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By Travis Barrett/NASCAR
THOMPSON, Conn. – It was all about the little guys on Sunday at
Thompson International Speedway.
In a part-time ride, former NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion
Bobby Santos won the Sunoco-Town Fair Tire World Series 150 for his
second consecutive win to close out the season, while Doug Coby
celebrated his first career championship with a team that was making
just its first foray into fielding a full-time ride on the Tour.
There might be bigger teams, bigger budgets and even bigger star
power in other corners of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, but
Sunday served notice that there are plenty of smaller operations
with the know-how to get the job done – both on race day and over
the long haul of a six-month season.
“When (team owner Wayne Darling) decided to go full-time, it really
had to do with the schedule that NASCAR put together,” Coby said.
“If it was the same schedule as last year, he would not have gone
full-time. We just got lucky that it was spread out more. He looked
at it with his crew chief and said, 'We can do this with our two
cars and our two motors and we'll be fine.
“Let's take a shot at it.'
It obviously worked out, as Coby won five of the 14 races on the
season. His sixth-place finish on Sunday in the Sunoco-Town Fair
Tire 150 gave him his 11th Top-10 of the season along with eight
Top-5s.
Santos spent the last two years with Bob Garbarino's Mystic Missile
team, a fixture on the Tour since its inception in the 1980s. This
year, replaced in that seat by two-time series champion Donny Lia,
he was sent looking for gainful employment in the Modified ranks.
He found it with a part-time team in Tinio Racing. How high were the
odds stacked against the No. 44 this year? Santos said when they
agreed to purchase a Tour Modified from his father, they originally
they thought they were buying an SK Modified that would have
competed in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series at Thompson.
Still, Santos believed the team could surprise people, especially
after an eye-opening pole and second-place finish at Stafford Motor
Speedway in May.
“They have all the right pieces, and they're just giving me a really
great race car,” said Santos, a two-time winner of the World Series.
“The biggest thing is that they work with me, and they listen to me,
and they believe in me.
“That's something I need, and it means a lot that this team believes
in me.”
Santos, who has filled his summer schedule the last few years with a
slew of open-wheel sprint and midget races, used that belief to fuel
his efforts on the Whelen Modified Tour. Despite winning the 2010
series championship, Santos said he has still had to learn how to be
a different kind of driver in a Modified.
On Sunday, he used that mentality to power past the leaders for the
win.
“I don't feel like I drive like a Modified driver. I feel I'm an
open-wheel style driver, and I try to race really clean,” Santos
said. “The way this Modified racing is right now, you have to be
really aggressive and you've got to use the nerf bars a little more.
I hate doing it, but I did it a couple of times in today's race
where I would normally never do that. But if you want to win in this
series right now, the way it is, you have to race like that.”
Even in victory, it didn't feel natural to Santos – who also won at
Stafford Motor Speedway two weeks ago to give Tinio Racing its first
Tour win as an organization.
“I felt horrible,” Santos said. “I was just talking to (third-place
finish Todd Szegedy), and he said, 'That's nothing what you did to
me.' I guess I'm just kind of out of my league with this racing.
It's just not my style.
“I always feel like I'm the one getting shoved around, but today I
had too good of a race car to let people push me around. I just did
what it took to get to Victory Lane.”
And in doing so, he rewarded his team with its second victory to
close out a 2012 season that was remarkable for the success found by
the little guys.
Coby's title was the ultimate illustration of that.
“As far as putting the pieces of the puzzle together, I knew that
this team had good motors and they had a good cars,” Coby said. “The
first time I drove this car, we should have won the World Series
here in 2010. That was a dominant performance by that car, where a
part broke and we finished third.
“That's where the story started. That's where we kind of all knew,
'Wow. This could be good.'”
