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

CO-PRIMARY SPONSORS IN DAYTONA – The No. 66 Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet will carry co-primary sponsorship in this weekend’s Nextel Cup Series event at Daytona. The black car will carry decals on the hood promoting Best Buy, as well as Yellow Transportation, the sponsor of the No. 00 Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet that Johnny Sauter drives in the NASCAR Busch Series. Best Buy’s logos will appear on the car’s upper quarter panels, while Microsoft Windows Live One Care will have its logos displayed on the lower quarter panels.

WIND TUNNEL TIME – The Haas CNC Racing team planned to bring a brand new chassis (Chassis No. 024) to Daytona. After sending that car to the wind tunnel late last week, the decision was made to bring Chassis No. 018 instead.

Q&A WITH DRIVER JEFF GREEN:
YOU HAD A GOOD CAR AT DAYTONA IN FEBRUARY, BUT YOU’RE BRINGING A DIFFERENT CAR BACK THIS TIME. AS A DRIVER, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT? “You just have to have faith in your team and your crew chief and believe that they’re going to bring the best car to the track.

“Daytona is a very different place from February to July, so a car that was great here in February might not be nearly as good in July. You have to have a car that’s going to handle really well, even more so on a hot track like it will be this weekend.

“This is a great car, too, so I’m not too worried about it.”

Q&A WITH CREW CHIEF ROBERT “BOOTIE” BARKER:
YOUR TEAM BUILT A NEW CAR FOR THIS RACE, BUT AFTER SENDING IT TO THE WIND TUNNEL LAST WEEK, YOU CHOSE TO GO WITH A DIFFERENT CHASSIS. WHY IS THAT? “It’s real simple. The new car’s numbers in the wind tunnel just weren’t as good as the ones for the car we used at Talladega. You see that happen all the time. You can build and tweak one for weeks, but until you put it to the test, you don’t really know what you’ve got. The Talladega car (Chassis No. 018) is a great car, so I had no qualms about taking it to Daytona.”

WHERE DO THE IDEAS COME FROM FOR THE CHANGES MADE TO NEW CAR DESIGNS? “In a lot of cases, I come up with them. I do rely on my guys a lot for different things. When I want input on shocks, I go to ‘Hot Sauce’ (Adam Gravitt, the team’s shock engineer), and when I want some input on aero(dynamics), I go to Johnny (Taylor, another team engineer).

“The body guys at Haas usually have some ideas, too, so I’ll let them build a car the way they want to, then I also have them build a car the way I want them to. Then we find out which one works better. Not to sound arrogant, but usually, it’s my design that works better. Not always, but most of the time.”

CHASSIS INFORMATION- HAAS CNC Racing Chassis No. 018 – Chassis No. 018 is the same car Jeff Green drove to a 14th-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway in April.

JEFF GREEN’S HISTORY AT DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY:
In 10 Nextel Cup Series starts at Daytona, Green’s best starting position came when he won the pole position for the 2003 Daytona 500 while driving for Richard Childress Racing. Green’s best finish in a Cup race at Daytona was a 16th-place result in the 2005 Daytona 500, while driving for Petty Enterprises.

Green has competed in 11 Busch Series events at Daytona, with his best start being a pole position in 2003, driving for NEMCO Motorsports. Green’s best finish in a Daytona Busch race was a runner-up finish in 1999, while driving for team owner Greg Pollex.

Green’s most memorable Daytona race may well be the Feb., 2000, Daytona Busch event. On lap 14, Green was involved in an accident that sent his No. 10 machine flipping down the frontstretch. Green was uninjured in the crash, but finished 42nd. Green overcame the disappointing result and went on to win the Busch Series championship that year by the largest margin in series history (over 600 points).

In his most recent start at Daytona, Green was involved in an incident with the No. 88 car of Dale Jarrett. Green’s entry was heavily damaged in the crash, but his HAAS CNC Racing team made repairs, and Green returned to the track to finish the event. Green was credited with a 42nd-place finish, 47 laps down to winner Jimmie Johnson.

HAAS CNC RACING’S HISTORY AT DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY:
HAAS CNC Racing has seven Nextel Cup Series starts at Daytona. The team’s best finish came in the 2003 Daytona 500, when driver Jack Sprague posted a 14th-place result. Driver Ward Burton scored the team’s best starting spot at Daytona when he qualified eighth for the July, 2004, Cup event.