JEFF GREEN
NO. 66 BEST BUY HAAS CNC RACING CHEVROLET
LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY PREVIEW

Q&A WITH DRIVER JEFF GREEN:

WHAT ARE YOUR PREDICTIONS FOR LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY OVER THE NEXT TWO WEEKS? “I think you’re going to see a few more guys tear up their race cars in practice until we get some more tire rubber down. That place can be pretty slick when you first get out there. Just like all newly paved tracks, it’s going to take a little time for it to be really ‘raceable,’ but hopefully it will be pretty good by the time the 600 comes around.”

THE POSSIBILITY OF NASCAR MOVING THE ALL-STAR CHALLENGE IS STILL OUT THERE. WHAT IS YOUR OPINION? “Selfishly, I’d like to be able to spend two weeks at home, so I think it ought to stay in Charlotte. Now that Charlotte has won the Hall of Fame, I think it makes even more sense. People can come in to see the All-Star race, then stick around to visit the race shops and the Hall of Fame, then go to the Coke 600. It makes Charlotte more of a destination for race fans.”

ARE YOU AND MICHELLE (GREEN’S WIFE) GOING TO THE MOVIE PREMIERE AT LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY, AND DID YOU GO TO MANY MOVIES WHEN YOU WERE A KID? “Yeah, I think we’ll definitely be there. It sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun. I’ve heard the screens they’re setting up are going to be pretty impressive, so I’d like to see that for myself.

“I don’t recall going to see a lot of movies when I was a kid, to be honest with you. I do remember my dad taking me to see ‘King Kong,’ the original, when I was a kid. That’s the one movie memory I have that stands out. For some reason, it was just him and me at that one, my brothers didn’t go with us.

“Now, I’m a movie buff. I have probably close to 200 DVD’s, and I’ve got a theater room in my house. Best Buy is a perfect sponsor for me. I spend a lot of money there buying new movies. I watch all kinds of movies, so I’m looking forward to “Cars,” and to the Will Ferrell movie that’s coming out. Any movie about racing is going to get my attention.”

Q&A WITH CREW CHIEF “BOOTIE” BARKER:

LAST YEAR, YOUR CAR (WITH MIKE BLISS DRIVING) CAME WITHIN A HALF OF A LAP OF MAKING IT INTO THE ALL-STAR CHALLENGE. HOW UPSET WERE YOU WHEN THE NO. 25 CAR KNOCKED YOUR CAR OUT OF THE WAY AND TOOK THE WIN? “I definitely wasn’t happy. You know, and this is not a criticism of Mike Bliss, but I think he changed his line on those last couple of laps and pinched it down a little to try and keep (Brian) Vickers (driver of the No. 25 car) behind him. I think that if he had kept running the same line, Vickers would have never gotten to us. Mike was just being conservative, but then Vickers just hit us.

“I was mad, but we’ve got a great relationship with Hendrick Motorsports, so I wanted to make sure my guys didn’t run down there and kill him. I think it was part our fault (that we lost), and a lot Vicker’s fault. Do I think it’s OK to win by flat out wrecking someone like he did? No, I don’t.

“Don’t get me wrong. I ain’t above bending the rules, and I ain’t above moving somebody, but there’s a certain etiquette. If you’re a boxer, you can use your elbows and your head a little bit to give yourself an advantage and help beat your opponent, but if you knee them in the groin? That ain’t right. I just think that was too blatant on Vickers part, but what’s done is done. Let’s move on.”

HOW DO YOU LIKE THE NEWLY REPAVED LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY? “It was great before all the work was done. Then they ground it and that created some problems, and then ground it again, and that shifted the problem to another line on the track. Now that they’ve repaved it, they’ve made it a really nice, smooth track, but the tire we’re using is terrible.

“I know why they made the tire harder, because we can only go so fast, but now it seems like you’re seeing a harder tire everywhere. The problem is, now you have to try and find grip. The car just slides around. The only solution is to try and put more Aero in the car without killing the mechanical side, but good luck with that.”

HOW MUCH HAS YOUR SETUP CHANGED SINCE LAST FALL’S CUP RACE AT LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY? “Well, the way you ran the ‘old’ Charlotte, before they levigated it and before they paved it, you couldn’t run the line that we’re running now. The bumps wouldn’t let you. We haven’t changed a ton since last fall, except for how we’ve evolved our thinking since then. We’re fairly close to how we were last October. I think we’ll be good.”

CLOSE, BUT NO….TRANSFER SPOT: The Haas CNC Racing team came within a few hundred feet of making it into the 2005 Nextel All-Star Challenge. Driver Mike Bliss, in the No. 0 Haas Chevrolet, was leading coming out of Turn 4 on the final lap of the Nextel Open, the winner of which received a starting spot in the All-Star Challenge later that evening.

As one writer described the final lap, “Mike Bliss had the lead when they came off of turn four headed towards the checkered flag. Brian Vickers was hot on his bumper. The two got together, Bliss crossed the finish line sideways with smoke billowing off his tires, but Vickers got there first for the win.”

GET TO KNOW THE NO. 66 CREW: Best Buy Racing’s website is highlighting the crew members of the No. 66 Haas CNC Racing team. Each week, a different crew member is featured with an expanded bio that lets fans learn (among other things) how that crewman got into racing, the role he serves on the Haas CNC team, along with his favorite movies and music. Read the latest bios by logging on to either www.racing.bestbuy.com or http://racing.bestbuy.com.

JEFF GREEN’S HISTORY AT LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY: In 11 Nextel Cup Series starts at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (LMS), Jeff Green’s best qualifying effort was a fourth-place starting spot in the May, 1997, race, driving for team owner Gary Bechtel. Green’s best Cup finish at Lowe’s was an 11th-place finish in May, 2005, driving a Petty Enterprises car.

In 18 Busch Series starts at LMS, Green has two wins (Green won the May race two years in a row, in 2001 and 2002, but the wins came with different teams. In 2001, Green won while driving for Greg Pollex, but his 2002 victory came in a Richard Childress Racing entry), six top-fives and 10 top-10 finishes.

HAAS CNC RACING’S HISTORY AT LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY: In six Nextel Cup Series starts at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, the Haas CNC Racing team’s best starting spot was a fifth-place qualifying run by driver Jack Sprague in the May, 2003, race. The team’s best finish came in the Memorial Day Weekend event one year ago, when driver Mike Bliss finished 15th.