Boris Said qualifies and races fourth Gillett Evernham entry at New Hampshire

Posted on January 2, 2008
Filed Under Articles |

Boris qualified Gillett Evernham’s fourth cup entry last weekend at New Hampshire International Raceway. Said was able to overcome a poor practice session (in which he was only 47th fastest of 49 cars) to qualify 43rd, beating other go or go-homers Michael Waltrip and Dale Jarrett. Unfortunately, rain once again plagued Said’s weekend, washing out both practice sessions Saturday. Said was unable to work on his car setup and struggled all race long Sunday with a tight race car, finishing 40th.

“Fielding the No. 98 Valvoline/Stanley Tools Dodge Avenger at New Hampshire this weekend is the start of some additional research and development Gillett Evernham Motorsports will be doing with the COT heading into the 2008 season,” said Ray Evernham. “This is also an excellent opportunity to get Boris Said some seat time at a Nextel Cup race considering all he has done for our Busch and road course programs over the last two seasons.” After the race Boris told reporters, “I have to thank Valvoline and Stanley Tools for giving me the opportunity this weekend. I wish we could have come home with a better result. It really put us at a disadvantage when practice was rained out yesterday, that kept us from having any time to work on our race setup. I was still learning the track out there in the race today and the car was too tight at the start. Once we fell two laps down we just used the rest of the race as a test session. We were able to throw a lot of changes at this COT car and see how it reacted. Hopefully that will help Gillett Evernham Motorsports in the future.”

Boris finished 14th in his only other Car of Tomorrow start at Watkins Glen, driving the number 21 Woods Brothers Ford Fusion.

Submitted by J. Winter: Sept 17, 2007