JEFF GREEN
NO. 66 BEST BUY HAAS CNC RACING CHEVROLET
CHICAGOLAND PREVIEW

Q&A WITH DRIVER JEFF GREEN:

What are your thoughts on Chicagoland Speedway? “It’s one of the ‘cookie cutter’ tracks. It’s kind of like Kansas, but with the track getting a few years of racing on it, it opened up a lot last year and made it a lot easier to race side by side. I don’t mind the ‘cookie cutter’ tracks, really. I mean, they’re all race tracks and we have to race at them, so I’m fine with them. Chicagoland is quite a bit like Charlotte (Lowe’s Motor Speedway), and we ran very well there, so hopefully we can come out of there with a good finish.

“We’ve run pretty well at all of the mile and a half tracks this year, really. ‘Bootie’ (Barker, the team’s crew chief) seems to have a really strong setup for those types of tracks. I’m glad we go to so many of them.”

Q&A WITH CREW CHIEF “BOOTIE” BARKER:

You had your best finish of the season at a 1.5-mile track (Lowe’s Motor Speedway). Will you be able to bring a similar setup to Chicgoland Speedway? “Yeah, you can. Chicagoland is a little like Charlotte and Kansas, but it’s a little more ‘cookie cutter.’ Chicago’s had more time to cure and is more weathered than Charlotte, so I think Chicagoland will present more challenges. The tire they’re bringing is softer than what they brought to Charlotte, so it could kind of offset the weathered track, though.”

Will you focus on race setup or qualifying setup in the first practice on Friday? “We always focus on race runs. Doing it that way could help us, because we’ll get more laps in that way, but it sometimes makes it more difficult for me to hit on the right setup overall, believe it or not.”

NASCAR is saying they will go to a smaller fuel cell for 2007. What are your thoughts on that? “It created a mess at Charlotte (Lowe’s Motor Speedway). It made it crazy on pit road. Some guys would take no tires, some would take two, some would take four, and there was no symmetry as to when people would leave their pit stalls. It got pretty hairy on pit road a number of times, and I think you’re going to see a lot more cars getting damaged by contact on pit road. I think NASCAR is doing it to cause more action overall, and they’re definitely going to get their wish. I just don’t know if it’s the kind of action they’re looking for.”

There’s been talk of NASCAR doing away with the rear sway bars that teams have on their cars. Why is that, and what do you think of that plan? “Well, the reason they’re thinking of doing that is that people are using the sway bar in a manner it’s not designed to be used for. They use it to hold up the rear of the car and get the blade (rear spoiler) up in the air. The rear sway bar is supposed to be an anti-roll device, but none of us use it that way.

“I don’t think they should take it away from us, though. We have too many rules as it is. We’re not racing IROC (International Race of Champions, where the cars are supposed to equal). Even though we aren’t using it much now, we might be able to find a way to use it somewhere down the road. It’s just taking away another option from the teams, which I don’t necessarily agree with.”

JEFF GREEN’S HISTORY AT CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY: In five Nextel Cup Series starts at Chicagoland Speedway, Jeff Green’s best starting spot was a 15th-place qualifying effort in the 2003 event, when he was driving for Dale Earnhardt, Inc.

Green’s best finish was a 12th-place result in the 2002 event, while driving the No. 30 entry for Team Owner Richard Childress.

HAAS CNC RACING’S HISTORY AT CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY: The HAAS CNC Racing team has competed in three Nextel Cup Series races at Chicagoland Speedway. The team’s best starting position was scored by driver Mike Bliss, who qualified 11th for this race one year ago. The team’s best finish came with driver Ward Burton, who finished 19th in the 2004 event.

THIS WEEK’S FEATURED CREWMAN: Jonathan Toney, Engineer: 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. This week, you can read up on Johnny Toney, team engineer, who still lives in the town in which he was born. Read the latest by logging on to either www.racing.bestbuy.com or http://racing.bestbuy.com.