By offering their equipment to the road racing ace, Petty's team hopes to learn something for the future.
But for Said, he's just happy to actually be in the race because of what looks like an unfair system for drivers not inside the Top-35 in owner points.
And for Brian Simo -- who also didn't qualify and doesn't have the luxury of another ride -- the method NASCAR used on Friday at Watkins Glen after rain came was even more unfair.
NASCAR canceled the Sprint Cup series' first practice and the qualifying session thanks to the rain, but still had time to get a full practice in for the Nationwide Series, in addition to a Grand Am series race.
For the fourth time in five years, Sprint Cup qualifying on the road course at Watkins Glen has been canceled due to rain.
With results like that, is it time to look at moving the road race at Watkins Glen to a different point on the Sprint Cup schedule? Or does it just always rain when the calendar says August in upper New York?
Either way, Kyle Busch -- who won the other road course race in California this past June -- will start out front thanks to his owner point standing. Self-proclaimed road course racing novice Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start second.
Note to all NASCAR FanHousers: Thanks for sticking around this week despite the lack of new material. The real job took precedence this week for me. I promise -- the NASCAR FanHouse will get the treatment it deserves from here on out. I hope you'll be along for the ride. -GM
Each and every year, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers face a host of road course "ringers" -- drivers who do the lefts and rights for a living -- in the two road course events that the series runs.
Friday afternoon at Infineon Raceway in California, the Sprint Cup drivers seemed to still get the best of the "pros".
The highest driver who falls into the "ringer" category is Marcos Ambrose in 7th, though Ambrose is a regular driver in the Nationwide Series. Robby Gordon in 8th could be considered a ringer, but he does run the entire Sprint Cup schedule despite being noted for his road course and off-road driving skills.
Boris Said qualified in 14th while Ron Fellows was the next highest in 22nd. Scott Pruett and Max Papis went 27th and 28th consecutively and Brian Simo wound up 43rd. Brandon Ash failed to qualify.
Today was simply an off day for all of the NASCAR teams in Charlotte, as there was no on-track activity at Lowe's Motor Speedway. In other words, if you had a boat on Lake Norman in nearby Mooresville, N.C., you'd likely have seen your fair share of drivers and team members enjoying the day.
Despite the fact that I've found myself a bit under the weather, we managed to kick up some dust today in and around the Concord area. Here's a look back on some of the sights:
For those who worried that the "Sea of Red" wouldn't change to a "Sea of Green" after Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s departure from DEI, there is nothing to be concerned about. In fact, I tried to see one person walking around today with a No. 8 Budweiser shirt on, and they were nowhere to be found.
For as long as I've been here, the main drive leading from I-85 to LMS was "Speedway Blvd." until this year, when it became "Bruton Smith Blvd." The name change came as a concession made the Concord City Council after they tried to challenge Bruton on his new drag strip and lost big time. That's a nice reminder to the Council about what not to do when working with a billionaire whose product has brought so much to your community.
Speaking of that new drag strip (horribly named zMax Dragway @ Concord) it's coming along quite quickly with many of the main buildings erected, the stands and suites coming to shape, and the track grading in progress. Of course when the first race at the track is in September...
Boris Said was ticked, Scott Pruett didn't win again, and Kyle Busch won his third Nationwide Series race in a row Sunday in Mexico City.
In the third race at the Mexico City road course, Busch scored a win after passing Pruett and keeping second-place Marcos Ambrose at bay in the closing laps. The Corona Mexico 200 win was Busch's 14th career in the Nationwide Series.
Pruett looked to be in great shape to take his first-career Nationwide Series race until his tires started to fade after leading 36 laps in the 80 lap event. Busch threatened over his in-car radio to move Pruett out of the way in a very similar fashion to one year ago when Juan Pablo Montoya wrecked Pruett in turn one en route to victory.
Autodromos Hermanos Rodriguez again put another stellar show for the Nationwide Series, just as the track has for the past two seasons. NASCAR announced this weekend that it was highly likely that the series would renew its contract with the venue in 2009.
As much as I'm not for for NASCAR moving the Sprint Cup Series to international markets for points-paying events, I would be a big time fan of seeing a few more quality road courses on the yearly schedule.
To me, Sunday's race was pure fun all the way through as drivers beat and banged through the field all day long. Seeing cars spin without a caution makes things awful interesting, as well.
I say bring on the road courses, NASCAR. Two just isn't enough in the Sprint Cup.
Monday was pretty slow for the first time in a few years at Daytona following the first weekend of Daytona Speedweeks. There were no cars to inspect and no penalties assessed.
For NASCAR officials, that was nice. For writers, well, I needed something to do.
So here's my take on the five ugliest cars to be on track this week at Daytona. A few may be surprised by the cars on this list. What say you?
All Photos by Jonathon Ferrey, Getty Images 5) Boris Said, No Fear Energy Drink/ 7-11 Slurpee No. 60 Ford -- This car looks like Boris decided on one of two options. Either he let Boris Jr. (yeah, with the really cool hair like his dad) design the car with nothing except crayons and a sheet of paper, or he took the idea for Tony Kanaan's ride in the IndyCar Series and smashed it on to his own ride with fenders.
The car will be lucky to make the race, but regardless, it will still take honors as one of the true uglies at Daytona. However, it does make me want to go buy a Slurpee. M'm Slurpees.
