For 12 years Boris Said has been trying to become a full time NASCAR driver. In all that time has run in only 41 Cup races, 22 Nationwide races, and 65 Camping World truck races. His irregular participation has been mostly due to lack of sponsorship, certainly not lack of talent.

As evidence of the respect the rest of the garage area has for Said’s abilities, for much of the time, he has been the go-to guy for teaching the finer points of road racing to many of NASCAR’s stars. Said’s road racing credentials are impeccable.

He began racing with the Sports Car Club of America in 1987 and was the SCCA Rookie-of-the-Year in 1988. He won the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1997 and 1998, along with the 1998 12 Hours of Sebring. In 2005, he became the first American to win the 24 Hours of Nurburgring.

In 1997 and 1998, Boris ran the most NASCAR races of any season when he drove in the Craftsman Truck Series for Mark Simo Racing. In a total of 53 races he won once, at Sonoma, and had only 7 top ten finishes.

This past Sunday as Boris Said climbed out of his Robbie Benton owned Ford in Montreal’s victory lane, his first word was; “Finally!”

In a race that had more crashing than racing, the finish came down to a green-white-checker sprint among three veteran road racers, each of whom was trying to win for the first time in the series. Jacques Villeneuve, Max Papis, and Said.

Papis lead the three into the last turn where he caught a little too much of the curb. This gave Said the opening he needed and the two raced down the home stretch side-by-side with Boris crossing under the checkered flag a mere .012 of a second in front of Papis for the smallest ever margin of victory in a nationwide series road race.

Local star and former Indy 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve came home in third, followed by Brad Keselowski, who has now extended his series lead to 365 points over Carl Edwards. (Edwards finished 20^th after breaking a track bar mounting bracket) Paul Menard was fifth, while Joey Logano, J.R. Fitzpatrick, Parker Kligerman, Justin Allgaier and Trevor Bayne rounded out the top 10.

Let me give you four names that should mean a great deal to any NASCAR fan; Harry Gant, Curtis Turner, Donnie Allison, and Alan Kulwicki. All four of these men deserve to be in the NASCAR Hall of Fame and most likely will be eventually. And besides being famous and successful drivers in NASCAR’s top series, all four of these men have something in common.

They all have fewer wins in that series than Kyle Busch.

Here are three more names you that should be familiar to you; Fonty Flock, Buddy Baker, and Davey Allison. These three all have 19 wins, just the same as Kyle Busch, tying all four of them for 36^th on NASCAR’s all time win list. I’m thinking Busch won’t stay there for long.  

This is only his 7th year in the Sprint Cup Series, (6 full time.) and he has begun to re-write the record book. His 19 wins have come in “only” 210 starts. By comparison, it took Buddy Baker 33 years and 700 starts to get his 19 wins. Harry Gant started 474 races over a 22 year span and won “only” 18 times. And yes, I know that times were different and circumstances were different for all of them. It doesn’t change the fact that Busch, at 25 years old, is only just beginning and has already surpassed some of the biggest names in the sport.

And now, this past weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kyle Busch has written a new record by being the first driver ever to win in all three of NASCAR’s national touring series in a single weekend. He won the Camping World Truck Series race, the Nationwide Series race, and the Sprint Cup Series race. Of course, very few have even attempted to do this, but that doesn’t diminish the difficulty in achieving it.

Yes, he can be arrogant and brash. He’s the guy the fans love to hate. Boos outnumber cheers when he’s introduced and when he wins. Other drivers will say things about him that can’t be repeated in polite company. And he takes it all in and uses it to his own advantage.  

Love him or hate him, think he’s a brat if you want to, but you have to respect his talent behind the wheel of a race car and what he’s accomplished in a relatively short time. He’s far from being the best driver that ever strapped himself into a race car, but he’s also far from being done yet.

