|
BOBBY SANTOS
LOOKING TO RETURN
TO WINNING WAYS AT STAFFORD |
Bobby
Santos comes to Stafford for Sunday October 1st NAPA
Fall Final on the heels of a big win at New
Hampshire Motor Speedway. With winning momentum on
his side, Santos is looking to recreate the magic he
enjoyed at Stafford from 2010-2014 when he won 6
times at Stafford, including 3 NAPA Spring Sizzlers
and 2 NAPA Fall Finals.
“Obviously a big win gets the whole team excited and
I’m looking forward to the next race,” said Santos.
“I love Stafford and I love racing there. I’ve had
past success there but lately it’s been a little
dry. Hopefully we can make up for that this
weekend.”
With Santos and the #44 Tinio Corp. team running a
reduced schedule this season, they can afford to
throw caution to the wind and do everything they can
in order to get to victory lane, whereas other
drivers might have to be a bit conservative with
their race strategies.
“We’re coming to win the race,” said Santos. “We’re
definitely not one of the guys that has to be
concerned with strategy and pit when everyone else
pits. We just have to make the best strategy to win
the race and not the best strategy to get a top-5
finish. It’s less stress on the team and less stress
on me, all we have to worry about is trying to win
the race. The guys who are in the points race are
really good and we’ll just have to approach it
thinking to win. I think we can take a gamble on the
strategy that could either get us a win or it could
be a 10th place finish where other guys have to be a
little more conservative because they need to finish
in the top-5. It’s always easy to sit here and talk
about how we need to run the race and then once the
green flag comes out things start to change by the
second. You just have to take the race as it comes
and make the best decisions you can. I’m confident
we can do that. I have a great team, a great owner,
and a good crew chief so we have all the pieces in
place to do that.”
Santos won the 2010 NWMT Championship and he has 6
wins to his credit at Stafford. But he hasn’t won a
race at Stafford since the NAPA Spring Sizzler in
2014, a situation he is hoping to remedy this
weekend.
“I think we’ve struggled the last couple of years
since they went to the spec motor and we’ve changed
chassis,” said Santos. “This year we’ve run well. We
kind of cut back what we’re doing and that has
really helped us. We ran well at Stafford last time
we were there, we were in position for a good top-5
finish and we got taken out. We’ve run well this
season and I think we can show that this weekend. To
get another Fall Final win would be pretty cool. The
traditional Spring Sizzler and Fall Final races mean
a lot. There’s a lot of history with those races and
to be in the record books again as winning one of
those races and to have your name on either one of
those trophies again is pretty cool. In general I
think doing less and being 100% every time has
helped us get back to somewhere we belong.”
With 6 Stafford victories to his credit, Santos
certainly knows what it takes to park in victory
lane at the end of 150 laps. The only drawback to
that is that with the Whelen Modified Tour making
multiple stops each season at Stafford, most of his
competitors also know what it takes to get to
victory lane.
“We’ll need to have a good car right off the trailer
and practice and qualify well, that’s half the
battle,” said Santos. “Then we just have to make
good decisions during the race and have a good
enough car to keep us up front to be in position to
go for the win. Stafford is a track that I enjoy but
pretty much everyone on the Tour knows Stafford well
because we race there so often. It’s important to
start up front to make your life easier for the
race. You can win from the back, Ryan [Preece]
showed that earlier this year but it definitely
makes things easier to start up front.”
The 2017 NAPA Auto Parts Fall Final Weekend gets
underway on Saturday, September 30th with practice
sessions for Stafford’s Whelen All-American Series
divisions, Mr. Rooter Truck Series, and the Whelen
Modified Tour. Action continues with Coors Light
Pole Qualifying for the Whelen Modified Tour cars,
along with heat and consolation races for all
divisions with feature events for the SK Light,
Limited Late Model, DARE Stock, and Mr. Rooter Truck
Series divisions wrapping up Saturday’s on track
activities. The NAPA Fall Final continues on Sunday,
October 1st with the NAPA Auto Parts Pit Party from
11am-12noon followed by a number retirement ceremony
for Ted Christopher and pre-race activities before
Stafford’s SK Modifieds® and Late Models take to the
track along with the Whelen Modified Tour in feature
action starting at 1pm.
Discount tickets for the NAPA Fall Final Weekend are
available at your local participating NAPA Auto
Parts Store. The NAPA tickets include general
admission for both days along with a lunch buffet on
Sunday, all for only $38 per person. For a list of
participating NAPA Stores, please click the
PARTICIPATING NAPA STORES link found at the top of
the
www.staffordspeedway.com
homepage.
Tickets for the NAPA Auto Parts Fall Final Weekend
are available and on sale now at the Speedway Box
Office. Tickets are priced at $40.00 for adult
general admission tickets, $5.00 for children ages
6-14, and children ages 5 and under are admitted
free of charge when accompanied by an adult.
Reserved seating will be priced at $42.00 for all
ages. All ticket prices include 10% CT Admission
Tax.
For more information on the 45th Annual NAPA Auto
Parts Fall Final, or to order tickets, contact the
Stafford Motor Speedway track office at 860-684-2783
or visit us on the web at
www.staffordspeedway.com.
|
Source:
Scott Running /
Stafford Motor Speedway
Posted:
September 26, 2017 |
|
|