Sirius at the Glen - Jeff Green Notes

Jeff Green Notes, Quotes: SIRIUS at The Glen
‘Adapting to Road Courses’

The second, and last, visit to a road course this season, Jeff Green and the #43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge team prepare for this weekend’s SIRIUS at The Glen at the 2.45-mile Watkins Glen (N.Y.) road course. It will be Green’s third race at the track located in upstate New York where he had a 12th-place finish in 2002 - his second career start at the track.

Green, 41, is the only driver to have raced for the sport’s biggest names. Throughout his career, he has driven for Cup’s most legendary names, such as Junior Johnson, Felix Sabates, Richard Childress, Dale Earnhardt, and now Richard Petty. Green is in his first full season driving the legendary Petty Enterprises #43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge. The 2000 NASCAR Busch Grand National champion, he holds the record for the largest points margin after winning the championship by 616 points. He 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 Watkins Glen:

“Growing up I raced a lot of go-karts. Through that experience I was able to race on some road courses and learn the sensation of turning left, then right, then left or right again. I think any experience on road courses helps. It’s night-and-day difference from a go-kart to a Nextel Cup car, but the principles of braking and getting on and off the gas are the same.

“Go-karts, we didn’t shift, but you learn that along the way. The experience I have in both racing a Cup car at Watkins Glen and also a Busch car have really helped. The Busch cars are lighter, and maybe you can drive them harder into the corners, but it’s not too hard of a transition into the Cup car. You learn when to shift, get on the gas, and brake. The real goal is to keep the car on the track.

“We’re all professional drivers. We should be able to adapt from a Martinsville to a Talladega to a place like Watkins Glen without too many problems. The road courses, however, are our biggest challenge. There are only two in a year. After this weekend, it will be another 10 months before we go back to one. We’re going to ovals every week, so to come to a road course takes a little bit more time to get used to. You just want to stay on the track and keep the car underneath you. We just don’t have a lot of seat time on road courses. It’s harder to adapt, but we still need to be prepared for them.

“Road courses are still fun. They are a challenge and so completely different than any thing else we race. Watkins Glen is fast and demanding for a driver. You have to concentrate the entire race. All you are thinking about is hitting your marks and making good laps all race. It ends up being a pretty mentally challenging day.

“You’re pushing the car on every turn and trying to get the most out of it - especially during qualifying. Qualifying at a road course is pretty exciting. You’re doing everything you know how to do to get a good, hard, clean lap in. It’s not as easy as it might look. If the car is a little loose or tight, you’re really fighting it. Having a balanced car on Friday is really, really important. Track position means a lot and a good qualifying run makes life a lot easier on Sunday.

“It’s important to get off to a good weekend anywhere, but it’s really nice to have one at Watkins Glen. The challenge of the track makes the weekend intense for everyone. A good qualifying run can help you relax and focus on the task at hand on race day. At Infineon (formerly Sears Point) we did a lot of work on our Cheerios Dodge to get better throughout the weekend. We learned a lot and hopefully we can take from that and have a good run this weekend.”