Better Late Than Never For Santos At NHMS

Bobby Santos celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the Eastern Propane and Oil 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday. Mike Ivins/NASCAR

By Kyle Souza, NASCARHomeTracks.com

LOUDON, N.H. -- For much of Saturday's Eastern Propane & Oil 100, Bobby Santos was riding in the middle of the pack. The Franklin, Massachusetts, driver began his charge with 15 laps to go and then took advantage of overtime to drive to Victory Lane at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

It was Santos' 15th career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win and second at the 1.058-mile oval.

"It's pretty awesome to win here at New Hampshire," Santos said. "I'm really excited for my team -- Tinio Racing and everyone that got us here. The guys gave me a great car. They put me in position. I had a great long run car there at the end and I had a good battle with Ryan Preece."

This one came with plenty of late-race drama.

Santos was locked in a four-race battle for the lead with Doug Coby, Ryan Preece and Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Newman. Newman and Coby got together with two laps to go when Newman tried to split the difference between Coby and Santos and take second. The caution pushed the race to 105 laps and gave Santos the opportunity to make a run at Preece, who won Friday's 35-lap non-points Whelen All-Star Shootout.

On the final green flag, Santos' No. 44 Tinio Racing/ImperialCars.com Chevrolet powered by Preece from the bottom lane and drove away in the final two circuits. 

Santos led just those two laps. He started second, but dropped back early and had to work back through the traffic in the middle of the race.

Preece, who led a race-high 54 laps, settled for second. It was the fifth top-five in six races for the Berlin, Connecticut driver and helped him close the gap to just 39 points to the top of the championship standings despite missing a race. 

David Sapienza also made a late charge through the field and finished third, giving him his second straight podium finish on the Whelen Modified Tour. Brendon Bock scored a fourth place finish while Chase Dowling rounded out the top five. 

Andy Seuss was sixth, followed by Ted Christopher, Max Zachem, Rowan Pennink and Shawn Solomito. Timmy Solomito, who entered the weekend as the points leader, was involved in a multiple-car crash at Lap 20 that took him out of the race. Pennink moved into first by seven over Timmy Solomito, with Eric Goodale 22 points behind. Max Zachem and Justin Bonsignore round out the top five, while Preece is sixth.

There were 16 lead changes among four different drivers. 

The Eastern Propane And Oil 100 will air on NBCSN on Thursday, July 20, at 6 p.m. 

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will return to the track at Connecticut's Stafford Motor Speedway on Friday, August 4.

Fin	Str	Car	Driver	Team	Laps	Points	B/Points	Status
1	2	44	Bobby Santos	Tinio Racing/ImperialCars.com Chevrolet	105	47	4	Running
2	1	6	Ryan Preece	Simoniz Wax Chevrolet	105	44	2	Running
3	17	36	Dave Sapienza	Sapienza Enterprise Chevrolet	105	41		Running
4	18	29	Brendon Bock	Meadow Brook Collision Chevrolet	105	40		Running
5	9	15	Chase Dowling	15-40 Connection Chevrolet	105	39		Running
6	15	70	Andy Seuss	Rockingham Boat Chevrolet	105	38		Running
7	20	82	Ted Christopher	Horton Avenue Materials Chevrolet	105	37		Running
8	5	20	Max Zachem	Course Legend/Robert B Our Chevrolet	105	36		Running
9	7	3	Rowan Pennink	Cape Cod Copper Chevrolet	105	35		Running
10	22	48	Shawn Solomito	Eastport Feeds Chevrolet	105	34		Running
11	8	2	Doug Coby	Mayhew Tools/Dunleavy/AJ Romano Chevrolet	105	34	1	Running
12	19	21	Ronnie Williams *	Gershow Recycling Chevrolet	105	32		Running
13	23	46	Woody Pitkat	Riverhead Building Supply Chevrolet	105	31		Running
14	24	5	Kyle Ebersole	Ebersole Excavating Chevrolet	105	30		Running
15	13	58	Eric Goodale	GAF Roofing Chevrolet	105	29		Running
16	25	24	Andrew Krause	Supreme Manufacturing Chevrolet	105	28		Running
17	10	51	Justin Bonsignore	Phoenix Communications Inc. Chevrolet	104	27		Running
18	27	99	Jamie Tomaino	Dunleavy's Repair/Atlantic Sprinkler Chevrolet	104	26		Running
19	28	39	Calvin Carroll *	Power with Prestige/Cruising w/Betty Chevrolet	104	25		Running
20	26	97	Bryan Dauzat	O.B. Builders Chevrolet	104	24		Running
21	21	64	Rob Summers	Hoosier Tire East/Fast Track Elect/Hughes Motors	104	23		Running
22	30	1	Melissa Fifield	Eastern Propane & Oil Chevrolet	100	22		Running
23	4	77	Ryan Newman	Curb Records Chevrolet	98	22	1	Accident
24	31	38	Dave Salzarulo	Perf Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan's Chevrolet	98	20		Handling
25	3	85	Todd Szegedy	Stuarts Automotiive/J&R Pre-Cast Chevrolet	69	19		Battery
26	14	7	Donny Lia	Bardahl Chevrolet	59	18		Engine
27	29	33	Wade Cole	Perf. Engines/Kendall Oil Chevrolet	45	17		Transmission
28	16	89	Matt Swanson	Starrett Tools Ford	43	16		Engine
29	12	16	Timmy Solomito	Starrett Tools Ford	19	15		Accident
30	11	00	Ron Silk	Brady Bunch Racing Chevrolet	18	14		Accident
31	6	07	Patrick Emerling	Buffalo Auto Auction Chevrolet	18	13		Accident

RACE STATISTICS

Fastest Qualifier: None. Qualifying rained out.
Time of Race: 1 hrs., 16 mins, 27 secs Average Speed: 87.186 mph Margin of Victory: 0.652 Seconds
Caution Flags: Laps 4-6 (Car #48/#70  turn 1 & 2, no FP); 13-16 (Competition caution, no FP); 19-22 (Multiple car frontstretch, no FP); 51-53 (Competition caustion, FP#15); 99-102 (Car #77/#2 turn 4, FP #24).  5 for 18 laps.
Lap Leaders: Ryan Preece 1-2, Ryan Newman 3-11, Ryan Preece 12-23, Ryan Newman 24-29, Ryan Preece 30-44, Ryan Newman 45-54, Ryan Preece 55-56, Ryan Newman 57-61, Ryan Preece 62-75, Ryan Newman 76-81, Doug Coby 82-84, Ryan Preece 85, Ryan Newman 86, Ryan Preece 87, Doug Coby 88-96, Ryan Preece 97-103, Bobby Santos 104-105.
Total Laps Led: Ryan Preece 54, Ryan Newman 37, Doug Coby 12, Bobby Santos 2.  16 changes involving 4 drivers.

Top 10 Driver Points: Rowan Pennink 276, Timmy Solomito 269, Eric Goodale 254, Max Zachem 247, Justin Bonsignore 243, Ryan Preece 237, Doug Coby 234, Dave Sapienza 224, Woody Pitkat 223, Matt Swanson 213

Next Race:Stafford Motor Speedway

* Denotes Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender