Driver Boris Said is yearning for first Nextel Cup victory

He claims he draws incentive from being labeled an underdog his whole life.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
It's a phrase Boris Said repeats a lot when he talks about yearning for his first Nextel Cup victory.
"My whole life, people have always told me 'No: You're too poor or you're too old or you're too ugly or whatever,' and that's always been my motivation. I'm gonna succeed at this, and I had to start my own team to try to do it."
It's been quite a start.
With no owner's points, Said had to qualify on speed and just hoped to be around at the finish in his fledgling team's first outing last month at Infineon Raceway. He started sixth, led a lap and finished ninth on the twisting road course.
"We were top five all weekend and it was within reach until about 10 or 12 to go, and I just made a mistake and went off track," he said.
Bigger challenge
Last weekend at Daytona International Speedway was a bigger challenge for Said, whose resume is full of road-course domination but shows only a handful of oval efforts in a Cup car -- most of them forgettable. And this was a restrictor-plate race.
Again, his goals were to be in the show at the start and running at the end.
So he put his No. 60 Ford on the pole, led eight of the final 10 laps and, if the Pepsi 400 had been just a bit shorter, might have held off eventual winner Tony Stewart for the checkered flag after staying out when everybody else pitted. He finished fourth, losing ground in the last two laps on worn tires.
"It is the highlight of my racing career. I felt like Rocky Balboa in the 15th round, and I just won," he said after the race.
Said has joined forces with longtime ally Mark Simo and former crew chief Frank Stoddard to cobble together a team with some pay-back help from Jack Roush and Ray Evernham.
Until last year, the 43-year-old Said had run only a dozen Cup races since 1999, all but one on road courses. In 2005, driving for MB2 Motorsports, he entered nine races, with a career-best third-place Cup finish on the road course at Watkins Glen, but nothing better than 27th to show for the ovals.
Has enjoyed success
He has won a pole in each of NASCAR's three national series. He won a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Infineon in 1998. And his road-racing career brought him the SCCA Trans-Am Series championship in 2002, two Rolex 24 at Daytona victories and the 12 hours of Sebring.
Said linked up with Mark and Brian Simo after the twin brothers launched the No Fear sports lifestyle line. He drove a Cup car for Mark Simo in 1999, and Brian Simo drives a car that Said owns.
In addition to his own driving in both the Cup and the Busch Series, Said works with drivers for other teams to teach them road-course skills, including Cup drivers Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth and Busch drivers Todd Kleuver and Danny O'Quinn Jr., all with Roush Racing.
"Basically, that was my ticket into Roush," Said said. "It's helped these guys a lot, so to kind of repay me he said, 'Hey, if you find a sponsor, I'll help you start a team."'
Bought a Chevrolet
Said bought a Chevrolet he ran last year with MB2 that was built to accommodate his lanky frame. It went into Roush's shop with a Chevy body and a Hendrick Chevy engine, and came out with a Ford body and a Roush-Yates Ford engine for Infineon and Watkins Glen.
Roush also sells or leases cars and engines to Said, who raced at Daytona in Greg Biffle's 2005 Bud Shootout car and plans to run another 21/2-mile oval at Indianapolis next month in a Roush car. In addition to cars and motors, Roush is sharing engineers and helping with setups.
"His black book is the biggest value he's got and now since I've been helping those guys, I can go and lean on him and say, 'How you gonna do this at Daytona or how you do this at Indy?' I think it's a good trade-off," Said said. "We're both getting something out of it. I think I'm getting the better end of the stick."
Edwards finished 38th last year at Infineon. He spent two days at the track working with Said in a special two-seat car, watching Said's footwork, before coming in sixth in last month's Dodge/Save Mart 350.
"I'm not gonna talk about the details, but Boris just helped me a lot," Edwards said after the race. "He's a heck of a guy, a sure motivator and he's an inspiration to a lot of us, so it's pretty cool to have him on our side."
Along with the Roush arrangement, Said has a similar deal with Evernham for his limited Busch Series effort.
Unfortunately for Said, the car he got from Evernham was driven by Kasey Kahne, which means Said -- who is well over six feet -- is driving a car built for somebody significantly shorter.
"I reconfigure," he said. "I probably have 8 inches or 10 inches less legroom than in my road race car. I'm crunched up pretty good."
If there's money available, Said hopes to add at least one more race this season -- possibly Atlanta or Homestead -- then take on 10 or 15 next season.
Said is optimistic his sponsor, SoBe No Fear, will remain on line, particularly in light of the decision by rival energy drink Red Bull to sponsor next year's startup Toyota team. Mark Simo, CEO of No Fear, said he's delighted with the team and with Said.
"I've never seen Boris this physically and mentally prepared," he said. "I feel really good about where he's at now."
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