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
| Fin |
Str |
Car |
Driver |
Team |
Laps |
Points |
B/Points |
Status |
| 1 |
2 |
44 |
Bobby
Santos |
Imperialcars.com/Tino Corp. Chevrolet |
150 |
47 |
4 |
Running |
| 2 |
4 |
16 |
Ryan
Preece |
East
West Marine/Diversified Metals Ford |
150 |
44 |
2 |
Running |
| 3 |
14 |
2 |
Todd
Szegedy |
Dunleavy
Repair/A&J Romano Const. Ford |
150 |
42 |
1 |
Running |
| 4 |
6 |
66 |
Mike
Stefanik |
Town
Line Farm/Cady's Tavern Chevrolet |
150 |
40 |
|
Running |
| 5 |
7 |
45 |
Eric
Beers |
Horwith
Freightliner/John Blewett Inc Ford |
150 |
39 |
|
Running |
| 6 |
9 |
52 |
Doug
Coby |
Reynolds
Auto Wrkg/Furnace & Duct Chevrolet |
150 |
38 |
|
Running |
| 7 |
15 |
10 |
Tommy
Barrett, Jr. * |
Friends
of Teto Racing/Make-A-Wish Chevrolet |
150 |
37 |
|
Running |
| 8 |
18 |
07 |
Patrick
Emerling |
Emerling
Chevrolet Dealership Chevrolet |
150 |
36 |
|
Running |
| 9 |
19 |
3 |
Keith
Rocco * |
Cape Cod
Copper/Silver Dollar Const. Chevrolet |
150 |
35 |
|
Running |
| 10 |
11 |
79 |
Woody
Pitkat |
Hill
Enterprises/Coors Light Pontiac |
150 |
34 |
|
Running |
| 11 |
3 |
6 |
Ron Silk |
T.S.Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet |
150 |
33 |
|
Running |
| 12 |
21 |
9 |
Tom
Rogers, Jr. |
Planet
Earth Recycling & Recovery Chevrolet |
150 |
32 |
|
Running |
| 13 |
23 |
82 |
Ted
Christopher |
M&T
Enterprises Ford |
150 |
31 |
|
Running |
| 14 |
13 |
88 |
Bryon
Chew |
Buzz
Chew Chevrolet/Elbow East Chevrolet |
150 |
30 |
|
Running |
| 15 |
1 |
46 |
Eric
Berndt |
Cape Cod
Agts/North End Auto Parts Chevrolet |
150 |
30 |
1 |
Running |
| 16 |
8 |
76 |
Jimmy
Blewett |
John
Blewett Inc./Ed Bennett Prop. Chevrolet |
150 |
28 |
|
Running |
| 17 |
20 |
64 |
Ron
Yuhas, Jr. |
Hughes
Motors/Complete Construction Chevrolet |
150 |
27 |
|
Running |
| 18 |
12 |
4 |
Donny
Lia |
Mystic
Missile Racing Dodge |
150 |
27 |
1 |
Running |
| 19 |
5 |
51 |
Justin
Bonsignore |
M3
Technology Chevrolet |
150 |
25 |
|
Running |
| 20 |
22 |
99 |
Jamie
Tomaino |
Supreme
Manufacturing Chevrolet |
148 |
24 |
|
Engine |
| 21 |
28 |
33 |
Wade
Cole |
Perf.
Engines/Kendall Oil,/Ryan's Chevrolet |
148 |
23 |
|
Running |
| 22 |
25 |
28 |
Ed
Flemke, Jr. |
Ron
Bouchard's Autos/Raceworks TV Chevrolet |
146 |
22 |
|
Running |
| 23 |
27 |
58 |
Eric
Goodale |
Riverhead Building Supply Chevrolet |
145 |
21 |
|
Running |
| 24 |
32 |
57 |
Shawn
Solomito * |
Acme
Sanitary Svc/Empower Capital Chevrolet |
137 |
20 |
|
Running |
| 25 |
30 |
68 |
Johnny
Bush |
Two
Brothers Scrap Metal Chevrolet |
136 |
19 |
|
Running |
| 26 |
16 |
71 |
Rob
Fuller |
Draco
Springs Ford |
123 |
18 |
|
Accident |
| 27 |
29 |
18 |
Ken
Heagy |
Buoy One
Seafood/MacLad Drywall Ford |
88 |
17 |
|
Running |
| 28 |
31 |
38 |
Steve
Dickey * |
Perf.
Engines/Kendall Oil,/Ryan's Chevrolet |
64 |
16 |
|
Oil
Pressure |
| 29 |
24 |
93 |
Rowan
Pennink |
Monk
Mechanics Hand Cleaner Chevrolet |
50 |
15 |
|
Suspension |
| 30 |
17 |
50 |
Kevin
Goodale |
Heritage
Wide Plank Flooring Chevrolet |
41 |
14 |
|
Accident |
| 31 |
26 |
73 |
Cole
Powell * |
Tricar/Copps
BuildAll Chevrolet |
34 |
13 |
|
Accident |
| 32 |
10 |
11 |
Andy
Seuss |
Rahmoc
Racing Eng/Phoenix Pre-Owned Chevrolet |
29 |
12 |
|
Accident |
RACE STATISTICS
Fastest Qualifier: Eric Berndt, Time: 18.607 Seconds,
Speed: 120.922 mph
Time of Race: 1 hrs., 15 mins, 39 secs Average Speed: 74.356
mph Margin of Victory: 0.367 Seconds
Caution Flags: Laps 8-10; 21-24; 30-37; 39-42; 79-84; 115-120;
124-127; 137-139. 8 for 38 laps.
Lap Leaders: Eric Berndt 1-2, Ryan Preece 3-48, Donny Lia 49-82,
Ryan Preece 83-92, Todd Szegedy 93-129, Bobby Santos 130-150.
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The No. 52 team celebrates on pit road after
Doug Coby clinches the 2012 title.
Fran Lawlor/NASCAR |
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