Bobby Santos III

Robert Santos III
Born (1985-10-03) October 3, 1985
Franklin, Massachusetts, United States
Achievements 2010 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
6 races run over 3 years
2012 position 92nd
Best finish 70th (2011)
First race 2007 Circuit City 250 (Richmond)
Last race 2012 Subway Jalapeño 250 (Daytona)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
1 race run over 1 year
2011 position 110th
Best finish 110th (2011)
First race 2011 F.W. Webb 175 (Loudon)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
Statistics current as of February 25, 2013.

Robert "Bobby" Santos III (born October 3, 1985 in Massachusetts) is an American racecar driver from Franklin, Massachusetts. He graduated in 2004 from Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School. Santos, nicknamed "Bobby New England", is the grandson of Bobby Santos, a former modified racer. His sister, Erica Santos, is also a racecar driver. He is the cousin of former University of New Hampshire quarterback Ricky Santos.

Early career

Before stock cars, Santos was a successful midget racer. He raced in the Northeastern Midget Association, USAC, PRA Big Car, and ISMA. He had the most wins of any driver in the USAC National Midget Tour in 2006, collecting five wins, including a win at O'Reilly Raceway Park on the Night Before the 500. He was signed to Bill Davis Racing.

ARCA career

In 2006, Santos made his stock car debut at Iowa Speedway for Bill Davis Racing in the #02 Dodge. He started 10th and finished 6th. Bobby returned to ARCA in 2007 for Bill Davis, now in a Toyota Camry. He won Toyota's first stock car pole at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Florida. While leading the race, he was involved in an incident with a lapped car and did not finish. He returned at Nashville Superspeedway, but had a mid-pack run. At Kansas Speedway, Bobby started second, but a blown engine relegated him to another DNF. Santos broke his dry spell at Kentucky Speedway when he started fourth and finished third, behind Erik Darnell and Erin Crocker. Santos placed third in the next race at Kentucky, as well. The third generation racer won a pole at Pocono Raceway in early August and qualified fifth at Talladega Superspeedway, but was unable to back up either with a strong finish.

NASCAR career

In 2007, Santos made his NASCAR Busch Series debut at Richmond International Raceway for the new Riley D'Hondt Motorsports team. He qualified seventh in his #91 Toyota, but faded back to a thirtieth-place finish after running in the top 10 for the beginning of the race. He also qualified fourth for the Camping World 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and was running in the top 10 before being hit by a lapped car. He ran two additional races for RDHM, but did not finish better than 30th.

Santos has also participated in the Whelen Modified Tour, collecting his first two wins at Thompson International Speedway in October 2007, and the Ice Breaker, also at Thompson International Speedway, in April 2010. He parlayed his season-opening Icebreaker win into the 2010 Whelen Modified Tour championship, collecting a total of four wins and four poles on the season.[1]

Santos ran the 2011 Nationwide Series opener for Jimmy Means in what was actually a back-up JR Motorsports car after wrecking the 52 in practice; the Earnhardt family has a long friendship with the independent owner and former driver. Santos finished 17th after vowing to run the race in its entirety.

Current career

After his stint in stock car racing, Santos returned to his roots, racing the full NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour for Bob Garbarino's Mystic Missile Racing team and a limited schedules in all three USAC divisions. Santos also made select appearances in the NEMA ranks in 2009. Santos' post-NASCAR career has been highlighted by wins in many of the nation's largest midget races, including the Turkey Night Grand Prix and Copper World Classic.

He will drive part-time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2012 for Tommy Baldwin Racing[2] and will continue to compete on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour behind the wheel of the Tinio Corporation #44.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Nationwide Series

Camping World Truck Series

1 Ineligible for series points

References

  1. ↑ Cunningham, Jason. "Last-Second Ride Nets Santos First Title". NASCAR. Retrieved November 16, 2010.
  2. ↑ "Tommy Baldwin Racing expands NNS program". NASCAR.com. Turner Sports. January 25, 2012. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
  3. ↑ "Bobby Santos III – 2007 NASCAR Nationwide Series Results". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Bobby Santos III – 2010 5-Hour Energy 250 qualifying results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Bobby Santos III – 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series Results". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Bobby Santos III – 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series Results". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Bobby Santos III – 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved December 6, 2014.

External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Donny Lia		 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Champion
2010 		Succeeded by
Ronnie Silk
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, March 21, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.