Well okay, it wasn’t really a 24 hour race, it just seemed like it. After a seven hour open practice session on Friday, a full day of practice and qualifying on Saturday, followed by a nearly three hour rain delay that resulted in the racing being postponed until Sunday afternoon, it was as if we all were at the track forever. But the long weekend was worth the effort because when the 150 lap race finally ran on Sunday it was excellent.

A great crowd showed up on Saturday and they were treated to a long autograph session that featured NASCAR Hall of Fame driver and car owner Junior Johnson and his son Robert. Then, just as the command to start engines was about to be given for the first race of the evening, the skies opened up and sent crews and officials scurrying to cover the cars and get pit equipment inside the haulers.

In spite of the best efforts to dry the track, the rain persisted and, amazingly, the huge crowd waited it out and no one left. When officials realized that an even larger rain cell was headed for the area the decision was made to call the race and try again on Sunday.

Sunday was hot and sunny and the track conditions were very different than crews had planned for. In victory lane, a sweat soaked Poole commented on the difference; “Everybody was all geared up to run last night, but when the race had to be postponed until today all my guys talked about how drastically different track conditions would be having to run in the heat with the sun baking down on the track. . . “

Poole had to wait until the 22^nd lap to get to the inside of Kyle Grissom who started from the pole. The two raced side-by-side for a lap and a half until Poole was able to gain the advantage. He never looked back and except for restarts after caution periods, no one was able to mount a serious challenge. The win was Poole’s fourth of the year and he remains the only repeat winner in UARA races so far this season.

There was plenty of action behind the leaders that was typified by performances like that of Coleman Pressley who negated his uncharacteristically poor qualifying effort by passing 12 cars to finish in fourth place, nipping Clint King by inches at the finish.

The top five finishing order was Poole, Kyle Grissom, Lee Tissot, Pressley, and Clint King.

This was the third UARA race held at Kingsport Speedway since last year (The track has been closed since 2002), and the outlook for the future is bright as former NASCAR Bush Series star Robert Pressley is working on arrangements to run a full schedule of local racing under a NASCAR sanction in 2011.

It’s always encouraging to see a short track come back to life. Kingsport Speedway is great track with a rich NASCAR history and everyone involved is looking forward to its new beginning.  

Once again the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series made its annual trek up to the beautiful Finger Lakes region of upstate New York for a race on the road course at Watkins Glen.

Once again you have to wonder why NASCAR’s Sprint Cup team owners bother to hire those “road course ringers”, i.e. drivers who are brought in from other series that race mostly on road courses.

Once again they all failed to live up to their reputations proving, once again, that NASCAR’s form of racing is not easy.

Andy Lalley was the highest finisher of the non-regulars ending his day in eighteenth. Next was Patrick Carpentier in 21^st, Boris Said, 38^th, Ron Fellows, 40^th, and P.J. Jones, 41^st.  Of those, Boris Said was the highest qualifier starting the race in 13^th.

Not exactly a stellar performance from any of them.

It is true that both of the dominant drivers in Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen, Marcos Ambrose and Juan Montoya came from strong road race backgrounds. Ambrose is a former champion of the Australian Super Car Series and Montoya is a veteran of both Formula 1 and the Indy Car Series.  But both of these guys have been racing the full NASCAR schedule for a number of years now.

For some reason there are still Sprint Cup team owners who are willing to hire “specialists” for just the two road races each year. This, in spite of the obvious fact that no one, no matter how much talent they may have in other forms of racing, can come in to this series only once or twice a year and expect to be competitive.

While on the subject of Watkins Glen, this race, called the “Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen”, gets my vote for the single worst name of any race, anywhere, anytime!

This past Saturday was an especially good one for couch potato race fans. You had a full day of diversified action on the tube. It all started at Watkins Glen with NASCAR Nationwide Series qualifying, followed by Sprint Cup qualifying, and then you went right into the Nationwide Series race. Then you could catch the tape delayed coverage of the World of Outlaws King’s Royal sprint car race from Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway.

After the sprint cars it was back to Watkins Glen for the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series “Crown Royal 200”. And finally, you could finish out the night with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series “Nashville 200” at Nashville Superspeedway.  

