Green, Best Buy Racing Team Posts Top-10 Starting Spot at Bristol

BRISTOL, TN (March 23) – Count Jeff Green as one driver who likes the Car of Tomorrow – at least for the time being.

Green’s fondness for the new car, which is making its debut this weekend at Bristol (TN.) Motor Speedway, was evidenced by his top-10 qualifying effort on Friday afternoon.

Green will roll off from the ninth starting spot in Sunday’s 500-lap NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Bristol by virtue of his qualifying lap of 15.397 seconds, at an average speed of 124.622 miles per hour.

The pole position for Sunday’s race went to Jeff Gordon, who circled the .533-mile track in 15.295 seconds, at an average speed of 125.453 miles per hour.

The strong qualifying run was a welcome change after Green and his team struggled in practice on Friday morning. At the end of the 90-minute practice session, Green’s Haas CNC Racing team had posted just the 40th-fastest time of the 49 cars on hand.

Crew chief Harold Holly and his crew put their heads together and made changes to the car before the qualifying run, changes that obviously had the desired positive effect on the car’s handling.

“We just never got it adjusted like we wanted it during practice, and they adjusted it for me that time,” Green said. ”That’s why I showed so much more speed. That will give us a good starting spot. A little bit more there and we’d have had a shot at the pole, but we were a little off in practice, and in this game, a little bit is a lot.”

Ever since he tested the Car of Tomorrow at Bristol earlier this month, Green has said he likes how “tune-able” the new car is. Add to that his fondness for the Bristol track, and Green’s eagerness to get Sunday’s race underway was evident after qualifying.

“I just look forward to coming here,” Green said. “This car, they can adjust it to me and it just fits my style. I just look forward to Sunday. We’ve got a great starting spot, and that’ll give us a great pit selection and a great place to start, so I just look forward to Sunday.”

Green’s run gives Haas CNC Racing its best starting spot in nine NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series starts at Bristol, and Green’s best Bristol NEXTEL Cup start since a sixth-place qualifying effort in April, 2005, while driving for Petty Enterprises. In 14 tries, Green has one NEXTEL Cup pole position at Bristol, which came while driving for Richard Childress Racing in August, 2001.

Sunday’s race marks the first time Green will start in the top-10 for a NEXTEL Cup Series race since an eighth-place qualifying run at Martinsville Speedway in October, 2006.

 Unfortunately, the news was not all good for the Haas CNC Racing team. Green’s teammate, Johnny Sauter, failed to qualify for the first time this season in his No. 70 Chevrolet Impala SS.

Sauter also struggled in practice, posting the 45th-fastest time of the 49 drivers on hand. In qualifying, Sauter’s lap of 15.793 seconds, at an average speed of 121.497 miles per hour, was 47th-fastest of the 49 cars that made qualifying runs.

The NEXTEL Cup Series teams have two more practice sessions on Saturday to dial their cars in. The race itself gets underway on Sunday, March 25, beginning at 2 p.m. EDT, with coverage on FOX and PRN Radio affiliates.