Santos Works Overtime for Win
Collects 10th Career Whelen Modified Tour Victory
THOMPSON, Conn. – It took overtime, but Bobby Santos collected his 10th career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win Thursday night with his victory in the Budweiser King of Beers 150 at Thompson Speedway.
It was Santos’ fourth win at Thompson and it came after he collected his fourth Coors Light Pole Award of the season. He also posted the fastest lap in practice.
Getting the win, however, was not so easy. Two green-white-checkered attempts stretched the race to 158 laps and Santos held off Donny Lia to take the checkered flag.
Eric Goodale finished third, followed by Doug Coby and Woody Pitkat.
Ron Silk, Jimmy Blewett, Jamie Tomaino, Todd Szegedy and Ron Yuhas Jr. rounded out the top 10.
Points leader Ryan Preece spun on the final lap and finished 13th. His championship lead – which was as high as 44 points four races ago – is down to 14 tallies over defending champion Coby with five races remaining.
In seven Whelen Modified Tour starts this season, the 2010 champion Santos has posted two wins and three additional top-five finishes. Having not participated in two events this year, however, he’s not in title contention.
Santos was strong out of the gate. From his pole position he led the first 111 circuits, but stalled his car during pit stops and came off pit road sixth. From there he was able to make up ground quickly, and was retook the lead on Lap 128, but the pass didn’t officially count as the caution came out before the lap was completed. Santos then made the decisive move on Lap 135 when he wrestled the lead back for good from Justin Bonsignore, with some contact between the two.
On both accounts, Santos was apologetic after the race.
“I screwed up, I stalled the car and lost us some spots, and I kind of lost my head a little,” Santos said. “I’ve got to apologize to my guys for that.
“I put a good move on Justin when we passed him the first time, then the yellow came out. I was a little frustrated and I knew I needed to get out front. I kind of moved him up the hill a little more than I should have, so I’ve got to apologize to him.”
Santos and the No. 44 Tinio Racing team have won two of the last three events at Thompson – the home track for both driver and team. From nearby Franklin, Mass., Santos said it was meaningful to nab the Bud 150 victory.
“It means a lot to win at Thompson,” Santos said. “I’ve won here in the fall and I’ve won here in the spring, but I’ve never won here in the summer. This means a lot to add the Bud 150 win. It means a ton to this team. It’s [Thompson] home for all of us.”
For Lia – who won last year’s Bud 150 – Thursday marked his second runner-up finish in a row, and for Goodale in third, it was the second podium finish of his season and career after starting the race 16th.
“We really struggled throughout the day in practice, and I didn’t do such a good job in qualifying,” Goodale said. “But we talked about the changes we wanted to make and [crew chief] Jason [Shephard] made all the right calls.”
Thursday marked the second race in a row that Preece encountered problems at the end. He had recorded top-five finishes in each of the season’s first seven events prior to a flat tire in the closing laps of the previous event at Stafford Motor Speedway. At Thompson he once again appeared to have a top-five car, but was involved in two different late-race incidents.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will return to the track Wednesday, Aug. 21 for the Titan Roof 150 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The annual combination race with the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour will air live on Fox Sports 2.