Sitting on the pole isn't a bad way for the winless Clint Bowyer to start his first Chase for the Nextel Cup championship. He was the 45th of 49 drivers to qualify and knocked his fellow first-time chaser, Martin Truex Jr., out of the starting spot to score his second career pole.
Truex almost had hist first career pole ... instead he got beat by 0.035 seconds and got his second career front-row start. Bummer. He really wants in next year's Bud Shootout.
Four more chasers qualified in the top 10 ... Matt Kenseth is the rear chaser starting in 30th.
Dave Blaney qualified 10th, well ahead of Ken Schrader in the #21 car in 34th. If they finished that way--or close--Blaney would be back in the top 35.
Penske Racing's IRL driver Sam Hornish Jr. failed in his first Cup qualifying event.
Winners of the Week Ray Evernham and Boris Said. It might be the last spot, but who cares? The fourth Gillett-Evernham Motorsports Dodge entry is in the field. Ditto for Said. When is someone going to give him a full time job? He's got better records than some current full-timers. GEM? CGR? BAM? Any takers? Losers of the Week Michael Waltrip and Jeremy Mayfield both scored their 15th DNQs of the season, Dale Jarrett his 10th. Kevin LePage, who holds the record for most DNQs this season, claimed his 20th. John Andretti is batting 0.500 after failing to qualify for the eighth time 16 attempts.
Boris Said was living the life Sunday at Watkins Glen. He, after all, got a last-minute ride in the Wood Brothers No. 21 after missing the race in his own car due to rain on Friday's qualifying.
And now, Ken Schrader should be back in the ride this weekend at Michigan International Speedway thanks to Said.
With his fake afro-clad legion of fans -- the "Said-heads" -- cheering the road course turned-nearly-regular-driver, Said powered the No. 21 into the top-35 ahead of TGOM's favorite driver, Dave Blaney, with a 14th-place finish.
"Mission accomplished," Said said. "At the end, I think we could've gotten a top-10, but where the 22 car was, I had to really think about it. I kind of gave up and let the 2 car by and then made a little mistake and the 12 got by.
"But still, that's exactly what they needed - and I got to race instead of watching on the couch, and I get to take a picture away of me driving a Wood Brothers car, so it's a pretty special weekend."
Elliott started filling in the No. 21 at the Coca-Cola 600 so his past champion's provisionals could help the team return to the top-35.
Schrader, who's been a much better sport about his ride getting taken away than a lot drivers could ever be, should be back for Michigan, right?
What are you doing this weekend, Boris? What's that? You're helping TGOM win the Blaniac Challenge, you say?
Most of the road race ringers were shut out by rain this weekend at Watkins Glen International, but at least one driver thought it would be a shame not to have Boris Said behind the wheel of a race car. I totally agree!
Wood Brothers/JTG Racing co-owner Len Wood:
"Bill [Elliott] came to me and said, 'In the best interest of the team, let's put Boris in. Bill is an excellent road racer - the first race he ever won was at Riverside. He suggested putting Boris in. We first cleared it with our sponsors and then went to NASCAR and cleared it with them."
Woohoo! I'm sure that makes the Said Heads happy. But more importantly, it makes me very happy!
Both the WBJTF #21 and BDR #22 cars will finally push the Ginn Racing #13 out of the top 35 in owner points and one of them will officially gain the spot. With the #21 only 26 points behind the #22 heading to a road course with Said behind the wheel, it's highly likely they could steal the Ginn Gift back from Dave Blaney, who would then be on the outside looking in again next week at MIS.
Jamie McMurray starts on the pole today. That's only happened twice before in his five-year Nextel Cup career, the last time at the 2005 Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway on July 24, 2005. He finished 11th. His first Bud Pole Award came at Homestead in 2004 where he finished 9th.
Robby Gordon will start 2nd in the Toyota/SaveMart 350. Last time he started that high in the field was here in 2003. He won. He owes TGOM a thank you. Because he was excluded from the power rankings, he has a shot at repeating.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. starts 3rd. Previously, his best start at Infineon Raceway came in 2005, which didn't work out too well for him. He started 10th, finished 42nd.
Boris Said has ended up with a ride for Sunday's Sprint Cup event at Watkins Glen thanks to Kyle Petty and his No. 45 Petty Enterprises Dodge.
For the fourth time in five years, 
Each and every year, NASCAR 
Today was simply an off day for all of the NASCAR teams in Charlotte, as there was no on-track activity at Lowe's Motor Speedway. In other words, if you had a boat on Lake Norman in nearby Mooresville, N.C., you'd likely have seen your fair share of drivers and team members enjoying the day.
Sitting on the pole isn't a bad way for the winless Clint Bowyer to start his first Chase for the Nextel Cup championship. He was the 45th of 49 drivers to qualify and knocked his fellow first-time chaser, Martin Truex Jr., out of the starting spot to score his second career pole. 
Winners of the Week.jpg)
Boris Said was living the life Sunday at Watkins Glen. He, after all, 
What are you doing this weekend, Boris? What's that? You're helping TGOM win the 
Jamie McMurray starts on the pole today. That's only happened twice before in his five-year Nextel Cup career, the last time at the 2005 Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway on July 24, 2005. He finished 11th. His first Bud Pole Award came at Homestead in 2004 where he finished 9th.
