Bobby Santos III Wins Pole For Whelen Modified Tour World Series 150 At Thompson Speedway

THOMPSON – There’s no worries about collecting points, no thoughts about placement in the standings and no concerns about saving equipment for Bobby Santos III at Thompson Speedway this weekend.

Bobby Santos (Photo: Jim Rogash/Getty Images for NASCAR)

There’s a single focus for Santos when it comes to Sunday’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season ending Sunoco World Series 150 at Thompson Speedway and that’s winning. And that mission will begin from the best spot possible.

Santos, of Franklin, Mass., won the pole in qualifying Saturday at Thompson.

Santos, the defending champion of the event, toured the .625-mile Thompson Speedway oval in 18.712 seconds (120.244 mph) Saturday in time trial qualifying at Thompson.

Santos, who has missed two events this season, sits 13th in the standings.

“We’re definitely here to win and anything less than that we’ll be disappointed,” Santos said.

It was the fifth pole of the season for Santos, who has two victories this year, including a win in the Bud 150 at Thompson on Aug. 15. He also won the Spring Sizzler at Stafford Motor Speedway on April 28.

“We had a really good car in August so I think we would have been crazy to do anything different,” Santos said. “We’ve got the same setup. I think it’s not making any mistakes [Sunday] and we have a good shot at winning the race.”

Mike Stefanik of Coventry, R.I. was second fastest of the 29 cars taking time Saturday with a lap of 18.715 seconds (120.224 mph). Rowan Pennik of Huntingdon Valley, Pa. was third fastest (18.758 seconds, 119.949 mph).

Series points leader Ryan Preece will start fifth Sunday looking to clinch his first series title.