Jeff Green Ho. 66 Haas Automation / Best Buy Racing Daytona Preview

HAAS CNC RACING CHEVROLET

LAST RACE AT DAYTONA: Starting from the 31st position, Jeff Green drove his No. 66 Best Buy Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet into the top-10 on just lap 17 of the Daytona 500 in February. By lap 122, Green found himself in fifth position.

While Green’s dominant car helped him charge forward through the field, problems on pit road dropped him back in the field, leaving him vulnerable to the big accidents that inevitably start mid-pack at Daytona. On lap 174, the odds caught up with Green, who was running in 23rd position, when Jimmie Johnson slammed the outside retaining wall and turned directly into Green’s path. With no way to avoid Johnson, Green’s No. 66 Chevrolet smashed into Johnson’s car, setting off a chain reaction that also collected the cars of Tony Raines, Denny Hamlin and David Reutimann.

Green was able to drive his injured machine back to pit road, but a quick examination of the damage caused the pit crew to push the Best Buy machine to the garage for extensive repairs.  Green returned to the race with just a handful of laps remaining, and finished the event in 36th position.

CHASSIS INFORMATION- HAAS CNC Racing Chassis No. 24 – This car is new to the Haas CNC stable in 2007. Jeff Green drove this car to a 36th-place finish in the Daytona 500 in February, and a 13th-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway in April.

BREATHING ROOM: Jeff Green’s sixth-place finish last weekend at New Hampshire International Speedway moved him up four spots to 29th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup drivers’ points standings, and the No. 66 Haas CNC team is now 30th in the NEXTEL Cup owners’ points rundown. Green sits just 73 points out of the top-25 in the drivers’ points standings.

Q&A WITH DRIVER JEFF GREEN:

WHAT IS IT ABOUT SIXTH-PLACE THAT YOU LIKE SO MUCH (GREEN HAS FINISHED IN THE TOP-10 THREE TIMES THIS SEASON, ALL OF THEM BEING SIXTH-PLACE RUNS)? “I don’t know, but I’ll take it. I’m not sure what it’s going to take to get over the hump and bring home a top-five finish, but I’m not going to complain about sixth-place. If we finish sixth-place in every race from here on out this season, I won’t be too upset.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR CHANCES THIS WEEKEND? “I don’t think anyone on this team doubts that we can be up front at the end this weekend. This chassis is the same car we ran so well with here back in February, and we did really well with it at Talladega back in April. It led some laps and was really fast both places.

“It doesn’t matter where I am in the field, this car really seems to perform well. I can lead, I can suck up in the draft with it. It seems to like every part of the track. That’s such a blessing. If we can avoid some of the problems we’ve had on pit road and stay out of ‘The Big One,’ we have a real shot at a great finish.”

Q&A WITH CREW CHIEF HAROLD HOLLY:

WAS THIS PAST WEEKEND’S TOP-10 FINISH JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED? “Yeah, we really needed a good run. We’ve had some tough runs the past five or six weeks. Even though the guys haven’t let up in terms of how hard they’re working, it’s hard to not get a little down when you bust your tail but don’t see the results. We’ve said all along that we know we have the equipment and the ability to be in the top-10 each week. We’ve just got to eliminate the mistakes that keep cropping up.”

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING AS A TEAM TO TRY AND ELIMINATE MISTAKES? “Practice, practice, practice. We’ve made a couple of changes to the pit crew to try and improve in that area, and the guys have been practicing their brains out to try and cut down on some of the difficulties we’ve run into on pit road. There are some mistakes that have been one time things, and I don’t know how you can anticipate those and eliminate them. We’ve been focused more on fixing the things that have kept cropping up, and I think we’re getting a handle on that.”

JEFF GREEN’S HISTORY AT DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY:

In 12 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 what was the largest margin in series history at the time (over 600 points).

HAAS CNC RACING’S HISTORY AT DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY:

HAAS CNC Racing has eight 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.