JEFF GREEN
NO. 66 BEST BUY “HD DONE RIGHT”
HAAS CNC RACING CHEVROLET
CALIFORNIA PREVIEW

DIFFERENT LOOK FOR THE NO. 66 IN SEPTEMBER: The No. 66 Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet is sporting a different look this weekend. Beginning at California Speedway and continuing through the September 16th race at New Hampshire International Speedway, the No. 66, driven by Jeff Green, will carry a special Best Buy “HD Done Right” paint design.

Best Buy, the primary sponsor of the No. 66 Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet in a number of events this season, is promoting its expertise in the area of high-definition (HD) televisions and home theaters with the pledge, “HD Done Right.” The pledge, along with the yellow Best Buy tag logo, will appear on the hood of the No. 66 entry.

In addition, the car will be painted a lighter shade of blue than what is usually seen on the Best Buy-sponsored entry, and will display special graphics on the car’s sides and quarter panels, along with the logos of Samsung HDTV, Comcast and Garmin, associate sponsors of the No. 66 Best Buy machine.

CHASSIS – HAAS CNC RACING CHASSIS NO. 028 – New to the Haas CNC Racing stable this season, this chassis is the same car Jeff Green drove at both Pocono Raceway races this season, as well as both Michigan (International Speedway) events. Green posted a 19th-place finish with this car at Pocono Raceway in early August, and a 22nd-place finish at Michigan two weeks ago.

HAT’S ALL, FOLKS – When Jeff Green drove his No. 66 Samsung HDTV / Best Buy Chevrolet past Tony Raines’ No. 96 DLP HDTV Chevrolet on the final lap at Bristol Motor Speedway last weekend, Green gained more than just a position – he also won a friendly wager.

Green and Raines agreed that whichever driver finished lower in the Bristol race must wear a hat advertising the other driver’s team and sponsor this weekend at California Speedway.

Green’s last lap pass means Raines will sport a No. 66 Best Buy racing hat for the Labor Day weekend event.

Green: “We just wanted to do something different and fun, so we made a little bet. Best Buy sells a lot of Samsung DLP HDTV’s, so I don’t think Tony will be too upset about wearing a Best Buy hat. I never would have thought we’d end up finishing one spot apart, or that it would come down to a pass on the last lap. Since it was such a close finish, I’ll probably put on a DLP hat at some point, anyway. It’s all about bringing more exposure for our sponsors, and we thought this bet would be a great way to do that.”

In addition to occupying the primary sponsor position on the No. 66 Chevrolet, the yellow Best Buy tag logo will also be displayed on the quarter panels of Raines’ No. 96 DLP HDTV Chevrolet at California Speedway.

Both drivers will meet fans at a special autograph session at the Best Buy Fun Zone interactive display, located in the FanZone area at California Speedway, at 1 p.m. PDT on Sunday, Sept. 2.

MAKEUP TEST: The No. 66 Haas CNC Racing team spent Tuesday, August 28th, testing at the Milwaukee Mile track in Wisconsin. The test session was originally planned for Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, but had to be postponed when the NEXTEL Cup Series race was delayed by rain at Michigan International Speedway last weekend.

The information gathered at the test will be used to help develop chassis setups for upcoming car of tomorrow (COT) races, including the September dates at Richmond International Raceway, New Hampshire International Speedway and Dover International Speedway.

DRIVER JEFF GREEN QUOTES:

“We’re finishing OK over the past few weeks, but I’d like to see us step it up and get some more top-15 runs. If we can come out of California with a decent finish, we’ve got some more COT races coming up, and I think we can definitely gain some ground in the points in those. We’re still not where we need to be on our mile-and-a-half and two-mile program, but we are gaining on it. The disappointing thing is, we’ll probably have a real handle on it right around the time that these chassis become obsolete at the end of the year.”

Q&A WITH CREW CHIEF HAROLD HOLLY: “We’ve got what I feel is a solid setup and plan heading into California. This is the same car we raced at Pocono (Raceway) and at Michigan (International Speedway) in the past few weeks, and we learned quite a bit at both of those races. Jeff (Green) did say he’d like the front end to turn better, but without loosening up the back end, so we changed the front end geometry on the car a little bit for this race.

“I thought we were going to have an OK finish at this race back in February, but we got penalized for speeding on pit road, and ended up in 30th-place. We’ve made some big gains on our superspeedway program since then. I’m definitely looking forward to racing here this time around more than last time. I’m not going to lie – the way we’ve struggled on the bigger tracks this season, I was dreading coming here in February.”

JEFF GREEN’S HISTORY AT CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY: In 11 NEXTEL Cup Series races at California Speedway, Jeff Green’s best starting position was a third-place qualifying effort in the May, 2004, event, while driving for Petty Enterprises. Green’s best finish is a seventh-place result, which came in his first Winston (now NEXTEL ) Cup start at the speedway, while driving the No. 29 car for Gary Bechtel.

HAAS CNC RACING’S HISTORY AT CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY: In nine NEXTEL Cup Series starts at California Speedway, the Haas team’s best starting spot was scored by driver Mike Bliss, who started 12th in the Feb., 2005, event. The team’s best finish was a 10th-place result, posted by Ward Burton in May, 2004.