Boris Said to drive US Army Pontiac at Sears.

Road course specialist Boris Said has been drafted into the MB2 Motorsports to drive the #01 US Army Pontiac in the 22 June Winston Cup race at Infineon Raceway, replacing current driver Mike Wallace.

The 40-year old will, like Wallace, be substituting for Jerry Nadeau, who is recovering from injuries sustained in a practice accident at Richmond International Raceway. Wallace, who has been the team's substitute driver in recent events, will continue in the role at the oval races.

One of the leading national and international sportscar drivers, Said has competed in seven career Winston Cup races. Six of his seven starts have come at NASCAR's two road courses - Sears Point's Infineon Raceway in 2000, 2001 and 2002, and Watkins Glen in 1999, 2001 and 2002. His other start was at Homestead Miami Speedway in 1999.

"Just like Jerry, Boris has established a reputation as a NASCAR road racing expert," said Jay Frye, general manager of MB2 Motorsports, "and we are excited that he has agreed to fill in for Jerry at Infineon Raceway. Boris' experience as a sportscar racer will give us an excellent opportunity to have a competitive weekend at the first road course of the season."

Said, a resident of California, has enjoyed success at Infineon Raceway. As a NASCAR driver, he finished eleventh in the 2001 Winston Cup race and won the 1998 Craftsman Truck event. As a sportscar racer in the American Le Mans Series, he won at Infineon in 2000 and was runner-up in 2001.

"This is a bittersweet circumstance," he explained, "Half of me is excited as hell because I love racing Winston Cup - it has the best competition in the world. But the other half of me feels bad because of what happened to Jerry. I hate to see him hurt - we are both from Connecticut and have known each other for a long time.

"I have also known [crew chief] Ryan [Pemberton] and Jay for a long time, and I am looking forward to working with them. I am also looking forward to driving the Army car. I'm a very patriotic person and it's going to be an honour to drive that car."

Said, the 2002 Sports Car Club of America [SCCA] Trans Am Series champion, with eight wins in eleven races, is scheduled to test the US Army road course car on Monday [9 June] at Virginia International Raceway.