EA Sports 500 - Jeff Green Notes

Jeff Green Notes, Quotes: EA Sports 500
#43 Yu-Gi-Oh! Dodge to debut at Talladega

This weekend Jeff Green will step behind the wheel of the #43 Yu-Gi-Oh! Dodge as the team prepares for this weekend’s EA Sports 500 at the 2.66-mile Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. Green will once again fill in for Christian Fittipaldi, who is driving the #44 Bugles Dodge this weekend. Green will also fulfill the driving duties of the #43 Cheerios Petty Dodge in October at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., when Fittipaldi will again drive the #44 Bugles Dodge.

Bringing the excitement of Yu-Gi-Oh!, the popular animated TV show and trading card game, to NASCAR, Cheerios/Betty Crocker Racing has partnered with Petty Enterprises and 4Kids Entertainment to create a special Yu-Gi-Oh! paint scheme for the No. 43 Dodge for the Talladega race. The Yu-Gi-Oh! paint scheme, created by celebrated motorsports designer Sam Bass, will look dramatically different than the yellow and “Petty blue” paint scheme typically seen on the No. 43 Dodge. The special design features a blue background that covers the entire car with the main character from Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yami Yugi, and the well-known Yu-Gi-Oh! logo displayed prominently on the hood. The rear quarter panel on the driver’s side features one of Yami Yugi’s main Duel Monsters rivals, Kaiba, with the other rear quarter panel featuring Yami Yugi himself. The back of the car features the phrase known to Yu-Gi-Oh! enthusiasts nationwide, “Let’s Duel!”

The thoughts of the #43 Yu-Gi-Oh! Cheerios Dodge driver Jeff Green heading into Talladega:

“As a young boy growing up in Kentucky, and racing all your life, you hope one day to be able to compete in the NASCAR Winston Cup series. I’ve been fortunate enough in the last year to have raced with some of the best Winston Cup organizations like RCR, DEI, and now Petty Enterprises. To once again be able to help out Petty Enterprises and drive this special #43 Yu-Gi-Oh! Dodge this weekend at Talladega is pretty special. I am really looking forward to Talladega.

“I had a good run here last year (Green finished fifth) and restrictor-plate tracks have been pretty good to me lately (Green won the pole for this season’s Daytona 500). We only run restrictor-plate races four times a year and it seems like the only guys who really like them are the ones who win them. The rest of us try to forget about them, but I’ve had some luck, and hopefully we’ll have another good run this weekend.

“You need to have a lot of help to have a good run at Talladega. You’re racing all day with guys who are going three and four wide, and you need help to get around these guys. The draft is important to everyone, and getting hooked up with someone late in the race is important in getting you to the front. It’s tough to pass by yourself and you need to be in the right position to pass. It’s more challenging thinking about the race than it is to actually race it.

“The end of the day you’re just so mentally tired that you are ready to leave. It is way more challenging mentally than physically. Anytime you’re out there running with guys three and four wide at the speeds we are racing at, it’s going to be tough mentally. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the restrictor plate races, but once the day has ended it’s nice to see that too.

“We’ve raced this race here at Talladega without any wrecks and without a ‘big one.’ It’s possible and I think it can be done if everyone stays sharp the whole day. It’s a race where you’re looking in your mirrors on the side, in the rear and you’re just looking everywhere all day. You’ve got guys in front, behind and most of the time on both sides. It’s a long day and it’s tough to do. We’ve seen it done before, however, and that proved it can be done again.

“I think we’ll still see good racing at Talladega, and maybe better racing, because NASCAR has decided to make some adjustments to the cars. The adjustments to the restrictor plates and to the spoilers were good ideas by NASCAR. I think it will make the racing a lot better and will make passing easier as well. We are going to have a lot more air to draft with and maybe we’ll be able to pass guys without having to rely so much on other people. It could open up the pack a little bit more and that will make the day less strenuous on everyone. It should be better, but like anything, we’ll have to wait and see what happens in the race.

“I am excited about Talladega and this is the second consecutive weekend to be with Petty Enterprises. It’s pretty cool to be driving this #43 Petty Dodge, and to see the Yu-Gi-Oh! paint scheme on the side, I know that we’ll have a lot of the younger fans of NASCAR rooting for us on Sunday. We’re looking for a good day.”

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