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4C SPORTS/t£I)e Charlotte ^osit Thursday, June 22, 2006 DIDYOL \'NO\\ ; Five of the 17 races at Infineon Raceway have been won from the pole. THIS WEEK Race; Dodge/Save Mart 350 Where: Infineon Raceway When: Sunday, 3 p.m. ET Television; Fox Defending race winner; Tony Stewart Waiting for his BIG BREAK Road racing specialist Said hopes his assistance to others will payoff ByRICKMINTER Cox News Service Atlanta B oris Said wants to be a full-time NASCAR driver so bad he’s willing to share the one advantage he has — his road racing skills — with his com petitor in hopes that they might one day help him achieve his ultimate goal. For years, Said has coached NASCAR drivers, who usually make only left turns on oval tracks, on the finer points of brak ing and turning both right and left on winding, multiple-turn tracks. But in doing so, he gives up many of the advan tages he has over the stock car crowd. “It’s hurt me a lot in road racing be cause a lot of these guys are so good now,” he said. “But it’s also helped me because the bigger picture for nie is I want to be a ftiU-time guy, not INFINEON RACEWAY just run the two road-course races [Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen International]. “So all these guys that I have helped with road rac ing have been helping me make this tran sition to oval racing, and that’s more im portant to me right now.” Carl Edwards, who has been schooled by Said at Infineon, site of Sunday’s Dodge/Save Mart 350, and at Virginia International Raceway, said he’s often thought about how unselfish it is for Said to share the skills it took years to learn and perfect. ‘1 thought a lot about the position he puts himself in,” Edwards said. “For him to just lay out his strategies and secrets to a guy like me says a lot about him and what kind of person he is.” In helping NASCAR drivers learn the Track length: 1.99 miles Race length: 110 laps/219 miles (350 kilometers) Road course: 12 turns First race: June 11, 1989; Banquet 300 Qualifying record: Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet; 94.325 mph; June 24, 2005 Race record: Ricky Rudd, Ford; 81.007 mph; June 23, 2002 NASCAR Boris Said (shown In the garage area at Infineon Raceway in 2004) competed in seven non-road course races last year in Nextei Cup, including a season-best finish of 27th at the Daytona 500. rules of the road courses, Said often uses a two-seater, driving himself at first then taking the passenger seat and offering real-time tips as the car speeds around the track. The skill levels of his students vary greatly at first, he said. “Some are really bad, and some are not that bad,” he said. “Some are bad and you just teU them a few things and they are quicker than I am. They’re all different. “Road racing has a lot of subtle differ ences compared to oval racing, [but] once you point the dog to the water, they just take over. They figure it out quick.” Said is taking another step that some might question in his efforts to become a N/^Cj^ regular. He has joined with fel low road racer Mark Simo and crew chief Frank Stoddard to form their own team, something that hasn’t worked out too well for others in the past. No Fear Racing plans to field the No. 60 Ford for Said this season at Infineon, Daytona, Indianapolis and Watkins Glen. No Fear wfil rely on assistance from Roush Racing, Edwards’ employer, which is just the kind of arrangement Said hoped for when he decided early on to share his road racing techniques with NASCAR teams and drivers. “'We’re getting a lot of help from Jack Roush,” Said said. “He’s been helping me a lot with set-ups, cars, motors, putting bodies on for me. “I think we’re going to have really good stuff.” Catching up with... Randy LaJoie Randy LaJoie, 44, of Norwalk, Conn., has seen his NASCAR driving career be come stuck in neutral. After 15 victories and two championships, in 1996-97, he has made just two starts this season, both in back-marker cars and both requiring the use of his past champion’s provision^ starting position. But there is hope. He has been hired by Richard Childress Racing to prepare the Busch car driven by Kevin Harvick in races where Harvick is away preparing his Nextei Cup car while the Busch Series is running at a different track. LaJoie recently spoke with Cox News Service reporter Rick Mmter. role? A. “When you’re le side- ; a lot of d Kevin i, I say, 'Put me in, coach.’ It’s a first-class opera tion, and it’s a heck of a confidence- booster to go out and run good in that car. A good race car is easy to drive. It’s so much harder to drive one that’s not right, and Fve been driving cars that weren’t right for way too long.” he can do it for Randy LaJoie.” Q. How do you feel about Nextei Cup drivers taking the limelight from Busch drivers? A. “Something needs to be done. It’s not the Busch Series like it once was. ... You used to have Ford fans and Chevy fans and Cup fans and Busch fans. But there are no more Busch fans, because 80 percent of the drivers are Cup guys. It’s going to be a tough call on what to do with the Busch Series.” Q. How do you feel about your relief Q. Can the understudy role for Harvick jump start your career? A. “Possibly it could lead into something next year with RCR if Kevin wants to cut back soine on his Busch schedule. Richard [Childress] did it for Jeff Burton. Maybe Q. How’s your “The Joie of Seating” company that manu factures racing seats doing? A. “I’m starting over. I be lieve in my product. It’s the best alu minum seat out there.” NASCAR Q. Why do many race drivers fail to em brace the latest in safety equipment? A. “It’s too bad that race drivers are thick-headed when it comes to them selves.” Rick Minter’s OBSERVATIONS Here are some of the storylines this week heading to Sonoma, Calif.. Score one for the little guys Sometimes the Davids of racing can slay the NASCAR Goliaths. It happened at Kentucky Speedway last week when upstart David Gilliland scored one of the biggest upsets ever in NASCAR’s Busch Series. GUliland, a 30- year-old Californian, started fourth, dropped back to 19th but sped ahead in the closing laps to beat Cup reg ulars J.J. Yeley and Denny Hamlin to the finish line. Gilliland, who grew up working on the cars driven by his father. Butch GOliland, was making his seventh ca reer Busch Series start and only his fifth of the season. GILLILAND His victory in the No. 84 Clay Andrews Racing Chevrolet, was the first Busch victory by someone other than a Nextei Cup regular since Clint Bowyer, now a Cup full-timer, won at Memphis last October. More importantly, Gilliland caught the attention of the NASCAR talent scouts who Ukely will put him in the driver mix sometime soon. “We’re going to keep an eye on David,” Robbie Loomis, the vice presi dent of Petty -Enterprises, told reporters at Michigan International Speedway. Gotta be the chassis Kasey Kahne and his Evemham Motorsports chassis No. 128 have proven to be all but unbeatable on the intermediate-sized tracks this sea son. Kahne won the rain-shortened 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway in the same car he drove to victory at “Itexas, Atlanta and Charlotte earlier this season. Although he was fortunate enough to be in front on Lap 130 of the sched uled 200 when the rains came and benefited from the quick work of his crew, he maintained that the car that should have won the race did win it. “It’s pretly crazy to win in the rain and be in the right spot at the end,” Kahne told reporters after his latest victory. “But we had the best car.” Kahne’s victory moved him up two spots in the standings to third, 244 behind leader Jimmie Johnson. Schedule favors Gordon Jeff Gordon’s horrific crash at Pocono Raceway two weeks ago has some speculating that the four-time champion mi^t miss the Chase for the Nextei Cup for the second consecutive year. Car owner Rick Hendrick isn’t one of them. He points out that the schedule between today and the cut-off race at Richmond on Sept. 9 is in Gordon’s favor. There are two road-course races — at Infineon and Watkins Glen (he’s won more races than any other driver at the two road courses), a short track run at Bristol, where he leads all active drivers with five victories, and a superspeedway race at Daytona,' where he’s tops among active drivers with six victories. “We’ve got some really good races to go,” Hendrick said. “I know you have guys outside the [top 10] that have good cars