Best Buy Racing Scores First Top-10 Result of 2007 at Bristol 

BRISTOL, Tenn. (March 25) – If the Car of Tomorrow (COT) is the future of NASCAR racing, then based on his accomplishments in the COT at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend, Jeff Green’s future could be very bright indeed.

After qualifying ninth on Friday in his new No. 66 Best Buy Chevrolet Impala SS, Green backed up his performance with a sixth-place finish in Sunday’s 500-lap NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Bristol.

“If this is the future, maybe this is the future for our team and for Best Buy and for Haas racing and everyone involved with our team,” Green said. “This is where we’re supposed to be. I’m just excited for my guys. Top-10 is where we need to be ending up after each and every one of these races.”

The finish not only marked the first top-10 result of the 2007 season for Green and his Haas CNC Racing team, but also stands as the best Cup series result in the history of the Haas organization.

More importantly, the finish unofficially vaults team owner Gene Haas up seven spots (from 35th to 28th) in the all-important NEXTEL Cup Series owners’ points standings. This means the No. 66 team has a guaranteed starting spot in next weekend’s race at Martinsville Speedway. That race marks the first time in 2007 that NASCAR will refer to the current season’s points standings to determine which 35 teams are locked in.

Despite starting the race in the top-10, the finish didn’t come easy for Green, Crew Chief Harold Holly, and the crew of the Best Buy Chevrolet.

In the opening laps, Green reported his car had a loose handling condition all the way through the 36-degree turns of the .533-mile speedway.

During the second caution period, Green came to pit road, where Holly called for a track bar adjustment to the No. 66 entry. Green returned to the race in 14th position, but found the adjustment made his car tight in the middle of the turns and loose as he exited the turns.

By the time the caution flag came out on lap 120, Green found himself as far back as 23rd position. Holly called for more drastic chassis adjustments when Green pitted during the caution, and the No. 66 was shown in 23rd position for the lap 126 restart.

Just a few laps later, driver Juan Pablo Montoya spun out, bringing out another caution. Green told his crew the front end of his Chevrolet was hitting the track. Every time it did, the car moved up the track, slowing Green’s progress.

Holly brought Green back to pit road, where the Haas crew inserted a spring rubber into the right front spring to stiffen it and keep the car from hitting the track.  Green returned to the race in 25th position for the restart.

A few laps later, the No. 84 car of A.J. Allmendinger crashed, and Green had to slam on his brakes to avoid the wreck. This caused him to “flat spot” his left front tire, which meant he had to come back to pit road to take on fresh tires.

After restarting the race in 26th position on lap 156 and finding himself a lap down to the race leaders, Green began his steady ascent back up through the field. Over the next 26 laps, Green picked up 10 positions, but found the car was still not handling to his liking.

On the team’s next pit stop (lap 228), Holly called for more tire pressure and chassis changes to the Best Buy Chevrolet. Green remained in the top-20 over the next 80 laps, but felt more changes were needed.

When caution flags flew on laps 310 and 368, Holly heeded his driver’s request, calling for more chassis and tire pressure adjustments during the respective caution period pit stops.

Lady Luck shined on the Haas team while Green was the only driver one lap down to the race leaders. Running in 17th position at the time, Green received what is known as the “Lucky Dog” free pass after the caution flag came out on lap 413 due to debris on the track.

Whenever a caution flag comes out, the first driver not on the lead lap is allowed to return to the lead lap. This is known as the “free pass,” but many competitors refer to it as the “Lucky Dog” pass. Regardless of what it’s called, it was exactly the break Green and his Best Buy crew needed.

During the caution period, Green came in for more chassis adjustments and fresh tires, returning to the track in 17th position for the lap 420 restart. Once he was back on the lead lap, Green was able to pass his way up to 14th position before a caution flag came out for debris with 15 laps remaining.

Holly decided to roll the dice and bring Green in for fresh right side tires under the caution. Since there were only 14 cars on the lead lap, it was a calculated risk. As long as Green was able to stay on the lead lap, he would finish no worse than 14th, but having fresher tires than many of the competitors in front of him could allow Green to gain several more positions before the end of the race.

While the Best Buy crew only changed two tires on the No. 66, other teams that were ahead of the Best Buy team on the leader board elected to change all four tires on their entries. This allowed Green to move up to ninth position for the lap 491 restart.

Over the next five laps, Green managed to pick up two more positions before David Ragan (in the No. 6 car) spun to bring out the caution on lap 498. In these situations, NASCAR will make one attempt to end the race under green flag conditions, which means races occasionally go longer than their advertised distance (in this case, the advertised distance was 500 laps).

This is what is known as a green-white-checkered flag finish. The competitors are shown the green flag as they pass the flag stand and make one lap, at which time they are shown the white flag (which indicates there is only one lap remaining in the race). The next time by the flag stand, the checkered flag is displayed.

As the finish unfolded, Green found himself crossing the line in sixth position, his best finish since an eighth-place run at Martinsville Speedway last October.

For Green, the finish was just what he and his No. 66 Best Buy team needed after struggling in the first four races of the NEXTEL Cup Series season.

"It's momentum for sure,” Green said. “We know we can do this. We just have to get out and do it and not get down on each other and I think we have the last couple of weeks. But this is a momentum builder for sure and a pride builder for sure. Harold (Holly) and those guys did a great job and I'm not going to give up on them and I know they're not going to give up on me.

“Hopefully, we can just carry this on. Next week’s another short track race for these COT cars, and hopefully we can do the same thing there.”

Martinsville Speedway, the next stop on the NASCAR tour, is another favorite of Green’s. In his most recent race at the .526-mile oval (in October, 2006), Green started eighth and finished eighth, his most recent top-10 result prior to Sunday’s sixth-place run.

Coincidentally, that Martinsville event marked the reuniting of Green and Crew Chief Harold Holly. It was the first time the duo had worked together since their time at PPC Racing, when they dominated the NASCAR Busch Series from 1999-2001, and won the 2000 Busch Series Championship by the largest margin in series history (at the time).

The Haas team will take another new COT chassis to the Martinsville event, a chassis the team tested with last week at the South Georgia Motorsports Park near Valdosta, Ga.

The 500-lap NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race will air live from Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on Sunday, April 1, beginning at 1:30 p.m. EDT, on FOX and MRN Radio affiliates.