JEFF GREEN
NO. 66 BEST BUY HAAS CNC RACING CHEVROLET
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY PREVIEW

Q&A WITH DRIVER JEFF GREEN:
Phoenix has been a good track for you. Do you enjoy racing there? ““Phoenix is great. They opened it up a couple of years ago coming off Turn 2. It’s kind of a tri-oval, but it’s backwards from the other ones we go to. That ‘Dog Leg’ on the backstretch is just something you have to set up for in terms of your traffic, but it doesn’t really affect you other than that.

“Turns 1 and 2 are so different from Turns 3 and 4 that if somebody hits it just right on the setup, they’ll show up the field. It’s just like other tracks we visit, in that you have to have a good handling race car to be successful.”

After 34 races, are you ready for the season to end? “In some ways, yes, but now that I have Harold (Holly) back with me, I kind of wish we had another eight or 10 races. I feel like he and I are just getting back into the groove of working together again, and you hate to break that momentum. But, I know Harold is looking forward to having some time to work on the cars without having to worry about getting to the track every weekend so he can get things like he likes them.

“I’m looking forward to doing some hunting, spending some time in Kentucky and catching up on things around the house. What usually happens, though, is that you start getting antsy after you sit on the couch for a couple of weekends in a row. I guess the grass is always greener.

“I do know that, with Harold working with me, I’m going to be more excited to head to Daytona next season than I have been in a long time. He gives me the confidence I need, knowing that the cars are going to be as good as they can be when I climb in them. It’s a special feeling for a driver to have that level of confidence in his crew chief and his equipment. I’m excited.”

Q&A WITH CREW CHIEF HAROLD HOLLY
You scored a top-10 finish in your last short track race (finishing eighth at Martinsville Speedway three weeks ago). Do you expect the same this weekend? “We are very optimistic going to Phoenix (International Raceway). We’re taking the same car we had at Martinsville (Speedway), chassis No. 020. We’ll adjust the setup a little, because aero is more important at Phoenix than it is at a shorter track like Martinsville, but otherwise, we feel like we’re going to be very competitive.

“We’re gaining on it, slowly but surely. It’s not going to come overnight, and we knew that going in. We’ve still got a lot of hard work ahead of us, but for a single car team, we feel like we’ve performed pretty well in two of the last three races.”

You “back doored” a top-15 finish at Texas, starting 27th and steadily working your way up. Were you happy with the team’s performance there? “Well, there was one segment where we fell behind in terms of what the track was doing. We made some drastic changes, and the cautions fell the right way for us and we were able to make up some ground. The track temperature dropped later in the race, and that helped us a lot.

“The end result was good, but we’re going to need to improve our qualifying and try to run in the top-15 throughout the entire race, not just near the end. The consistency is where we’re going to have to step it up for Homestead(-Miami Speedway). We’re making steps in the right direction, and that’s all you can ask.”

CHASSIS: Haas CNC Racing Chassis No. 020 – This chassis was most recently used at Martinsville Speedway in October, where Jeff Green scored an eighth-place finish, his second top-10 finish of the season.

MOVING ON UP: In the past three races, team owner Gene Haas has moved up two spots to 26th in the Nextel Cup Series owners’ points standings, and the No. 66 team is now just 38 points out of the top-25. If the team finishes better than 28th in the final points standings, it will mark Haas CNC Racing’s best points finish in four full seasons of Nextel Cup Series competition.

JEFF GREEN’S HISTORY AT PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY:
In eight Nextel Cup Series starts at Phoenix International Raceway, Jeff Green’s best starting spot came in November, 2004, when he qualified 12th while driving a Petty Enterprises entry. His best Nextel Cup Series finish came in April of this year, when he finished 18th in the No. 66 Best Buy Chevrolet.

In four Busch Series starts at Phoenix, Green has two top-five starting spots (he qualified second in 2000 and fifth in 2001), and two top-five finishes (finishing fourth in 2000 and second in 2001).

HAAS CNC RACING’S HISTORY AT PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY: In five Nextel Cup starts at Phoenix International Raceway, the Haas CNC Racing team’s best starting spot is 20th, which came with driver Ward Burton in November, 2003. The team’s best finish is an 18th-place result, which driver Jeff Green accomplished in April of this year.