Carter Simo musical chairs ends with Said at The Glen

The weather, and the way NASCAR's rule book deals with it when it cancels a qualifying session, has put driver Boris Said and crew chief Frank Stoddard through the ringer the past few years.

Said's own car has been a non-starter at the Glen the last two years, when qualifying was rained-out each time. The fact that two different team owners put him in their cars on Saturday to get a better race finish on Sunday was little consolation.

Said

Perhaps Said's biggest rain-induced disappointment came in July 2007 when he sat on the pole at Daytona with a handful of cars left to qualify, but when rain hit before the session ended Said missed that race.

So for this weekend's Heluva Good! at The Glen, Said and Stoddard decided to do something about it, putting together a plan to ensure their No. 08 Carter Simo Racing Ford would be in the 43-car field for Sunday's race.

They entered 1996 Cup Series champion Terry Labonte in the car that they each part own to take advantage of Labonte's champion's provisional if qualifying washed out.

But there was a twist to circumventing the spirit of the rule. "If it was gonna rain on Friday, we were gonna let Terry run the race, we were gonna put him in that car," Said said. "We were gonna see on Sunday, if Terry maybe wasn't feeling well, if I could drive but our intentions were to run our car and if Terry had to run it, he'd run it."

But Friday's forecast had no rain in it, so the team's plan was to leave Labonte at home and make a driver change, to Said, first thing Friday morning. Said was already entered this weekend to drive the No. 09 Ford in the Nationwide race on Saturday.

"Knock on wood, it looks like we'll get through Friday [qualifying] for a change here," said Said, who has driven for the Wood Brothers and Petty Enterprises in the past two Cup races at The Glen. "As a driver, I'd hate missing this race, but now, as a half-team owner, our team's missed three races here after we've spent all the money in the world to get here, and we can't do that a fourth time."

What's eased the burden on Stoddard and Said's No Fear Racing group and Carter Simo Racing partner John Carter is a connection Stoddard brought to the table.

Older Northeast race fans would remember Dana Patten and his U.S. Chrome-sponsored Busch North cars. Company owner Bob Reath had a vacation home in Sunapee, N.H., and attended races at the Claremont Speedway short track, where Patten drove an unsponsored race car. (Continued)