Boris Said may have more under his hood than he showed in Friday's qualifying session, and he'll have some extra help on pit road, thanks to an assist from the Wood Brothers.

Since the race at Infineon was not on the Wood Brothers' schedule, team owner Eddie Wood agreed to let Said use the crew that usually pits the #21 Ford driven by Bill Elliott.

"We spoke a few weeks ago and Boris mentioned he was going to run Sonoma and didn't have a pit crew, so since that race wasn't on our schedule and we had no intentions of going, we offered up our guys," Wood said. "Boris Said helped us out at Watkins Glen a couple of years ago and has done a lot to help our road-racing programme overall, and he's just a friend."

Said has never won a Sprint Cup event, but because of his prowess on road courses, Sunday's race is a welcome opportunity. Outside the top 35 in owner points and required to make the field on speed, Said used a conservative approach in qualifying ninth on Friday.

"I pretty much had a restrictor plate on me," Said admitted. "(Crew chief) Frankie (Stoddard) put it on me because he said, 'If you spin off and make a mistake, we're going home, so let's just get it in the show.'

"That's the important thing, to be here racing for (owner) John Carter, who put a lot of effort into this."

by Reid Spencer/Sporting News