JEFF GREEN
NO. 66 BEST BUY HAAS CNC RACING CHEVROLET
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY PREVIEW

BEST BUY RACING LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE: Best Buy Racing is pleased to announce the launch of a new website, www.racing.bestbuy.com. The site gives fans and Best Buy employees access to all the latest news and information on the No. 66 Best Buy Haas CNC Racing team and driver Jeff Green. The site is a work in progress, and many more features will be added as the season progresses. You have to move fast to keep up with Green and the Best Buy team, but you can do it with one click of your computer mouse by logging on to www.Racing.BestBuy.com.

Q&A WITH DRIVER JEFF GREEN:

You had your best finish (18th) of the 2006 season at Las Vegas last weekend. “Yeah, I feel like we had a top-10 car, but we were running on seven or seven and a half cylinders for most of the race. The engine was misfiring for some reason. It’s a little disappointing to know you have that good of a car and about 30 or 40 laps in, you start having a problem.

“We never gave up, though. We could still make strong lap times when the tires got old, and we would have gotten a top-15, I think. We had some cars in front of us that had a bad restart on that green-white-checkered finish, and we lost a few spots. Still, that finish gives us something we can build on heading into this weekend.”

Are you happy with the level of communication between you and Bootie (Barker, crew chief)? “Absolutely. Bootie and I have had great communication from the first lap of our first test session at Kentucky Speedway back in December. He’s a very intelligent guy, and he’s one of the few crew chiefs I’ve worked with who thinks about things as much as he does. He thinks about his decisions before he makes them, and really examines all the variables before he makes a decision.

“He stays on a pretty even keel, too. I don’t know what I’ve got to say to him to get him flustered, but I haven’t been able to do it yet. He keeps me pumped up during the race with the things he says on the radio. He’s an inspiration to me and the team on a lot of different levels, and he’s one of the funniest guys I’ve ever met. I can’t believe some of the stuff that comes out of his mouth.

“It really feels like Bootie and I have worked together for years, and it’s only been a couple of months. I think our communication can only get better, and that’s going to really pay off later in the season.”

You had a top-five finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway the first year they changed the layout and swapped the frontstretch and backstretch. What do you think of the track now? “I like it a lot. I like the fact that you can move around and find different grooves. It’s just so incredibly fast, it’s sometimes hard to race here. The past few years, I haven’t had a car that I was comfortable enough with to drive it as fast as I needed to. I’m looking forward to getting out there in one of the Haas cars. If we can avoid the problem we had last weekend, I think we have a good shot at a top-15 or even a top-10 finish.”

Q&A WITH CREW CHIEF “BOOTIE” BARKER:

Are you happy with where the team is at this point of the season? “No, I can’t say I’m completely satisfied. If we hadn’t gotten wrecked at Daytona, we’d probably be somewhere in the ‘teens’ in points, and that would definitely be preferable, but otherwise, I’m pretty happy. We’re moving up in the points, so that’s good.

“We’ve had some rules changes from last year that’s had us having to re-figure out some things. We’re playing catch up on some body changes and some small issues. It takes time to re-do a whole body. It’s not something that we’re going to see improvement on immediately, but by the time we get to Lowe’s Motor Speedway, we should see the fruits of that.”

What are your thoughts on the new tire leasing policy? “Well, it doesn’t really matter what I think, because it is what it is, and it’s the same for everybody. We can make anything work, you know? I mean, it doesn’t matter if I like it or don’t like it. That’s what NASCAR has said we’re doing, and we’ll make it work. If they came out and said we have to race on three wheels, we’d find a way to do it. What are you going to do, throw up your hands and say ‘I ain’t doing it?’”

Did you learn anything at Las Vegas that is applicable to Atlanta? “We’re going to have the same general problems at Atlanta that we had at California and Las Vegas, but you can’t fix the problems the same way. It’s a different package you’re working with, so you have to approach the problems differently.

“The thing I like about Atlanta is that you can run high, low, anywhere on the track you want to. The tires get worn out and you have to really work to make your car handle.”

Some say the track surface at Atlanta is worn out. Would you like to see them pave it again? “No! I like it worn out. When you pave one, you get back to single groove or groove and a half racing, people are blowing tires and all that mess. Leave it the way it is. That’s what racing is all about is racing on these worn out, slick tracks. I love it. Don’t change a thing.”

JEFF GREEN’S HISTORY AT ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY: In 11 Cup series starts at Atlanta, Jeff Green’s best starting spot and best finish came in 1997, when he was driving for team owner Gary Bechtel. Green started seventh and finished fourth in the Nov. 16 event that year.

HAAS CNC RACING’S HISTORY AT ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY: In six Cup series starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Haas CNC Racing has finished in the 13th position three different times. Ward Burton accomplished the feat in the second Atlanta race in 2003 and the first Atlanta race in 2004, and Mike Bliss finished there again in Oct., 2005.

BEST BUY MOVIE TRIVIA:
Five Movies available at Best Buy (and www.BestBuy.com) that have ties to Atlanta:
“Fried Green Tomatoes”- The quintessential Southern classic about a rowdy crew of women was filmed in the Atlanta area.
“Remember the Titans” – This uplifting football movie, starring Denzel Washington, was mostly filmed in the Atlanta area.
“Driving Miss Daisy” – Starring Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman, this movie was filmed in the Atlanta area.
“My Cousin Vinny” – Surprisingly, this comedy starring Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei (Tomei won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role) was mostly filmed in Atlanta/North Georgia
“Smokey and the Bandit” – This classic comedy, starring Jackie Gleason and Burt Reynolds, was filmed in the Atlanta area (parts were shot at the old Lakewood Speedway, where NASCAR competed from 1951-1959).