Santos Strengthens Title Hopes with Stafford Triumph

Fourth Win of the Year Extends Points Lead to 37 with One Race Remaining

Stafford Springs, CT —  Bobby Santos was able to pass Ryan Preece on the final restart with six laps to go and held on to win the CARQUEST Fall Final at Stafford Motor Speedway.

Santos, who entered the race with a slim seven-point lead over Mike Stefanik in the points standings, survived the caution-filled final 50 laps to pick up his fourth win of the season and first since a win at Martinsville Speedway in June.

Santos’ winning move was made on the eighth and final restart of the day when he got past race leader Preece entering Turn 1 on Lap 144.

[Photo Gallery] by Nicholas Teto

“It was a great team effort, the guys gave me a great race car right from the beginning,” Santos said from Victory Lane. “This place is tough. You’ve got to be in the right lines on each restart. In the beginning of the race it seemed like we were in the wrong line on every restart, but at the end of the race we were in the right line, and that made the difference for me on the race track.”

Ron Silk led a race-high 92 laps finished as the runner-up with Erick Rudolph in third.

“We were too tight after the [pit] stop, but our car was still really good,” Silk said. “I just got stuck behind some guys that pitted a lot earlier in the race that didn’t have as good of tires.”

Rowan Pennink, Stefanik, Preece, Glen Reen, Ted Christopher, Eric Beers and Ken Heagy rounded out the top 10.

The final 50 laps of the race featured six cautions with one red flag shown after a multi-car accident on Lap 140 forced the track to make repairs to the guardrail setting up the final sprint to the checkered flag.

With one race remaining on the schedule, Santos will carry a 37-point lead on Stefanik in the season standings to Thompson (Conn.) International Speedway for the Sunoco World Series of Speedway Racing on Oct. 17. Santos won the season-opener at Thompson in April.

“We’ve just got to go win Thompson,” Santos said. “That’s the plan, and whatever happens, happens.”

Stefanik’s series-high 11th top-10 finish of the year kept him in title contention on Sunday, but with a 37-point deficit to Santos heading to Thompson, the seven-time Whelen Modified Tour champion will have an uphill battle in the season finale to add to that total.

With his eighth top-five finish in the last nine races, Silk moved up to third in points, 99 tallies behind Santos. Christopher, the 2008 champion, slipped to fourth and is 113 back.

Sunday’s CARQUEST Fall Final will air on VERSUS on Tuesday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. ET instead of the original air date of Wednesday, Oct. 6.

Sources: Jason Cunningham/NASCAR WMT PR

RESULTS | LAP-BY-LAP RECAP | VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW | SECOND AND THIRD-PLACE POST-RACE INTERVIEWS

