Cup qualifying rained out; Said replaces Petty in 45 (cont'd)

NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said that it takes two hours and 15 minutes to conduct a Sprint Cup single-car qualifying session on The Glen's 2.45-mile road course, 90 minutes to conduct pre-qualifying inspection and "obviously we'd need some practice."

"There is a Grand-Am Rolex Series race scheduled at 6:15 p.m., and it's being televised," Tharp said at about 2:40 p.m. "Our window of opportunity has left us."

Cars also needed to practice for Saturday's Nationwide Series Zippo 200, whose qualifying session is scheduled Saturday at 10:40 a.m. Nationwide activities could be conducted on rain tires, but they never got on the wet racetrack for their first practice, which was scheduled at 1:45 p.m.

Fast facts

What	Centurion Boats at The Glen
When	2 p.m. ET Sunday
TV	ESPN, 1 p.m. ET
Radio	MRN (Sirius Ch. 28), 1 ET

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• By the Numbers: The Glen

Nationwide practice began on a dry track dry at 2:51 p.m., and it ended a few minutes before 5 p.m. when Landon Cassill crashed his No. 4 Chevrolet in Turn 1, without injury.

Some of the 45 Sprint Cup cars in the garage had rolled onto pit road for their 11:45 a.m. practice session when, only minutes before practice started, a heavy rainstorm hit. Rain fell intermittently until almost 1:30 p.m.

With the cancellation of Sprint Cup qualifying, the car of Brian Simo (No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford) was the other that was sent home. Ironically Simo is a co-owner of No Fear Racing.

Said had to receive permission from Doug Hervey, manager of Ford Racing Technology's North American operations, to do the deal with the Pettys.

"Before I could do it, I actually had to ask Ford for permission because this is the first year [Ford] has actually helped me out. They gave me the go-ahead to do it," Said said. "Doug was really gracious. He said, 'I know you're a racer and I don't want you driving a Dodge, but you don't get to do this every week,' and he gave me his blessing.

"I'm depressed because the four guys that we have working in our shop put so much work into getting that car so good for here, and now two years in a row we haven't even started the motor."

A 45-minute Sprint Cup practice is set for noon Saturday, with final practice following at 1:20 p.m.