lap 33. The Mystic Missile stayed out once again, planning on a one-stop race. Santos held onto the lead but battled Justin Bonsignore to keep the top spot. Bonsignore worked passed the Franklin, Mass., native on lap 45, but Santos quickly worked back past him the next lap. Santos stayed out front for rest of the run until the yellow flag waved on lap 58 for a spin on the backstretch.

Santos drove the Mystic Missile down pit road for a three-tire pit stop. The team quickly serviced the Dodge, and Santos restarted ninth on lap 65. Stuck on the inside line, he fell back to 11th by lap 66. He used the next eight green-flag laps to work up to the seventh spot before the field was slowed again on lap 75 for a spin in turn two. Once again stuck on the inside line, Santos fell back to ninth, and before he could begin his trek forward, another caution was called for a spin in turn four.

The No. 4 Mystic Missile restarted ninth on lap 86. When the field took the green flag, contact was made up front and collected eight cars, including Santos. As he worked to avoid the incident, Santos was pushed into the wall and had minor damage on the right side of his Mystic Missile machine. The red flag displayed for track workers to clear the damaged cars and debris. When the yellow flag came back out, the Mystic Missile team planned to stay out and gain some positions since the damage was minor. Unfortunately, during the first caution lap, Santos had a flat right-front tire and was forced to pit.

The 25-year-old racer restarted in the 14th position on lap 91. During the first green-flag lap, Santos worked the outside line and passed four cars to take the 10th spot. Another caution was called on lap 92 of the 95-lap event, ending Santos' charge to the front. The field had a green-white-checkered restart on lap 99 with Santos in 11th. Before the field took the white flag, a two-car spin brought out the caution.

The 2010 NWMT Champion restarted 10th on lap 103. Santos worked his way to eighth when the white flag dropped. He wheeled his way to sixth when the checkered flag waved 10 laps over the planned 95-lap event.

The sixth-place finish moved Santos to fifth place in the NWMT Championship Standings, 113 points behind leader Ron Silk and eight points ahead of Eric Beers in sixth.

"It was a disappointing finish," explained Santos. "The car was wicked fast, and it was fun leading so many laps here. The team worked really hard after the last race here to get the car better, and they did. It's just a shame we were in the wrong spot at the wrong time and got a flat from hitting the wall. We tried to work our way back up, but we didn't get a long enough run to work through the field. Still, sixth is a good finish for all we went through at the end, and it was a great points day."

Santos will get back in the driver's seat Thursday, August 18th for the USAC National Pavement Sprint Car Series at Lucas Oil Raceway. His next NWMT event, held at Bristol Motor Speedway Wednesday, August 24th, will be broadcast on SPEED.

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Heather Lumpp
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