and good momentum. It’s going to be a dogfight for that last three or four spots.” Gordon led the most laps at Michigan last week and finished eighth, is 11th in the standings, 11 points behind lOth-place Greg Biffle. Old school vs. new school There seem to be two separate schools of thought when it comes to driv er development for NASCAR’s top divisions. Roush Racing has used the “Gong Show” tryouts to find dozens of candidates, then nurture the chosen ones as they begin in the Craftsman Truck Series and advance to the Busch and Nextei Cup circuits. Hendrick Motorsports, like other teams, jumped on the trainii^ band wagon for a time, but now seems to have reverted back to its origin^ stratr egy of letting others field cars for newcomers, sizing up the talent and try ing to hire the cream of the crop. “What Fve done in the past is when I see a talent that really stands out, then FU figure out a way to put him in a car,” team owner Rick Hendrick said. “We’re kind of keeping a seat available in the Busch Series. If we find one of those guys ... who’s really outstanding, we’re going to make a mo-ve, but we’re not going to go out and pick four or five and try to grow them all at one time. “We’re waiting for that star that comes along.” What has changed for all teams over the years is that drivers have ex ceptional ability behind the wheel and they are marketable. Waltrip sponsors unveiled Michael Waltrip announced Sunday that Burger King and Domino’s Pizza will share sponsorship of Michael Waltrip Racing’s 00 Toyota next season in the Nextei Cup series. Up-and-coming... Chase Miller Chase Miller, a 19-year-old Canton, Ga., native is part of Dodge’s driver development program. After coming up through the go-kart ranks and racing in Late Models and Hooters Pro Cup cars, Miller is on the fast track to NASCAR. He’s running a six-race ARCA schedule this season in .the No. 4 Dodge for Cunningham Motorsports. Two weeks ago, he got his first major victory at Pocono Raceway under the ChaS6 Miller watchful eyes of NASCAR power brokers who were at WOn at Pocono the track for the Nextei Cup race the next day. Miller after Starting recently spoke with Cox News Service reporter Rick 34|[-| Minter. On having to sit on the sidelines for several weeks after winning at Pocono: “It’s kind of tough. We had some good momentum going. ... I would have liked to race at Michigan [the next week], I think we would have had a real fun time.” On how he caught the attention of Dodge: “They saw me race last year at Gateway [where he led eight laps and finished 23rd]. I got a phone call a couple of weeks later. 'That’s how I got noticed.” On his next career step: “The plan is to go up to the Craftsman Truck Series, but I don’t know what the timetable is.” . On his other interest, flying airplanes: ‘“I started because I figured that one day I’d have to fly to get from track to track.... I’m just flying sin- gle-er^ne Pipers right now, but Fm working on getting aU the upgrades to get into bi^er twins.” Correction: A photograph in last week’s NASCAR Insider page should have shown the No. 1 Dodge driven by Cale Gale in the Busch Series the previous week, instead of the No. 01, which was pictured. Crystal Goodson-Hudson Branch Manager My mission is to provide comprehensive mortgage solutions to my customers with a high degree of trust, knowledge, respect and convenience BENCHMARK MORTGAGE 100% loans (One loan or 80/20 combo) as low as 560 credit score, 100% NOO, No VOR, Loans up to $6 Million, No Appraisal program, No Title seasoning, No Bankruptcy seasoning, No Tradelines Req. .100% Staled! Stated 2nd available. In house processing. j Flexible underwriting criteria. Receive personal attention! Commercial Loans! (unlimited). Helocs and 30 yr. Second Mortgages, T FHA, VA, My Community 100%, Intemt Only loans as low as 560 credit score. (704) 552-9111 t 1 Benchmark is Proud to Sponsor the Richardson Racing [ #1 NASCAR championship Dodge Craftsman IVuck, “WinYourMorl ga ge.coni’' No Income No Employment verify Assets Credit Score 660 Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate for Cox News Service. (800) 255-6734. *For release the week of June 19, 2006.
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