Bobby Santos III

Bobby Santos III
Santos III's No. 44 car at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2016
Born	Robert Santos III (1985-10-03) October 3, 1985 Franklin, Massachusetts, U.S.
Achievements	2006 Night Before the 500 winner 2008 Turkey Night Grand Prix winner 2010 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion 2020 Little 500 winner
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
6 races run over 3 years
2012 position	92nd
Best finish	70th (2011)
First race	2007 Circuit City 250 (Richmond)
Last race	2012 Subway Jalapeño 250 (Daytona)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
1 race run over 1 year
2011 position	110th
Best finish	110th (2011)
First race	2011 F.W. Webb 175 (Loudon)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
Statistics current as of February 25, 2013.

Robert Santos III (born October 3, 1985) is an American professional racing driver from Franklin, Massachusetts. He graduated in 2004 from Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School. Santos, nicknamed "Bobby New England", is the grandson of Bobby Santos, a former modified racer. His sister, Erica Santos, is also a racecar driver. He is the cousin of former University of New Hampshire quarterback, and current head coach Ricky Santos.

Early career

Before stock cars, Santos was a successful midget racer. He raced in the Northeastern Midget Association, USAC, PRA Big Car, and ISMA. He had the most wins of any driver in the USAC National Midget Tour in 2006, collecting five wins, including a win at O'Reilly Raceway Park on the Night Before the 500. He was signed to Bill Davis Racing.

ARCA career

In 2006, Santos made his stock car debut at Iowa Speedway for Bill Davis Racing in the #02 Dodge. He started 10th and finished 6th. Bobby returned to ARCA in 2007 for Bill Davis, now in a Toyota Camry. He won Toyota's first stock car pole at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Florida. While leading the race, he was involved in an incident with a lapped car and did not finish. He returned at Nashville Superspeedway, but had a mid-pack run. At Kansas Speedway, Bobby started second, but a blown engine relegated him to another DNF. Santos broke his dry spell at Kentucky Speedway when he started fourth and finished third, behind Erik Darnell and Erin Crocker. Santos placed third in the next race at Kentucky, as well. The third-generation racer won a pole at Pocono Raceway in early August and qualified fifth at Talladega Superspeedway, but was unable to back up either with a strong finish.

NASCAR career

In 2007, Santos made his NASCAR Busch Series debut at Richmond International Raceway for the new Riley D'Hondt Motorsports team. He qualified seventh in his #91 Toyota but faded back to a thirtieth-place finish after running in the top 10 at the beginning of the race. He also qualified fourth for the Camping World 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and was running in the top 10 before being hit by a lapped car. He ran two additional races for RDHM but did not finish better than 30th.

Santos has also participated in the Whelen Modified Tour, collecting his first two wins at Thompson International Speedway in October 2007, and the Ice Breaker, also at Thompson International Speedway, in April 2010. He parlayed his season-opening Icebreaker win into the 2010 Whelen Modified Tour championship, collecting a total of four wins and four poles on the season.

Santos ran the 2011 Nationwide Series opener for Jimmy Means in what was a back-up JR Motorsports car after wrecking the 52 in practice; the Earnhardt family has a long friendship with the independent owner and former driver. Santos finished 17th after vowing to run the race in its entirety.

Current career

Santos' 2018 USAC Silvercrown car at Madison

After his stint in stock car racing, Santos returned to his roots, racing the full NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour for Bob Garbarino's Mystic Missile Racing team and a limited schedule in all three USAC divisions. Santos also made select appearances in the NEMA ranks in 2009. Santos' post-NASCAR career has been highlighted by wins in many of the nation's largest midget races, including the Turkey Night Grand Prix and Copper World Classic. He also won the 2020 Little 500 USAC Sprint car race at Anderson Speedway.

He will drive part-time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2012 for Tommy Baldwin Racing and will continue to compete on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour behind the wheel of the Tinio Corporation No. 44.

