In the Old West, the guy with the fastest six-shooter was the man in demand. He had the quickest moves, lightning hands and, when he needed to hot-foot it out of there in a hurry, the fastest pair of feet.

When it comes to road course racing in Winston Cup, the same attributes are also highly prized. That's why some teams import so-called "hired guns" like Boris Said to do what they do best: show the good old boys how to turn right, as well as left.

Said is among the best at his craft. A road course driver first, fill-in NASCAR driver second. But when a hired gun's game is on while driving a Winston Cup car, boy, what a show he can put on not only for the fans at venues like Infineon Raceway in California and Watkins Glen (N.Y.), but also for the regular stable of Cup pilots.

That's why you'll see both Said and fellow road ace Ron Fellows in Sunday's Sirius at The Glen event. Said will be replacing Mike Skinner for the one-off start in the No. 01 Pontiac, while Canadian native Fellows will fill in behind the wheel of the No. 1 Chevrolet on the challenging 2.45-mile road course.

"Because of how popular it is, you get a lot of crossover when you've got drivers like myself and Boris Said and Scott Pruett have come from other forms of road racing," Fellows said. "Certainly the road racing community watches (Winston Cup) and has lots of questions about what the cars are like to drive. It's a lot of fun to race those cars. It's so competitive and so popular."

Said, 40, a native of Carlsbad, Calif., comes into Watkins Glen still riding the high of his accomplishment at Infineon just six weeks ago. He set a track record en route to winning the pole position, and for an encore went out and finished a career-best sixth in what was his eighth career road course race in Winston Cup competition. His previous best finish in a Cup race was in 2001 at this weekend's venue, Watkins Glen (which is also where he had his best start -- as a rookie, no less -- when he qualified No. 2 in the 1999 race).

"This is a big chance for me," Said, the reigning SCCA Trans-Am champion, admitted. "To have a full-time team running your deal instead of just a part-time effort like I've had for the past few years is a big difference. Our results showed that at Infineon. Winning the pole there was one of the greatest thrills of my career.

"Watkins Glen is a track I've always liked. We tested there a few weeks ago and we were running really good. Ryan (No. 01 Pontiac crew chief Ryan Pemberton) and I have known each other a long time. To me, we're like a full-time team. We had a lot of chemistry at Infineon. I don't know for what reason. It seemed like we'd been together all year and it was really our first time. I just seem to mesh really good with the MB2 bunch. We're more than just working guys; we're all friends. It makes a difference."

Pemberton agrees. This will be the sixth time he and Said have teamed up in recent years for road course races. A solid chemistry, built on professional respect and friendship has developed during that time between the pair, which goes a long way on race day.

"Boris is one of the best road racers in the world," Pemberton said. "(He) has as much talent as anybody I've ever worked with. He's a much better (Winston Cup) racer right now than he was three or four years ago when we first started really working together. He's more knowledgeable and he's got the ability."

	Said won the Cup ole at Infineon Raceway this year.

Said is excited not only to be back behind the wheel of a Winston Cup stock car, but also to pick up where he left off at Infineon.

"Watkins Glen has always been one of my favorite tracks, but it's more special just because you're racing in Winston Cup. And for me as a racer who is normally just known as a road racer it's special. Winston Cup right now is the most competitive form of racing in the world. It's a big challenge to be a part of that show. It's something that I'm working to be part of full time next year or the year after. That's my goal right now -- to be a Winston Cup driver. I'm going to keep working on it.

"In the past, it's always been that everybody is my best friend and then once August comes around and Watkins Glen is over, your phone never rings again. And now (after doing so well at Infineon), I'm getting a lot more positive responses from the people I've been talking to."

While the common perception might be that "hired guns" are looked down upon or thought of as ringers, that truth is just the opposite, Said noted. He's been welcomed with nothing but open arms by the Winston Cup community.

"The last four years I've probably worked with about 18 of the top guys, trying to help their road race programs, whether it's been in car setup or things a driver does that are different from oval racing," he said. "I think I'm well-received in the garage."

And he's no more well-received with anyone than Pemberton.

"Boris has incredible car control and incredible foot work," Pemberton said. "If you've ever seen a foot cam or anything like that inside a car, the things that he does with the gas and the clutch and the brake pedal are second to none. You could almost watch the whole in-car camera footage. His awareness of things around him inside the car is incredible. He can tell me different RPMs when he comes off the corners -- exactly what the RPM was -- things that most drivers can't do. Most drivers couldn't tell you. Boris can tell you everything that's going on in there. Those details really set him apart."

Fellows, 43, a native of Windsor, Ontario, who will be making his eighth career Cup start this weekend, had an almost equally strong outing as Said at Infineon, starting third and finishing right behind Boris in seventh-place. That's why he's just as excited about this Sunday's race, saying he feels he has a serious chance at winning his first Winston Cup race.

"It would be big," Fellows said. "We've gotten to win some pretty neat sports car races like a couple of class wins at Le Mans and overall win at the Rolex 24 Hour at Daytona, but without a doubt winning a Winston Cup race -- a road race -- would be the biggest in my career just because of how big NASCAR Winston Cup racing has become."

A win or another high finish this Sunday could go a long way toward helping Fellows and Said both ultimately realize their respective goals of becoming full-time drivers on the Winston Cup circuit. But if it doesn't, they're still having a ball in their occasional hired gun stints.

"My number one goal right now it to try and get into Winston Cup full time," Said said. "I'm going to try my hardest to make it happen. But if it doesn't happen, I still have a pretty unique racing career and feel lucky I get to drive all the different cool cars. I'm going to try to make it happen in Winston Cup but if it doesn't, I'm not going to kick myself over it. I'm going to just continue what I'm doing and have a good time racing. That's what I love to do."

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at Motorsportwriter@Yahoo.com