BY MARK DeCOTIS
FLORIDA TODAY

DAYTONA BEACH - Road racing and sports car ace Boris Said knows he can run with NASCAR's big boys if he only got more chances.

Last season, thanks to rain and the vagaries of NASCAR's qualifying procedures, Said saw three chances at either a pole position or a solid starting spot go away and, since he is out of the top 35 in owner points, he faces the same challenges this season.

But it is what it is and Said will give it its best shot. He and his No Fear Racing team will attempt to qualify for five Sprint Cup races and three in NASCAR's second-tier Nationwide Series. That's all the team's budget will support, but he's talking to other potential sponsors and evaluating what other possibilities exist for him to be even more active.

The elephant in the room remains the limited number of starting positions available in Sprint Cup races, especially for the big one, the 50th running of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 17.

"The big worry for us is that realistically there are only six spots available . . . because somebody is gonna take a past champion's provisional and Kurt Busch is probably gonna race his way in," Said told Ford Racing.

"He'll be fast enough to make it and there are six Toyotas that seem to be pretty fast that are in the go or go home group, so that kind of leaves us behind the eight-ball right now. We're just working hard trying to find something to get some speed."

Said has been successful in Daytona qualifying, winning the pole for the 2006 Pepsi 400 and being rained out of a starting position while on the provisional pole for the 2007 400. He also showed he can race on the big 2.5-mile trioval, finishing fourth in the 400 in 2006.

But, he's not deterred.

"It's really tough for a part-time team to get in these races, so that's our No. 1 goal," he said. "Just to make this race would feel like a win.

"All I do is approach every race the same. I wish I could race every weekend, but the races we do make, we're gonna do everything we can to get the best finish possible. The No. 1 goal for us, though, is always just to make the races."

And then there's the whole money issue as expenses continue to exceed the reach for the less fully-funded teams.

"I guess it's really expensive now," Said said. "This sport has evolved to where it's not cheap and I don't really know what the problem is, but we're not gonna get deterred by it. Our No. 1 goal is that we're gonna be a full-time team eventually, whether I'm driving or not. That's the plan for No Fear Racing and I think we have everything in place. We have a great relationship with Roush and Yates with the engines, so we have all the pieces in place to be one of the top teams, we just need to keep getting better and better."

Heading into Wednesday's final Cup test session, Said had the 50th best cumulative speed, 182.771 mph, among the 56 drivers who were on track during the two weeks.

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

DMF Communications For Boris Said, Press Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 6, 2008) -- When it comes to qualifying for the Daytona 500, Boris Said hopes the odds will be with him after experiencing an unusual amount of bad luck in his last three NASCAR Sprint Cup weekends.

The 45-year-old free spirit will attempt to start his third Daytona 500 on Feb. 17, driving a newly-sponsored No. 60 7-Eleven Slurpee Ford Fusion.

But before the green flag drops for NASCAR's most prestigious race, Said, a part-time racer, will have to exorcise a couple of demons to break his recent qualifying jinx.

During the Daytona summer race in July, Said appeared to have the pole locked up for the Pepsi 400. But with only 12 drivers remaining to qualify, a thunderstorm swept through the area, forcing NASCAR officials to cancel qualifying and set the starting field by owner points.

Instead of earning the No. 1 starting position, which would have also earned him an invitation to Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout (Feb. 9), Said packed his belongings and headed home to Southern California.

"You talk about being deflated -- I was definitely in the dumps -- we went from hero to zero in a short time," recalled Said. “It was like we got pick-pocketed and couldn’t do a thing about it. Not being in the Bud Shootout was the biggest loss.”

Unfortunately, it didn't get any better for Said.

At his next Cup event at the Watkins Glen road course in August, Said, one of the foremost road racers in the world, would have easily qualified. But rain arrived at the wrong time again and qualifying was canceled with owner points setting the starting field.

Though Said was later offered and accepted to drive the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford in the Watkins Glen race, his No. 60 No Fear team took another heart-wrenching exit from the track.

"After Watkins Glen, I thought it couldn't get any worse for our team, but a few months later it did and I was dealt another crushing blow," offered Said.

Said was referring to his shocking misfortune at Talladega Superspeedway, where he qualified 10th overall. But a 10th place effort on that day was not good enough to make the 43-car show. The first nine qualifiers were also drivers who needed to qualify on time. Under NASCAR rules, only eight teams outside the top 35 in points earn a starting berth.

"My last three Cup races were major letdowns,” noted Said. “It’s time for the luck cycle to change because the Daytona 500 is going to be one tough race to qualify. It was evident in preseason testing that there are a number of ‘Go, or Go-Home’ cars capable of producing some vary fast speeds.

“My heart says we should nail a starting spot on Pole Day (Feb. 10), but my brain says our best shot to qualify our 7-Eleven Slurpee Ford will be in the 150 race (Feb. 14)."

Except for last summer’s debacle at Daytona, Said and crew chief Frank Stoddard have enjoyed success at the famed 2.5-mile tri-oval. Said won the Cup pole in the 2006 summer race and was fourth fastest the summer before.

In last year’s Pole Day for the 500, Said posted the fastest time among teams not automatically qualified. He also qualified on Pole Day in his first attempt at the 500 in 2005, claiming the 11th fastest speed overall.

“I feel like an underdog and that’s okay with me,” explained Said. “I think the New York Giants already set the tone that this will be the year of the underdog.”

This Press Release and any images that are used,
are used with permission. Do not duplicate or
redistribute in any form without permission or credit.

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.