Something like 12 straight hours of racing on TV, covering five different race series on three different race tracks.

Who says there’s nothing good on TV anymore?  

Elliot Sadler knows, perhaps better than most, that racing at the top professional level is a tough business. His family started racing around the short tracks of his native Virginia before he was born. He grew up in the sport watching his dad, uncle, and older brothers until, eventually, it was his turn.

He started racing go karts when he was eight years old, progressed to the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series at South Boston Speedway, and was crowned the track champion in 1995.  Racing there he caught the eye of car owner Gary Bechtel who put Sadler in his Nationwide Series car for the 1997 season.

The rookie put the car on the pole for the season opening race at Daytona and a mere 13 starts later, Sadler was in victory lane at Nazareth Speedway in Pennsylvania. He finished out the year with wins Myrtle Beach Speedway and Gateway International Raceway and was fifth in series points.

In 1999 the legendary Virginia team of the Wood Brothers selected Elliott to drive their famous number 21 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series and in 2001 they got their first victory on the tough half mile at Bristol, TN. Two more Cup victories in 2004 driving for Robert Yates Racing came at Texas Motor Speedway and California Speedway (Now Auto Club Speedway).

Since that last win in 2004 Elliot has seen teams merge and teammates come and go and there has been times when he has had good cars, and other times not so good. To date he has 414 starts in NASCAR’s top series and he has won poles and had good finishes, but has not returned to victory lane.

And that’s why Saturday’s victory in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Pocono Raceway was so special and so emotional for Elliott Sadler. Kevin Harvick has used Sadler in four previous truck races this season and in half of those starts Sadler brought the truck home in the top ten.

For Pocono, Sadler started from the pole, led 31 of the 55 laps, and won the race. But so you don’t think it was easy, he had to beat his Sprint Cup teammate Kasey Kahne driving for Kyle Busch, and the rest of the field of truck series veterans like former champ and the series’ leading race winner, Ron Hornaday. And other former champs like Mike Skinner and Todd Bodine.

I started this column by saying that Sadler knows how tough the racing business can be and no where has that been demonstrated better that at Pocono Raceway this weekend. After the high of his truck win on Saturday came the low of crashing out of the Cup race on Sunday. And crashing very hard, harder than he had ever crashed before.

“It knocked the breath out of me pretty good, but it’s definitely the hardest hit I’ve ever had in a race car,” he said. “These new cars are built to be safer and if I can get out of that and walk [away from] that, I think it did its job.”

The impact was so hard that engine was torn from its mounts and left lying beside the track in a smoking heap. It was something out of a ‘B’ grade racing movie. Fortunately, except for some rib soreness from his belts, Sadler emerged from the infield care center without any injuries.

There’s no question that the design of NASCAR’s new car and the HANS device that all drivers must now use are what saved Sadler from serious injuries. Now we have to look at why the wall Sadler hit was there and what Pocono Speedway will do about it.

Earlier in the week track management was showing off their new solar energy “farm” where they have installed acres of solar panels to provide electricity for, not only the track itself, but also some of the surrounding community.

Perhaps that money would have been better spent to upgrade some of the safety aspects of the race track itself?

For the second straight year Juan Pablo Montoya was able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory at the Brickyard 400. In the 2009 race Montoya had the dominant car and looked like a sure winner only to throw it all away by earning a pit road speeding penalty on the final stop.

This year was more of the same with JPM starting from the pole and leading with seeming ease. At one point he had extended his lead to almost nine seconds, an eternity by NASCAR standards. No other car could run with Montoya and it was, once again, his race to lose. And once again it would be a late race pit stop that would be the team’s undoing.

With Montoya pulling away from the field, a caution flag for debris set up the final round of pit stops. Crew chief Brian Pattie called for four tires. Unfortunately, the next six teams in the running order all elected to take on two tires and that put Montoya behind all of them on the restart.

