Coming off a win last in Kalamazoo, MI, and breaking out from the back field Bobby Santos III, worked his way up from 13th to fifth place by the midway break of the Rotondo Wierich Shootout at Richmond International Raceway.  Santos went on to take the lead on lap 44 of the 60 lap race and held off Darren Hagan to make the trip to victory lane.

Change was the dominant factor that led to victory for Santos, whose new car had timed dead last leading up to this race.  “We adjusted everything on the race car,” Santos said.  “We did everything we could and worked well together and did what we needed to win.  We were way overdue for a new race car.  Our old race car is beat up; and we circled the calendar for this race to break out that car.  My dad wanted to throw our old car away, and we ended up going out and winning with it last week.”

With back to back USAC Sprint car wins, Santos became the second multi-time winner this season behind Cole Whitt (with three wins). With two Midget class wins in a row as well Santos has now moved to the front of his field. 

As Santos moved to the front of the pack he battled the #9 Ollie’s white and red of Brad Sweet, which started from the pole position and led a majority of the laps.

As the race resumed from the half break, Santos continued gaining ground, and by lap 42 thundered past Jerry Coons Jr. and Hagen by banking high off of turn one with the rest of the field taking it low.  Lap 44 marked the turn of the tide for Santos, as he overtook East, then Sweet to take and build his lead.

Although a caution flag due to #17 Shane Himiel’s smoking engine caused the field to tighten up in Lap 48, Santos refusing to relinquish his lead, broke away from the field leaving the others behind to battle for second and third place. 

Hagen overtook Sweet for third in lap 49, then shot past East in the next, to hold on to second.  Following Hagen, Sweet overtook East in lap 52; and #67k Whitt managed to edge out Coons for fourth place by lap 58.

Winning here in Richmond is very significant for Santos. “This race means a lot to me,” he said. “We should have won a few times, and I made a mistake one year that cost us the win.  The car broke another year that cost us the win.  My very first Sprint car start was here, and I ran fourth from 17th.  This track means a lot to me; and to finally get a Sprint car win means everything to me. 

“We came in here overconfident with our set up, and I think the track was a lot different than what we expected,” he added. “We ended up changing a lot, and my dad did an awesome job making the right calls and I’m just excited that we finally won here.”

“The very, very beginning of the race, I thought, ‘We’re going to be pretty good.’  Then about half-way through the first 30, I thought, ‘We’re a second or third place car here.’  Even at the end, I caught two leaders and got to third.  They got away, then I started getting them back and that’s when I got confident that I had a shot at winning.  It’s never over ‘til that checkered flag waves.  I had Keith Kunz’s car right behind me with Darren Hagen driving.  You can never count those guys out.  They do an awesome job here.  They’ve won here before.  It’s not over ‘til you’ve seen those flags.  I was leading this race with 10 to go, going away, and we broke the drive line.  This race, especially, is never over ‘til the flags fall.”

Santos, to be ensure his win instructed his pit crew to let him know if Hagen got within two car lengths of him to spur him on to keep his lead.  Santos finished at least six lengths of the others.