Santos registered back-to-back Musket 250 wins in 2019 and 2020.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Nationwide Series

NASCAR Nationwide Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	NNSC	Pts	Ref
2007	Riley-D'Hondt Motorsports	91	Toyota	DAY	CAL	MXC	LVS	ATL	BRI	NSH	TEX	PHO	TAL	RCH 30	DAR	CLT	DOV				NHA 33	DAY	CHI	GTY	IRP	CGV	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	DOV	KAN						98th	235
		92																NSH 37	KEN	MLW														CLT 39	MEM	TEX	PHO	HOM
2010	MacDonald Motorsports	81	Dodge	DAY	CAL	LVS	BRI	NSH	PHO	TEX	TAL	RCH	DAR	DOV	CLT	NSH	KEN	ROA	NHA	DAY	CHI	GTY	IRP	IOW	GLN	MCH	BRI	CGV	ATL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CAL	CLT	GTY QL†	TEX	PHO	HOM	NA	-
2011	Jimmy Means Racing	52	Chevy	DAY 17	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	TEX	TAL	NSH	RCH	DAR	DOV	IOW	CLT	CHI	MCH	ROA	DAY	KEN	NHA	NSH	IRP	IOW	GLN	CGV	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI	DOV	KAN	CLT	TEX	PHO	HOM		70th	27
2012	Tommy Baldwin Racing	36	Chevy	DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	TEX	RCH	TAL	DAR	IOW	CLT	DOV	MCH	ROA	KEN	DAY 33	NHA	CHI	IND	IOW	GLN	CGV	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI	KEN	DOV	CLT	KAN	TEX	PHO	HOM			91st	11
† - Qualified for Michael McDowell

Camping World Truck Series

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	NCWTC	Pts	Ref
2011	Norm Benning Racing	75	Chevy	DAY	PHO	DAR	MAR	NSH	DOV	CLT	KAN	TEX	KEN	IOW	NSH	IRP	POC	MCH	BRI	ATL	CHI	NHA 34	KEN	LVS	TAL	MAR	TEX	HOM	110th	01