Now running in the dirty air of traffic, JPM couldn’t make up any ground and ultimately spun and crashed out of the race. Afterwards, Brian Pattie was seen sitting in the hauler with his head in his hands. He took full blame for the bad call but, in his defense, former championship crew chief and TV analyst Andy Petree said he would have made the same call.

Although he won the Indianapolis 500 in 2000, Montoya remains winless at Indy in a stock car. In his four starts in the Brickyard 400 he has led over 200 laps and only has an average finish of 21^st to show for it. Is this the early stages of an Andretti style curse at Indy?

If you watched the TV coverage of the Brickyard 400, it was impossible to ignore the empty seats. The aerial views showed vast sections of uncovered aluminum shining in the sunlight. It would seem that there is trouble in paradise.

Looking at all the unsold seating, the easy thing would be to sit back and be all negative and talk about how the speedway is in trouble, NASCAR is in trouble, and the whole sport is going to crumble down to the backwoods it started out in, in a very short time. The internet will be full of those with that view point.

In reality I think, NASCAR’s glass is half full.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a vast place. They claim they have seating for 257,000 and, if you count the infield standing room only, a total capacity of 400,000. The official crowd figure for Sunday’s Brickyard 400 was 140,000.

Anytime you seat 140,000 people in a stadium that holds almost three times that amount it’s going to look near empty. But the fact is that Sunday’s attendance tied the third largest crowd for a NASCAR race this season. Only Daytona and Las Vegas drew more fans.  

Yes, this race has sold more tickets in the past. Yes, all of the races this year are down in attendance. So are all of the NFL’s games, and Major League Baseball’s games, and just about every other major sport.

The glory days of the late ‘90s and early ‘00s are gone and they may never come back. No longer can race track promoters simply open the gates and expect a sellout crowd to file in.  And some tracks, like any good business should do, are making adjustments like removing seats, spreading out existing seats by making them wider and more comfortable. And doing whatever they must to remain profitable.

The fact remains that it’s all relative and NASCAR races still draw consistently larger crowds than any other sport in America. Rumors of NASCAR’s demise are extremely premature.

Hudson, NC – At the end of the UARA-STARS “Xtreme Trophies and More 150” at Tri-County Motor Speedway on Saturday night, Brennan Poole did the obligatory burnout, the crew showered him with water, he got the trophy and the big foam core check, and the photographers took his picture.

The scene gave every indication that Poole had just won his fourth race of the season and third in a row.  But that was not the case. It took until 2:00 AM, but during the routine post-race inspection, UARA officials found some problems with Poole’s engine and he was disqualified. The win went to second place finisher Matt Kurzejewski.

The decision has been appealed by Poole’s car owner, Jamie Yelton and the process now moves to the UARA appeals board where the parties involved will plead their case. Until then the finishing order of the race is unofficial.

Although the name of the winner remains in doubt, the fans did see a great race. Kurzejewski started from the pole, but it was outside front row starter Poole who jumped into the lead right at the drop of the green. The two racers then ran nose to tail for the first 80 laps before a spin by Tyler English brought out the first caution period of the 150 lap race.

 Typical of the action throughout the pack, Alex Yonts (98) squeezes Lee Tissot (27) in turn 3.

Back in the pack, Scott Turlington, Coleman Pressley, Ronnie Basset, and Alex Yontz were having a heated battle of their own, neither driver seemingly able to gain an advantage on the others.

With 20 laps to go, Kyle Grissom gets into the back of Ronnie Bassett and is black flagged for rough driving. He returned to the track after making a stop-and-go run through the pits.

The final caution flag of the night fell on lap 145 when Scott Turlington spun Clint King resulting in a green-white-checkered finish.

 Scott Turlington’s crew rips away the damaged parts so he can return to the race. He was on his way to a good finish but instead would have to settle for the ARBodies Hard Luck Driver of the race.

 Matt Kurzejewski not only was declared the race winner after the aforementioned post race inspection, he also won the Sunoco Pole Award and the Rookie of the Race.  

