Juan Pablo Montoya drives the #42 Texaco Havoline Dodge during the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at the Infineon Raceway. (Robert Laberge/Getty Images Photo)

SAVE MART SIGNS EXTENSION Save Mart Supermarkets has signed a multi-year agreement to continue as co-title sponsor of the annual NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Infineon Raceway, track officials announced Sunday.

The partnership continues the raceway’s long-standing relationship with Save Mart Supermarkets, a Modesto, Calif.-based grocery chain. Save Mart has been either title sponsor or co-title sponsor of the NASCAR Sprint Cup event at Infineon Raceway since 1992. “Our affiliation with Save Mart Supermarkets represents the strongest, most effective sponsor relationship I’ve been involved with in nearly 30 years in this industry, “ said Steve Page, president and general manager of Infineon Raceway. “They are terrific promoters, wonderful partners and I’m delighted to know that partnership will continue.”

Blog Post: Saturday, June 21, 2008 2:04 PM Eastern

HAPPY MAN The single happiest person at Infineon Raceway this weekend just might be Tasmania native Marcos Ambrose, who on Friday qualified for the Toyota/Save Mart 350, his first NASCAR Sprint Cup race.

Ambrose, who this weekend is driving the fabled Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Ford Fusion, said making the race removed the weight of the world from him. “Just relieved, man. Just like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders,” Ambrose said when asked to describe his emotions after qualifying on Friday. “I hear these guys, they qualify in every week, saying, ‘Oh, it’s pressure.’ It is. It’s just massive. It was harder to qualify than what it was to line up with one race to go to try and win a championship in Australia. The pressure was just intense. One lap, three corners to warm up, go or go home. Four thousand miles. First Cup race, all that kind of stuff.”

The two-time Australia V-8 Supercar champion said he was nervous, despite being quick in Friday practice. “Even going fastest in practice, I mean, it added more, because you expect to get in there,” said Ambrose. “It’s just been an awesome day. I feel like I’ve just survived a marathon of stress and anxiety. I’m just going to enjoy it from here on in for the rest of the weekend.”

SAID HEAD Another road-course ace looking for big things this weekend is Boris Said, the brillo-headed former Trans-Am racer, who still is trying to make the move from part-time NASCAR Sprint Cup racer to full-time owner/driver. “We have a sponsor, Pepsi, for eight races, and we’re looking constantly more sponsors to run a full team,” noted Said, who will start 14th in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350. “Our goal is to be a full-time team. I won’t be happy until we’re doing that, whether I’m the driver of somebody else is the driver. But, I feel like the team we’ve put together, how competitive we are, every time we show up at the track, we’re better than a lot of full-time teams. We have four full-time employees, that’s it.”

Said will race at Daytona in two weeks, where he nearly won in 2006. “I’m looking at going back to Daytona and try relive the magic we had there two years ago when we qualified on the pole and finished fourth,” he said. “That was my 10 minutes of fame, so to speak, because no one ever expected it on an oval. I think we’ve got a great car, it’s just that the way the rules are right now, this top 35, just qualifying is really, really, hard. Even here, with the road racers, to see a guy like Dario Franchitti go home – it’s just a tough business right now, getting in the show. So, that’s our biggest problem.”