Golden Corral 500 - Jeff Green Notes

Jeff Green Notes, Quotes: Golden Corral 500
Memories of a memorable finish

Heading to the track where he recorded his first NASCAR Nextel Cup top-five finish, this weekend Jeff Green and the #43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge team move to the 1.54-mile Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Golden Corral 500. Green recorded a fourth-place finish at the track in 1997 for a different team, the first of five top-five finishes in his career.

Green, 41, is the only driver to have raced for the sport’s biggest teams. Throughout his career, Green has driven for Nextel Cup’s most legendary names such as Junior Johnson, Felix Sabates, Richard Childress, Teresa Earnhardt, and now Richard Petty. He is in his first full season driving the legendary Petty Enterprises #43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge. The 2000 NASCAR Busch Grand National champion, Green holds the record for the largest points margin after winning the championship by 616 points. Green is also a two-time NASCAR Nextel Cup pole winner, winning poles at the Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and the pole for the 2003 Daytona 500.

The thoughts of #43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge driver Jeff Green heading into Atlanta:

“Atlanta is always going to be a bit more special to me than some of the other tracks. It was where I got my first top-five finish. It was pretty cool getting that first one. I remember it was the year that they first reconfigured the track. A lot of guys liked it, others just hated the change, but it put everyone on equal footing. I don’t think we had any sort of upper hand or anything, but everyone was just on the same level. We figured things out pretty quickly and had some good luck that day. We didn’t run into any problems and that helped us out a bunch. It turned out well for us.

“It was an awesome feat that day for us. It came pretty early in my career, when I started breaking into Nextel Cup. I had raced a bunch of races in the Busch series and was trying to make my way to the next level. I was given the chance, and just about out of the box we had a top five. I thought that was the first of many, or at least of being competitive each and every week. It just hasn’t come that way yet, but now that I am with this Cheerios team, that’s what we are building for.

“It goes to show you how competitive this sport really is. You can be on top of the world one week and be struggling the next. It’s a tough sport and a tough series. It’s really amazing to see some of these guys like a Matt Kenseth go out here and race in the top five each and every week. Right now, this team is working really hard to be where we can be competing like that week-in and week-out. Not every team does that, but we want to be one of those who can.

“Atlanta is just different now. The old track was liked by everyone, and I really liked it. After I got that top-five on the new configuration, yeah, it was tough not to like this one too. The old track you had to let off the gas a little bit, but the new track is fast. They say it’s one of the fastest tracks and we are wide open all day. It’s a little bit of pins and needles for us, but if you like speed Atlanta is the place to go.

“We deal with Atlanta two times a year and you know what it’s going to be like going into the race. We all know that it’s a fast track and that it’s a bit hair-raising at times, but it’s a good track. It has some great racing and it always has great finishes. It’s a good race for the fans- one of the better tracks for the fans because of all the excitement.

“It’s fun for everyone. It’s a track that is closer to my home (Owensboro, Ky.) and I’ve got a lot of fans that come and cheer for me. My family comes to Atlanta a lot and it’s always good to see them. It really makes for a good weekend if we race well there. I think this Cheerios team is ready to do just that this weekend.”