1  Matt Kurzejewski
2  Garrett Campbell
3  Lee Tissot
4  Robert Johnson
5  Brandon Knupp
6  Kyle Grissom
7  Coleman Pressley
8  Matt Leicht
9  Clint King
10 Ronnie Bassett, Jr.
11 Alex Yontz
12 Michael Rouse
13 George Miedecke
14 Julia Dawson
15 Tyler English
16 Scott Turlington
17 Patrick Molesworth
18 Grant Wimbish
19 Kaleb Pressley
20 R.A. Brown
21 Brennan Poole

Update:  The UARA appeals board met on Tuesday, July 20th and it was determined that Matt Kurzejewski was the winner of the race. The results listed above are now official. 

Kent, WA – After the first two pairs of cars went down the track in the first round of Pro Stock eliminations at the NHRA Northwest Nationals, veteran driver Warren Johnson had some pretty harsh comments about the NHRA’s track preparations. Claiming the track was unsafe for the Pro Stock cars beyond the 1,000 foot distance that the fuel cars race to, Johnson accused the NHRA of only caring about the fuel cars.

The NHRA sprays the track with a traction compound that helps the Top Fuel and Funny car stayed “glued” to the track. According to Johnson, and several other Pro Stock drivers, they need that compound to extend the full 1320 feet.

Driver Jason Line explained it this way; “There’s a little bump down there at 1,000 feet and when you hit it, it’s like going over a jump,” Line said. “It’s very unnerving and you are going to crash the car. It’s like hitting a patch of ice at 200 mph. Somebody is going to get hurt or killed.”

The result was a long discussion at the starting line between several drivers and NHRA officials that resulted in the remaining cars returning to the pits.

I was watching the live stream of the situation on ESPN3.com and there was no audio so it was difficult to tell just what was being said, and eventually the cars returned to competition.

 But the fact remains that Pro Stock cars utilize almost no down force producing aerodynamic devices in the interest of maximizing top speed. With top end speeds approaching 210 mph, it just may be time for Pro Stock racers to add in a little bit of a wicker to the back of the car to give it some much needed down force and stability.

On a much sadder note, popular Top Alcohol Dragster driver Mark Niver, 60, of Scottsdale, AZ, was killed Sunday when the chutes failed on his car and he careened off the end of the paved strip, through the sand trap, and collided with the catch netting at the end of the track.

Niver not only had many friends in the Sportsman ranks but was also well known to many of the professional racers. Each of the three pro winners at Seattle, Cory McClenathan, Tim Wilkerson, and Greg Anderson, acknowledged Niver and dedicated their win to his memory.

Mark Niver was the winner in the final race of his life beating Shawn Cowie, 5.364 to Cowie’s losing 5.502. Niver would’ve faced Chris Demke in the final round but in a purely symbolic gesture, Demke just took the green light and shut off and was pushed back and NHRA declared him the winner.

“This is not how I wanted to win this race”, Demke said, “I want to dedicate this event to Mark Niver. He was doing what he loved most. He was just that guy everybody loved,” “You could always turn to him for a happy handshake. He was one of the nicest guys ever.”

The car Dale Earnhardt, Jr. used to win the Nationwide race at Daytona Friday night was sort of a mixed metaphor for his father’s career.  Nowhere did Earnhardt, Sr. ever run a car exactly like that.

When that paint scheme debuted the car’s number was 2 and the owner was Rod Osterlund.  By the time Earnhardt had moved to Richard Childress’ operation the number was 3 but the paint scheme was different.  And those cars were both Cup cars.

Dale Earnhardt, Sr. won the Nationwide (Busch) series race at Daytona seven times, more than any other driver.  But only one of those wins was in a Wrangler liveried car and it carried the number 15. The other six wins were in GM Goodwrench colors, one with the number 8, and the rest with a 3.

But none of that mattered on Friday night as Dale Jr. rolled into Daytona’s victory lane in the bright blue and yellow Wrangler number 3.   