¹ Ineligible for series points

Whelen Modified Tour

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour results
Year	Car owner	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	NWMTC	Pts	Ref
2001	Info not available			SBO	TMP	STA	WFD	NZH	STA	RIV	SEE	RCH	NHA	HOL	RIV	CHE	TMP	STA	WFD	TMP	STA DNQ	MAR DNQ		N/A	0
	Info not available	97																					TMP DNQ
2004	Joe Brady	00	Chevy	TMP 30	STA 32	WFD 22	NZH	STA	RIV	LER	BLL	BEE 28	NHA	SEE 9	RIV	STA 14	TMP 28	WFD	TMP	NHA	STA			37th	804
		34																				TMP 6
2005	Info not available	14		TMP	STA	RIV	WFD	STA	JEN	NHA	BEE	SEE	RIV	STA	TMP	WFD	MAR	TMP	NHA	STA DNQ	TMP			N/A	0
2006	Jeffrey Preece	40	Chevy	TMP	STA	JEN	TMP	STA	NHA 29	HOL	RIV	STA	TMP	MAR	TMP	NHA	WFD	TMP	STA					66th	76
2007	Jan Boehler	3	Chevy	TMP 32	STA 32	WTO	STA	TMP 3	NHA 7	TSA	RIV	STA 32	TMP 35	MAN	MAR 20	NHA 4	TMP 4	STA 9	TMP 1*					25th	1311
2008	Joe Brady	00	Chevy	TMP 35	STA	STA																		31st	781
	Bobby Santos	98	Chevy				TMP 8	NHA 6	SPE	RIV	STA	TMP 3	MAN	TMP 6	NHA 38	MAR	CHE	STA	TMP 32
2009		96		TMP	STA	STA	NHA	SPE	RIV	STA	BRI	TMP	NHA 37	MAR	STA	TMP 27								50th	134
2010	Robert Garbarino	4	Dodge	TMP 1*	STA 2	STA 1	MAR 1	NHA 4	LIM 17	MND 5	RIV 9	STA 23	TMP 3	BRI 3	NHA 19	STA 1	TMP 6							1st	2180
2011				TMP 33	STA 1*	STA 3	MND 15	TMP 4	NHA 12	RIV 9	STA 3	NHA 6*	BRI 18	DEL 11	TMP 13	LRP 17	NHA 18	STA 27	TMP 2					8th	2133
2012	Sully Tinio	44	Chevy	TMP 17	STA	MND	STA 2*	WFD	NHA 11	STA 27	TMP 8	BRI	TMP 2	RIV	NHA 28	STA 1	TMP 1							20th	310
2013				TMP 18																				13th	421
	Mike Curb		Chevy		STA 1*	STA 5	WFD 5	RIV	NHA 24	MND	STA 4	TMP 1*	BRI 21	RIV 25	NHA 4	STA 9	TMP 4*
2014				TMP 18	STA 1*	STA 3	WFD 1	RIV 10	NHA 1	MND 11	STA 12	TMP 25	BRI 2*	NHA 8	STA 12	TMP 28								6th	458
2015				TMP 3	STA 11	WFD 6	STA 5	TMP 6	RIV 20	NHA 3	MND 22	STA 9	TMP 23	BRI 5	RIV	NHA 3	STA 20	TMP 16						11th	467
2016				TMP 13	STA 7	WFD 26	STA 8	TMP 1	RIV 12	NHA 27	MND 20	STA 17	TMP 3	BRI 7	RIV 28	OSW 13	SEE 5	NHA 26	STA 18	TMP 15				12th	507
2017	Sully Tinio		Chevy	MYR	THO 4	STA	LGY	THO 3	RIV	NHA 1	STA 11	THO 5					NHA 1	STA 8	THO 29					16th	334
	Mike Curb	77	Chevy										BRI 9	SEE	OSW	RIV
2018	Sully Tinio	44	Chevy	MYR	THO 9	STA 12	SEE	THO Wth	LGY	RIV	NHA 1	STA 22	THO 5	BRI	OSW	RIV	NHA 22	STA 23	THO 8					25th	256
2019	Judy Thilberg	36	Dodge	MYR	SBO	TMP	STA	WAL	SEE	TMP	RIV	NHA 24					NHA 1	STA 7	TMP 4					24th	241
			Chevy										STA 8	TMP 23	OSW 5	RIV
2020		63		JEN	WMM	WMM	JEN	MND	TMP	NHA 1	STA	TMP												35th	47
2021		44		MAR	STA	RIV	JEN	OSW	RIV	NHA 8	NRP	STA	BEE	OSW 6	RCH 23	RIV	STA 24							29th	115
2022	Lawney Tinio			NSM	RCH 17	RIV	LEE	JEN	MND	RIV	WAL	NHA 13	CLM	TMP	LGY	OSW 8	RIV	TMP 10	MAR 4					26th	168
2023				NSM	RCH	MON	RIV	LEE	SEE	RIV	WAL	NHA 27	LMP	THO 6	LGY	OSW 3	MON	RIV	NWS 9	THO 5	MAR 28			26th	186
2024	Joe Stearns	14	Chevy	NSM	RCH 4																			39th	94
	Lawney Tinio	44	Chevy			THO 21	MON	RIV	SEE	NHA	MON	LMP	THO
	Boehler Racing Enterprises	3	Chevy											OSW 13	RIV	MON	THO	NWS	MAR

ARCA Re/Max Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Re/Max Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	ARSC	Pts	Ref
2006	Bill Davis Racing	02	Dodge	DAY	NSH	SLM	WIN	KEN	TOL	POC	MCH	KAN	KEN	BLN	POC	GTW	NSH	MCH	ISF	MIL	TOL	DSF	CHI	SLM	TAL	IOW 6	108th	200
2007			Toyota	DAY	USA 33*	NSH 18	SLM	KAN 32	WIN	KEN 3	TOL	IOW	POC	MCH	BLN	KEN 3	POC 34	NSH	ISF	MIL	GTW	DSF	CHI	SLM			40th	835
		20																							TAL 41	TOL

Superstar Racing Experience

(key) * – Most laps led. ¹ – Heat 1 winner. ² – Heat 2 winner.

Superstar Racing Experience results
Year	No.	1	2	3	4	5	6	SRXC	Pts
2021	22	STA	KNX	ELD	IRP 5	SLG	NSV	17th	28

^* Season still in progress

External links

• Bobby Santos III driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Bobby Santos at USAC Racing