Riley-D'Hondt debuts team at Richmond with Santos (cont'd)

Santos, 21, has made an auspicious debut in three ARCA starts this season, winning the Pork Pole Award for his debut at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Fla., and qualifying on the outside of the front row in his first trip to Kansas Speedway, last weekend.

Santos, who made a mark in a variety of open-wheel divisions including Midgets, Sprint Cars and Supermodifieds, led the most laps in Lakeland, a .750-mile short track that's similar to Richmond and also led at Kansas before his car's engine failed.

David Green

Busch stats

Starts	383
Wins	9
Top-5s	72
Top-10s	144
Poles	22
Avg. Start	15.3
Avg. Finish	16.3
Titles	1 (1994)

• Complete stats: click here

"He's very talented," D'Hondt said of Santos. "He's a young man who, when we tested at Richmond last month was quickest, and he had never been in a Busch car before."

After getting on the track for the first time this weekend after eight months of negotiating with sponsors and other factions, D'Hondt said Riley-D'Hondt's future will be exposed in a rush.

"We're planning to make a fairly significant announcement during Charlotte Speedweeks, where we're planning to have two Toyota Camrys on track," D'Hondt said. "Part of that announcement will be that we'll run a package of races with Bobby and David Green."

The team has registered Busch car numbers 91 and 92 with NASCAR Competition for this season.

D'Hondt cited Joe Gibbs Racing's highly regarded driver development program, which has harvested Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, J.J. Yeley and Aric Almirola; along with having 16-year-old Joey Logano, who's won the first two NASCAR Grand National Division events this season and Marc Davis, as their model for working with Santos.

"It remains to be seen how he develops," D'Hondt said. "But from a driver's standpoint, the key to bringing along young people is putting them in good equipment and surrounding them with good people -- then [the result is] you get people like Denny Hamlin.

"The Gibbs people have done a good job with that and that's what Bill Davis and [BDR competition director] Tommy Baldwin's goal is with Bobby. They have a very talented young man and with David Green working on coaching him, we're going to do all we can to raise him and we'll see how he develops."