“I just like cool-looking cars.” Junior said, “This was a hell of a cool-looking car. I always loved the scheme. That’s all that mattered to me, was just the scheme. I just love the car. I wanted to race it once, and I did.”

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won two Nationwide Series championships and most of his 23 wins in that series driving a car with the number 3 on its flanks.  So was the Daytona race a hint of things to come?

“I will never do it, I’ll never rethink it, I’ll never consider it,” Earnhardt Jr. said, “I think that it’s important for everybody to know that that’s as concrete as it gets. I’ll never do it again. I don’t ever want to do it again. And I’ll never change my mind, ever.”

I’m thinking we’ll never see this again.

And for those out there who think the “fix” was in, that Junior was “supposed” to win, that NASCAR somehow had arranged the outcome, don’t forget your tinfoil hat when you go outside.

For something like that to have happened every other car in the field would’ve had to have been in on the deal.  Every other driver in the field would have to be willing to intentionally lose.  It would require complete radio silence so the fans with scanners wouldn’t find out. It’s complete and utter nonsense.

What did happen was big.  Big for the fans, big for NASCAR, big for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and his cousin and crew chief Tony Eury, Jr.  It proved they can win. It proved that Jr. still has the passion, that his critics are wrong.  Nine years after the death of Dale Earnhardt, Sr. at the same race track, it proved that life goes on and we can all put the bad stuff behind us and go out and race, and win, and enjoy that winning once again.

And in addition to all that, it was pretty darn cool!

Newton, NC – It was hot and muggy this past Saturday when the UARA-STARS late model drivers hit the third mile Hickory Motor Speedway for the first practice session leading up to the “Banjo Mathews Memorial 150”. With a hint of things to come, Brennan Poole was the fastest in the first practice cutting a lap of 15.529 seconds in the heat of the day.

By the second round of practice the weather was even hotter and the hottest car in the field was second generation driver Kyle Grissom with a time of 15.613. But when the dust had settled after qualifying it was Coleman Pressley who was the quickest. His 15.365 time put him on the pole with Kyle Grissom starting on the outside.

Qualifying was followed by a special autograph session for the fans featuring NASCAR Hall of Fame legend Junior Johnson, his son Robert, former NASCAR Nationwide Series star Robert Pressley and his son Coleman.

Kyle Grissom (32) leads Coleman Pressley (59)

The “Banjo Mathews Memorial 150” got under way with Kyle Grissom grabbing the lead and setting a blistering pace until lap 27 when Coleman Pressley got by. A single car spin on lap 49 brought out a brief caution flag and after the restart it looked like no one would be able to catch the flying Pressley.

Just before the halfway point, Kyle Grissom was forced to retire with engine problems and that left Pressley without much of a challenge until Brennan Poole began to reel him in. By lap 135 Pressley and Poole were racing side by side and the heated battle took it’s toll on Pressley’s tires and brakes. With just five laps in the 150 lap race Pressley was  overtaken by Lee Tissot and had to settle for a third place finish.

Brennan Poole (5) takes over the head with fifteen laps to go.

Robert Johnson came in fourth, his best finish to date, earning the “Rookie of the Race” award, and Alex Yontz rounded out the top five.

The race featured side-by-side competitive racing throughout the field even treating the fans to a wheel banging, door beating last lap fight by Johnson and Yonts for the third and fourth spot. The race was a fast one with only two brief caution periods to slow the action. One for Jake Crum’s single car spin on lap 49, and the second on lap 127 for a quick clean up of some fluid on the track.

The point battles remain close with Poole now closing to just 16 points behind Pressley. In the Rookie points, Robert Johnson has now inched ahead of Clint King by a mere 17 points.  

The UARA-STARS series travels next to Lonesome Pine Raceway in Coeburn, VA on July 3^rd for a great holiday racing spectacular including a fireworks show.

Brennan Poole, winner of the Banjo Mathews Memorial 150 at Hickory Motor Speedway