Will somebody put Said in a full-time Cup ride?

Let's go down the list together:

• Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- NASCAR's most popular driver who admits without road-course help he would know nothing about the serpentine stops.

• Send Josh your thoughts ...

• Carl Edwards -- The fifth-place finisher at Sonoma and sixth-place finisher at Watkins Glen.

• Kasey Kahne -- The Cup Series' heart throb who started second at Watkins Glen and was on the fringe of a top-10 run until he went off course on the final lap and lost 10 spots.

• Kevin Harvick -- 2006 Watkins Glen winner.

There's more -- 25 to be exact. Twenty-five drivers have received help from Boris Said when it comes to road-course racing.

Just last week while champion Jimmie Johnson was breaking wrists in a celebrity golf tournament and other NASCAR big-timers were off somewhere lounging in Paris or fishing in Mexico, Said was driving back from Road Atlanta after a day of training Busch Series driver Steve Wallace how to properly navigate the curves of a road course.

That's what Said does: he teaches. Nextel Cup owners -- most notably Jack Roush and Ray Evernham -- ask for Said's help in training their young thoroughbreds the ways of road racing, and Said freely obliges.

His payment: Engines from Roush and a five-race Busch deal from Evernham for 2007.

"It's fun most of the time just to see how different teams run," Said said of lending his knowledge to anybody who asks. "It's not much fun sitting in the passenger seat of a Cup car, though."

Yet when it comes to being offered a full-time ride of his own, Said's phone isn't ringing.

"Jack didn't call me up and ask if I wanted to drive the 6 car, if that's what you mean," he said. "That would've been a dream come true for me."

Any opportunity would be a dream. It's not much fun for him watching as hoards preach that NASCAR's talent pool from which to draw has dried up. Or to watch as Driver X, labeled as "the next Denny Hamlin" or "the next Carl Edwards" flounders in the back of the pack when he knows he can do better. He'd never say that, though.

Put simply, Boris Said is a Cup driver without a ride. He teaches although he doesn't have a job. He's relied upon for his experience although it's the lack thereof that keeps Said from being behind the wheel.

"Absolutely, that's my No. 1 goal," Said said of possibly driving full time some day. "The chances are slim, but I want to be a full-time Cup driver."

He made four starts in 2006 and had two top-10s. He would've had a third at Watkins Glen when he crossed the finish line in sixth, but NASCAR slapped him with a 30-second penalty after the race for passing through the track's inner loop on the final lap. So penalties aside, it was three top-10s in four starts.

That's the same as both J.J. Yeley and Robby Gordon, who ran all 36 races. And it's more than (take a deep breath) Dave Blaney, Joe Nemechek. Jeff Green, Ken Schrader, Kyle Petty, Sterling Marlin, David Stremme and Michael Waltrip -- all drivers who ran at least 33 races and all drivers who have full-time rides for 2007, sponsor or not.

Said has competed in 25 Cup races, 12 of which were not road courses. He'll run six Cup races in 2007 -- both road races and all plate races -- as well as the Budweiser Shootout.

His average finish overall is 24.6. Sure, Said's average is skewed by his 13 road races (20.6 average finish), but his oval experience doesn't weight it like you'd expect (29.2 average finish).

And in case your mind was cloudy on a Saturday night this summer, he did win the pole for the Pepsi 400 at Daytona (His sponsor was SoBe, a Pepsi-Cola product -- talk about timing). He did lead the race with three laps remaining. He did hang on to finish fourth behind Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch -- two champions and a rookie of the year, in case you're counting.

"To go against these guys who race each week, for them it's like putting on shoes," Said said of his part-time work in a full-time world. "When you're not in the top 35 in owner points, just to make the race is difficult."

His closest shot at a full-time ride came in 2005 when Ginn Racing, then known as MB2 Motorsports, put Said in its No. 36 Chevrolet for nine races. He finished third at Watkins Glen, but his average finish on the season was 25.4.

That's better than career averages for Robert Yates Racing's current driver (David Gilliland) and the driver it's pursuing (Johnny Sauter).

That's better than Regan Smith, who's going to split time in Ginn Racing's No. 01 with Mark Martin despite no Cup experience.

That's better than David Ragan, who's going to take over Martin's old No. 6 ride with Roush Racing after a pair of Cup starts in 2006.

I'm sorry, am I missing something here?

Is it his age? Said is no young gun at 44, and he's likely only got a handful of years remaining to turn left.

By comparison in terms of gray hairs, Schrader (51), Dale Jarrett (50), Marlin (49), Martin (47) and Petty (46) are all older. Green is 44. Nemechek is 43. Bobby Labonte and Tony Raines are 42. All of them finished 35th or better in last season's driver standings while only Schrader, Marlin and Martin have plans to scale back in the near future. Raines, on the other hand, just completed his second real tour of duty in the Cup Series and managed to finish 35th in points despite missing seven races.

So is it experience that's a concern? Not exactly an argument if you're talking pure racing. For the NASCAR junkies who only think sports happen on Sundays, Said highlighted his resume driving sports cars-- BMWs, Porches and the like.

In terms of stock cars, Said could use some more seat time. He has yet to run a Cup race on a short track (he finished 18th, however, at the Martinsville Busch race) and has just four Cup races on oval tracks less than 2 miles in length.

Remind me when that mattered.

Juan Montoya, A.J. Allmendinger, Sam Hornish Jr. and Ricky Carmichael are all on the fast (or slow) track to Cup racing, and they have one Cup start among them.

In today's NASCAR, Fortune 500 companies have a say in who's going to parade their logo around at 180 mph.

But are these honchos really thinking outside the box? Maybe a hair-cutting place or a shampoo or a fancy razor sponsorship will send conflicting messages when their driver shows up with a four-inch curly afro and goatee thicker than a Bermuda lawn. It would take a Mach 15 to trim those whiskers.

Maybe that's not what they're looking for -- a guy who really needs to use their product.

Maybe they don't want a band of afro-wearing legions across the United States who show up when Said makes a Cup appearance -- the Said Heads -- to add yet another product to their NASCAR-strict diet. It's no secret Said's No Fear Racing team received e-mails that people were drinking the product he promoted in his four races in 2006 just so the team could have enough money to make another start.

"Driving a racecar is 50 percent of the job," Said said. "Everybody can't be the next Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart or Dale Jr. If the company isn't getting its dollar value, your other job is to become a salesman. And I think I can do a good job of that."

"Sell more cases, get more races," crew chief Frank Stoddard said after the team's Daytona weekend in hopes of securing more sponsorship.

Said wasn't as pushy, rather relishing in the moment.

"For the first time in my life, I am speechless," he said after the race. "It is the biggest thing I've ever accomplished in racing."

The biggest thing. That includes being part of the winning team in the 24 Hours of Daytona in back-to-back years (1997 and '98). It includes winning the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1998 as well, and winning the 24 Hours of Nurburgring in 2005.

"I'm very proud of my road-racing career and all I've accomplished," Said said. "I wouldn't trade it for the world.

"But NASCAR is the most competitive form of racing, hands down. There are thousands of people right now who would give their right arm to drive in NASCAR."

So in the meantime Said will wait patiently for a phone call -- for an opportunity or (most likely) for another teaching assignment -- and cherish that right arm while he can.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.