RESULTS | RACE CENTRAL RECAP | AUDIO: RACE-WINNER BOBBY SANTOS | AUDIO: SECOND-PLACE DONNY LIA | AUDIO: THIRD-PLACE ERIC GOODALE
Sources: Jason Christley/NASCAR WMT PR
NWMT Thompson 8/15/13 Results
Whelen Modified Tour
Race: NWMT Thompson 8/15/13
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Points B/Points Status
1 1 44 Bobby Santos Tinio Racing/Brendan Kelley Music Chevrolet 158 48 5 Running
2 10 4 Donny Lia Circle Track Magazine Dodge 158 42 Running
3 16 58 Eric Goodale Riverhead Building Supply Chevrolet 158 41 Running
4 15 52 Doug Coby Furnace & Duct/Seekonk Grand Prix Chevrolet 158 40 Running
5 11 79 Woody Pitkat Mr. Rooter/Coors Light Pontiac 158 39 Running
6 14 6 Ron Silk T S Haulers/ Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet 158 38 Running
7 20 76 Jimmy Blewett John Blewett Inc./Sims Metal Mgmt. Chevrolet 158 37 Running
8 21 99 Jamie Tomaino Supreme Manufacturing Chevrolet 158 36 Running
9 7 2 Todd Szegedy Dunleavy Repair/Montanari Fuel Ford 158 36 1 Running
10 13 64 Ron Yuhas, Jr. Fast Track Electric/Hughes Motors Chevrolet 158 34 Running
11 9 22 Mike Stefanik Robert B. Our Co./Canto & Sons Paving Chevrolet 158 33 Running
12 23 28 Ed Flemke, Jr. Ron Bouchard’s Auto Stores Chevrolet 158 32 Running
13 2 16 Ryan Preece East West Marine/Diversified Metals Ford 158 31 Running
14 8 46 Eric Berndt Cape Cod Agrgts./North End Auto Parts Chevrolet 157 30 Running
15 24 33 Wade Cole Perf. Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan’s Chevrolet 155 29 Running
16 18 73 Cole Powell * Copps BuildAll/Tricar Chevrolet 153 28 Accident
17 3 11 John Beatty, Jr. * Freeport Collision/Deakin Inc. Ford 153 27 Running
18 4 93 Rowan Pennink Monk Mechanics Hand Cleaner Chevrolet 152 26 Accident
19 26 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electric Pontiac 152 25 Running
20 17 51 Justin Bonsignore M3 Technology Chevrolet 149 25 1 Electrical
21 19 39 Richie Pallai,, Jr. MAHLE Performance/Lucas Oil Chevrolet 135 23 Accident
22 12 3 Ted Christopher Silver Dollar Const/Cape Cod Copper Chevrolet 129 22 Accident
23 22 8 Glen Reen Sypher Const./Tech. Ed. Products Chevrolet 76 21 Running
24 27 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood/Mehner Racing Chevrolet 54 20 Engine
25 6 15 Rob Fuller 15-40 Connection Chevrolet 22 19 Accident
26 5 88 Bryon Chew Buzz Chew Chevrolet/Elbow East Chevrolet 22 18 Accident
27 25 38 Brian Schofield Perf. Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan’s Chevrolet 12 17 Accident
RACE STATISTICS
Race Comments: Bobby Santos won the Budweiser King of Beers 150, his 10th career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory overall, and fourth at Thompson Speedway. Prior to the green flag, the following cars dropped to the rear for the reason indicated: #8 Glen Reen and #73 Cole Powell (unapproved adjustments).
Fastest Qualifier: Bobby Santos, Time: 18.775 Seconds, Speed: 119.840 mph
Time of Race: 1 hrs., 16 mins, 48 secs Average Speed: 77.148 mph Margin of Victory: Under Caution
Caution Flags: Laps 14-19 (Car #38 accident Turn 3); 23-26 (Cars #88, 15 accident Backstretch [Red Flag 4 mins.]); 109-116 (Car #11 spin Backstretch ); 123-126 (Cars #3, 33 accident Frontstretch ); 129-131 (Car #16 spin Turn 4 ); 136-140 (Car #39 accident Turn 3 ); 148-151 (Car #64 spin Turn 2 ); 153-155 (Cars # 93, 64, 28 accident Turn 1 ); 158 (Cars #16, 28, 46 accident Turn 2). 9 for 38 laps.
Lap Leaders: Bobby Santos 1-111, Todd Szegedy 112-116, Justin Bonsignore 117-134, Bobby Santos 135-158.
Total Laps Led: Bobby Santos 135, Justin Bonsignore 18, Todd Szegedy 5. 3 changes involving 3 drivers.
CONTINGENCY AWARDS
COCA-COLA MOVE OF THE RACE: Eric Goodale, 58 Riverhead Building Supply Chevrolet
COORS LIGHT POLE: Bobby Santos, 44 Tinio Racing/Brendan Kelley Music Chevrolet
SUNOCO ROOKIE OF THE RACE: Cole Powell *, 73 Copps BuildAll/Tricar Chevrolet
WHELEN WINNER OF THE RACE: Bobby Santos, 44 Tinio Racing/Brendan Kelley Music Chevrolet
* Denotes Sunoco Rookie of the Year Contender