Notebook: Boris Said vows revenge on Greg Biffle

Notebook: Boris Said vows revenge on Greg Biffle

Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(August 15, 2011)

WATKINS GLEN , N.Y. —Greg Biffle should watch his back, given Boris Said’s comments after Monday’s rain-delayed Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen International.

After the drivers traded shots on the racetrack, they squared off on pit road after Marcos Ambrose took the checkered flag for his first Cup win.

Said had relayed through his spotter that he thought Biffle (who had run out of fuel on Lap 28 and was two laps down) was racing him dirty, Said’s crew chief, Nick Harrison, explained after the race. Said told his spotter he wanted to settle the score with Biffle after the race.

After crew members restrained the drivers on pit road, Said didn’t mince words when talking about his adversary.

“He’s the most unprofessional little scaredy cat I’ve ever seen in my life,” Said fumed. “He wouldn’t even fight me like a man after. So, if someone texts me his address, I’ll go see him Wednesday at his house and show him what he really needs. He needs a whipping, and I’m going to give it to him. He was flipping me off, giving me the finger. Totally unprofessional, two laps down—I mean he is a chump.

“I went over there to go talk to him. He wouldn’t even let me get out of the car. He comes over and throws a few little baby punches, and then when I get out, he runs away and hides behind some big guys. But he won’t hide from me long. I’ll find him. I won’t settle it out on the track. It’s not right to wreck cars, but he’ll show up at a race with a black eye one of these days. I’ll see him somewhere.”

— Reid Spencer

For a fleeting moment, Keselowski had third win in sight

Brad Keselowski walked stiffly to the dais in the Watkins Glen International media center, still suffering from the broken ankle he suffered Aug. 3 in a testing accident at Road Atlanta.

For much of Monday’s race, Keselowski ignored the pain as he drove toward the front. Just after the green flag signaled the start of two overtime laps, Keselowski took advantage of a miscue by Kyle Busch to take the lead.

He held the top spot through Turn 2 and up the hill through the esses, but race winner Marcos Ambrose powered past Keselowski’s No. 2 Dodge out of the inner loop.

“We had a shot at it, and that's all you can ask for as a driver—great long-run speed, and we were able to get to the front,” Keselowski told Sporting News. “I’ll look back at this one and wish that I had been in better condition and wish that I had more experience or was able to run the Nationwide race the day before and maybe I could have made the most of my car because quite frankly I think I had one of the cars to beat.

“But that's just the way it goes. It kind of is what it is.”

Keselowski, who skipped Saturday’s Nationwide race because of his injury, nevertheless solidified his wild-card position, moving up four spots to 14th in the standings.

“(I’m) proud of the day, proud of a good finish,” Keselowski said. “I think we're on great standing now. At least we moved up a bunch in the points, which is good. Got to make the most of that wild-card stuff that we were able to build up.”

— Reid Spencer

Reutimann, Ragan escape injury from vicious wreck

David Reutimann and David Ragan were rattled but uninjured after a vicious crash on the final lap of Monday’s race.

The wreck began after contact between Ragan and Boris Said sent Ragan’s car into the outside guardrail. Ragan then cut across the track, tagging Reutimann, whose car flipped upside-down and rolled before slamming into the guardrail.

“I felt like I had a good run, I felt like I had Boris clear and I think he got a little better run than we did and he just hooked us,” Ragan said. “He certainly could have given a little more of a break and we all could have gotten through there and not torn up anything. But he was aggressive and we were all aggressive. He hooked me and I hit hard."

Said indicated that the incident was caused by hard racing, but said he felt bad about the accident.

“I didn't want to wreck him, but I had to stay on the track and he didn't give me any room,” Said said. “We both collided.”

Reutimann hit hard as well, and the jar of the first impact with the inside guardrail turned his car upside-down.

“It didn’t really need to happen, unfortunately, but that’s just how it goes,” Reutimann said. "This is one of the bigger hits I would say, but it's part of the gig. You sign up to do this stuff every once and a while and you're going to hit something. As fast as we're going, you hit stuff pretty hard.”

Ragan criticized the track for the guardrail, which had no tire barrier or any kind of protective barrier, and Reutimann had similar sentiments.

— Correspondent