NASCAR Cup

Preseason Test: Boris Said day one notes

No Surprise....Said Off To Fast Start DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 11, 2005) -- At first glance it might appear to be a surprise to see Boris Said as one of the leaders in Tuesday morning's test session at Daytona International Speedway. But when ...

Edited: Jan 13, 2005, 12:12 PM

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No Surprise....Said Off To Fast Start

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 11, 2005) -- At first glance it might appear to be a surprise to see Boris Said as one of the leaders in Tuesday morning's test session at Daytona International Speedway.

But when you look at the superspeedway qualifying record for MB2 Motorsports teams in 2004, it shouldn't be a surprise to see Said's No. 36 CENTRIX Financial Chevrolets listed as second and third.

Said, who will drive in a minimum of 10 Nextel Cup races in 2005 for MB/Sutton Motorsports (part of MB2 umbrella), covered the 2.5-mile oval in 48.601 seconds in the 36B car and 48.663 in the 36A car. The 36B car was Scott Riggs' primary superspeedway car last year and the 36A car is new. Jeff Gordon led the session at 48.579.

In last year's qualifying sessions at the four superspeedway races, the records for MB2 drivers Joe Nemechek (No. 01 U.S. Army Chevy) and Riggs (No. 10 Valvoline Chevy) were:

Daytona 1 (Pole Day)
Nemechek 8th
Riggs 29th (different car than what he ran in the other restrictor-plate races)

Talladega 1
Nemechek 4th
Riggs 5th

Daytona 2
Nemechek 6th
Riggs 7th

Talladega 2
Nemechek 1st
Riggs 4th

"I'm really having a blast," commented the 42-year-old Said, who is known for his road racing prowess. "I am sure all of the veterans who do this every year are probably pretty bored running around the track, but I'm not.

"It's unfortunate a driver doesn't have anything to do with this here -- it's all the stuff that was done at the shop during the off-season. It's nice to have great equipment. We needed a baseline and looks like we have it. We need to qualify well here just in case something happens in the twin races.

"For me it's really important to get a feel for the car and the track. Running in the Bud Shootout last year really helped. I didn't think I could do it at first -- the first 20 laps I was scared to death. By the end of the race, I loved it. I was very pleased to finish 10th."

Said's crew chief, Frank Stoddard, who was recently named to the position, was also pleased with the morning test session.

"The guys at the shop had a great speedway program last year and it shows they worked hard again in the off-season," said Stoddard. "I'm excited to be part of it. I'll exchange notes with Ryan (Pemberton, Nemechek's crew chief) and Doug (Randolph, Riggs' crew chief) and hopefully we'll be able to find a little more when we come back next month.

"You know, it's nice to come to Daytona and have speed off the bat. If you don't have it off the truck, you usually don't find it in three days. It's basically three days of not much fun. Right now, if we can find 2-3 tenths the next two days that would be great."

-mb2/df-

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