Said, Bell racing Winston Cup at The Glen

Said, Bell among entrants for Winston Cup Event at Watkins Glen.

CLEARWATER, Fla. (August 8, 2002) -- Trans-Am Series for the BFGoodrich Tires Cup championship leader Boris Said and 2001 AmeriSuites Rookie of the Year Justin Bell are among the 47 drivers competing for 43 starting spots in this weekend's Sirius Satellite at The Glen NASCAR Winston Cup event at Watkins Glen, N.Y.

Said, of Carlsbad, Calif., is entered in a Mark Harrah-owned Ford sponsored by Jasper Engines and Transmissions, while Bell, of Pagham, England, will compete in a Ford owned by Jon Perroton and sponsored by Ettore Squeeges. Qualifying begins 3 p.m. ET Friday.

Said will be looking to qualify for his second Winston Cup start of the 2002 season. He ran consistently among the top five drivers in the June 23 Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. before an accident on the 83rd of 110 laps relegated him to a 41st-place finish.

Said is chasing his first career Trans-Am Series championship and holds a 198-184 points lead over rookie Butch Leitzinger through seven of 12 rounds in the 2002 championship. Round 8 takes place on Saturday, Aug. 17 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. Said owns three race victories (Mosport, Lime Rock, Cleveland) and six podium finishes this season, a streak that was broken with a ninth-place result at Trois-Rivieres, Quebec last weekend.

"I've run really good and won in almost every kind of car I've had at The Glen, but I've had really bad luck with things breaking in the NASCAR races I've run there," Said told NASCAR.com. "Maybe this weekend will be different."

Bell, who hopes to qualify for his first-ever NASCAR Winston Cup start, won the final two events of the 2001 Trans-Am Series season, at Laguna Seca (Calif.) and Houston, to highlight his Rookie of the Year campaign. He has started six of seven Trans-Am events in 2002, with four top-10 finishes, highlighted by third at Mosport.

The Trans-Am Series, sanctioned by Englewood, Colorado-based Sports Car Club of America Pro Racing, is the longest-running road racing series in North America, having entered its 37th year of competition in 2002. Defending and three-time series champion Paul Gentilozzi is looking to claim his fourth title against a strong field of rivals including current championship leader Said, Bell, Johnny Miller, Michael Lewis, Tony Ave, Randy Ruhlman and 2002 Rookie of the Year candidate Butch Leitzinger. Trans-Am events are televised nationally by CBS Sports and SPEED Channel on either a live or tape-delayed basis. All Trans-Am drivers compete for the prestigious BFGoodrich Tires Cup, emblematic of the series driving championship.

-scca pro racing-