Notes: Said nervous about his Daytona 500 chances

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Diverse and energetic Boris Said has spent a career looking for races to run, but the sports-car veteran and stock-car hopeful, who says he's cut his 2008 road-racing schedule to save room for stock cars, is real nervous about his next outing.

Since Said was denied his second consecutive appearance in the Budweiser Shootout --the special Speedweeks event for the previous season's pole winners -- when Bud Pole Qualifying for the Pepsi 400 at Daytona was rained out while Said sat on the pole, his next race will be his Gatorade Duel 150 qualifier for the Daytona 500.

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"The big worry for us is that realistically there are only six spots available in the race because somebody is gonna take a past champion's provisional and Kurt Busch is probably gonna race his way in -- he'll be fast enough to make it [on qualifying speed]," Said said. "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."

After ending the three-day test of his No. 60 Ford with a lap that would have put him about 28th on the single-car cumulative sheet -- behind 10 other go or go home cars -- Said wasn't any calmer.

If the qualifying procedure matches 2007, the top two finishers from each Duel not in the top 35 or on the front row make the 500, as do the top three speeds of go-or-go-home cars, followed by a single past champion, if needed. If not, the next fastest go-or-go-home car gets in.

"Here's what I'm worried about," he said. "There's only one Toyota [Dave Blaney] in the top 35. If Toyota sweeps the front row [thereby locking themselves into the 500] it's going to make the [qualifying races] a bloodbath. I know I'm going to do anything I have to do to get into [the 500]."

In the meantime, he continues to prospect sponsorship to expand his schedule.

"Right now, it's set in stone that we're going to do five Cup races and three Busch [road] races, so we're at eight right now," he said. "We're still always talking and looking at sponsors to try and do more races, but that's where we're at right now.

"I love road racing. That's where I came from and I'm proud of that, but my goal right now is to try to make it [in stock cars]. That's where 100 percent of my effort is and I've actually stopped doing a lot of road racing to concentrate on this and leave weekends open for Cup so I can learn more about it.

"This is our third year with our little [No Fear Racing] team. The first year was unbelievable and last year looked like it was gonna be a great year and we got hampered by weather. It's really tough for a part-time team to get in these races, so that's our number one goal -- just to make [the Daytona 500] would feel like a win."

The Californian said he and his partners, crew chief/owner Frank Stoddard and No Fear owners Mark and Brian Simo, were committed to seeing the project through, even if it didn't happen for 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," Said said of the sponsorship search. "Our number one 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."

More road racers

If it can get an engine program in place for a second car during Speedweeks 2008, Furniture Row Racing hopes to enter a second car for the Daytona 500 and give road-racing veteran Max Papis a chance at his first Sprint Cup start.

As the second session of Preseason Thunder ended at Daytona, Furniture Row car chief Doug Holbrook said, following a successful three-day test with Jeff Fuller in which the team posted three top-12 speeds overall in three single-car sessions (read more), the No. 87 Chevrolet would return if everything worked out.

"We're trying to get a second car into the race with Max Papis, which would be sponsored by Denver Mattress," Holbrook said. "Right now we're kind of in limbo because the other day we found out we might not be able to get a motor for this deal, but we'll go from there and that's about all I can say.

"We're going to try to, and we'll see where we're at."

Furniture Row went to Hendrick Engines late in the 2007 season for its No. 78 Chevrolets.

Darby

Darby pleased with testing

Fifty-five Sprint Cup teams ended six days of hard work over two separate test sessions Wednesday, and series director John Darby said he couldn't be more pleased, especially with the competitors' feedback.

"I'm very happy with everything," Darby said. "The drivers that I've talked with have been very positive -- a lot of good comments on how the car drove. The teams are really focusing on their race setups, which is good."

Darby said teams worked with the same race package used at Talladega Superspeedway this past October, where the Car of Tomorrow debuted on a superspeedway. Only the gear ratio was different at Preseason Thunder, owing to Daytona's 2.5-mile length compared to Talladega's 2.66 miles.

Darby said officials may "tweak" the gear ratio for the Daytona 500, but that other components such as restrictor-plate size, wickers and rear-wing angles, appear set.

Daytona seen and heard

Jared Fogle, advertising spokesperson for the Subway restaurant chain who has served as Grand Marshal at Cup races in each of the past two seasons, proved how much of a NASCAR fan he was when he left an advertising shoot for a local Subway and went out of his way to get credentials to visit Preseason Thunder.

Fogle arrived in the test's final hour and no, he was not there as a guest of Tony Stewart -- his partner in several popular Subway ads -- because Stewart had already left the speedway.

Fogle said he was already looking forward to serving as Grand Marshal and giving the command to fire engines at the Subway-sponsored event at Phoenix International Raceway later this season. Then, he and his two companions hiked off toward the frontstretch side of the garage seeking Richard Childress Racing's Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton.

Daytona seen and heard, Part II

Ricky Pearson, longtime crew chief in what will this year be known as the Nationwide Series, may need full-time employment if a report published on the Internet proves true, that his McGill Motorsports team may take a year's hiatus from the series.

Pearson was at Daytona on Wednesday working with Stanton Barrett's race team, helping tune the No. 50 Chevrolet with which the Hollywood stuntman will try to make the Daytona 500. (read more)

Frye back in the sport

Red Bull Racing Team introduced its new general manager this week, 16-year motorsports veteran Jay Frye. Frye most recently spent the past 12 years, ending this past July, as CEO and GM of Ginn Racing, the former MB2 Motorsports, which Frye helped to form in the mid-1990s.