Race: NWMT Stafford 10/3/10
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Points B/Points Total Award Status
1 10 4 Bobby Santos “Mystic Missile” Dodge 150 185 5 $7,600 Running
2 3 6 Ron Silk T.S. Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet 150 180 10 3,300 Running
3 9 98 Erick Rudolph Mohawk N.E./Original Pizza Logs Chevrolet 150 170 5 2,900 Running
4 6 93 Rowan Pennink Monk Mechanics Hand Cleaner Chevrolet 150 160 3,200 Running
5 8 16 Mike Stefanik Diversified Metals/R.B. Enterprises Pontiac 150 155 2,400 Running
6 4 3 Ryan Preece Davidson Co./Mizzy Construction Chevrolet 150 155 5 2,200 Running
7 22 17 Glen Reen “The People’s Car” Chevrolet 150 146 1,600 Running
8 13 36 Ted Christopher Al-Lee Installations Chevrolet 150 142 2,000 Running
9 1 76 Eric Beers Horwith Freightliner Chevrolet 150 143 5 1,850 Running
10 28 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Ford 150 134 2,000 Running
11 17 2 Todd Szegedy Wisk/Snuggle Ford 150 130 1,650 Running
12 14 58 Eric Goodale JT’s Lumber/Perimeters for the Home Chevrolet 149 127 1,818 Running
13 24 46 George Brunnhoelzl, III Cape Cod Aggregates/Viveiros Ins. Chevrolet 149 124 1500 Running
14 19 90 Renee Dupuis Union Insurance Group/SFI Chevrolet 149 121 1,475 Running
15 29 33 Wade Cole Perf. Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan’s Oil Chevrolet 148 118 1,450 Running
16 16 8 Glenn Tyler Sypher Construction Chevrolet 148 115 1,410 Running
17 26 52 Dale Quarterley Furnace & Duct Supply Chevrolet 147 112 1,385 Running
18 12 59 Chuck Hossfeld Ed Bennett Properties Chevrolet 145 109 1,460 Running
19 27 5 Tom Rogers, Jr. Frankie’s Towing Chevrolet 144 106 935 Running
20 15 14 Jimmy Blewett Ling Trucking/Atlantic Sprinkler Chevrolet 140 103 1,310 Accident
21 5 54 Eric Berndt North End Auto Parts Chevrolet 140 100 880 Accident
22 21 50 Kevin Goodale Riverhead Building Supply Chevrolet 140 97 1,250 Accident
23 25 39 Richie Pallai, Jr. * Bosch Spark Plugs Chevrolet 139 94 1,525 Accident
24 2 10 Ed Flemke, Jr. Ron Bouchard’s Autos/Kleer Lumber Chevrolet 139 91 1,225 Accident
25 30 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electric Chevrolet 139 88 1,225 Rear End
26 23 05 Joe Hartmann USPA Nationwide Security Chevrolet 139 85 825 Accident
27 11 1 Rob Summers Frasco Fuel Oil/Merrill Electric Chevrolet 120 82 825 Accident
28 18 99 Jamie Tomaino Supreme Manufacturing Chevrolet 108 79 1,225 Accident
29 7 51 Justin Bonsignore * M3 Technology Chevrolet 108 76 1,825 Accident
30 20 28 Woody Pitkat Ramar-Hall/TSI Harley-Davidson Chevrolet 108 73 1,225 Accident
31 31 38 Jake Marosz Perf. Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan’s Oil Chevrolet 52 70 1,225 Chassis

RACE STATISTICS
Fastest Qualifier: Justin Bonsignore *, Time: 18.355 Seconds, Speed: 98.066 mph
Time of Race: 1 hrs., 12 mins, 40 secs Average Speed: 61.927 mph Margin of Victory: 0.861 Seconds
Caution Flags: Laps 28-33 (Car #26 spin in Turn 1); 35-41 (Multi-car accident in Turn 2); 101-106 (Car #52 spin in Turn 1); 108-117 (Multi-car accident in Turn 1); 121-124 (Car #58 spin in Turn 4); 128-131 (Car spin in Turn 4); 133-137 (Car spin in Turn 4); 140-142 (Multi-car accident in Turn 3 [Red Flag 29 mins.]).  8 for 45 laps.
Lap Leaders: Eric Beers 1-2, Ron Silk 3-94, Eric Beers 95-103, Ryan Preece 104-106, Erick Rudolph 107-117, Ryan Preece 118-131, Erick Rudolph 132-137, Ryan Preece 138-143, Bobby Santos 144-150.
Total Laps Led: Ron Silk 92, Ryan Preece 23, Erick Rudolph 17, Eric Beers 11, Bobby Santos 7.  8 changes involving 5 drivers.

CONTINGENCY AWARDS
COCA-COLA MOVE OF THE RACE AWARD: Ken Heagy, 18 Buoy One Seafood Ford
COORS LIGHT POLE AWARD: Justin Bonsignore *, 51 M3 Technology Chevrolet
FEATHERLITE MOST IMPROVED DRIVER AWARD: Rowan Pennink, 93 Monk Mechanics Hand Cleaner Chevrolet
SUNOCO ROOKIE OF THE RACE AWARD: Richie Pallai, Jr. *, 39 Bosch Spark Plugs Chevrolet
WHELEN WINNER OF THE RACE AWARD: Bobby Santos, 4 “Mystic Missile” Dodge

• ← Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. Wins 48th Annual People’s United Bank Milk Bowl
• Rocco & Pitkat Score CARQUEST Fall Final Sunday Feature Victories at Stafford Speedway →