Santos rallies from No. 13 start to win Sprint Series race

After a victory in Michigan last week, Bobby Santos dumped his car for a new one.

The superstitious might cringe at that thought, but Santos had an encore ready, riding his new car to victory last night in the Rotondo Weirich Sprint Series Showdown.

"The old car was beat up and it was time for a new one," he said. "We'd had the car built with this race in mind."

Santos got his first series start in Richmond four years ago, but in the years since has always fallen short at RIR, a race he said he felt he should have won a long time ago.

Hubris almost did him in again yesterday, as he qualified in 13th place out of 17 cars. He chipped away at the leaders for the first 30 laps. Then, at the pit stop, he worked with his dad, Bobby Santos Jr., to change "everything" on his car.

"We came here a little bit overconfident about our setup," he said. "But during the race, we felt like we had a car that could win."

He claimed the lead on lap 44, then held off pole sitter Brad Sweet, the race's only other leader, to claim the checkered flag.

The big player early in the race was Bobby East, who started in eighth place. After gaining a spot, he made his big move on the eighth lap, passing two cars to move into fifth, then following that up with another pass on the ninth lap.

About 10 laps later he struck again, trying to edge past Jerry Coons Jr. by using the outside lane. Two-wide racing was the winning formula, and East moved himself into the top three.

His car was moving and he was determined to strike, pushing past Cole Whitt in Turn Two to claim second place. Sweet's margin kept him in first and East in second into the restart.

East wasn't much of a factor after that, finishing in sixth place. Sweet, who led the first 44 laps, finished in third after losing a late-race duel with Darren Hagen.

The race was run with just one caution, in front of a crowd of a few hundred that stayed until nearly 10:40 for the finish after a full day of IRL activities. The late time didn't bother Santos, who savored his victory.

"I feel like I should have won here three times already," he said. "To get the win means a lot."