Jeff Green No. 66 Garmin Chevrolet Kansas Preview

KANSAS-BASED SPONSOR ON HOOD: Garmin International, a leading manufacturer of GPS navigation systems and a Kansas-based Best Buy retail partner, will be the primary sponsor for driver Jeff Green and the No. 66 Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet during the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series weekend at Kansas Speedway.

Green’s Chevrolet Monte Carlo will carry a special silver and blue paint design representing Garmin, an industry leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of GPS (Global Positioning System), navigation and communication products.

Garmin is an associate sponsor of the Haas CNC Racing team, appearing on the No. 66 Chevrolet in races where Best Buy is the car’s primary sponsor.

Many Garmin products are available at Best Buy retail locations and at www.BestBuy.com, including the highly-acclaimed nüvi and StreetPilot personal navigation devices.

Jeff Green: “Other guys can say what they want, but I have the coolest sponsors in the garage area, hands down. I’ve been using Garmin products for years. If you’ve ever tried to find your way out of the track after a race, you know how handy a Garmin GPS is to have. I’ve seen tracks where the traffic patterns change every race. Before I had a Garmin, I just crossed my fingers and hoped for the best in finding my way back to the airport. Now, I type in the address and turn when the little voice tells me to. Even I can’t mess that up, and that’s saying something.”

CHASSIS: Haas CNC Racing Chassis No. 030 – This chassis is brand new to the Haas CNC Racing stable in 2007. In its only other appearances, driver Jeff Green drove this car to a 27th-place finish at Chicagoland Speedway in July, and an accident left the No. 66 team with a 43rd-place finish with this chassis at Indianapolis in August.

Q&A WITH DRIVER JEFF GREEN:

You had a top-15 finish snatched away with 14 laps to go at Dover last weekend. How difficult is it to keep smiling after something so frustrating? “It’s kind of one of those, ‘you have to laugh to keep from crying’ deals. Once I climbed out of the car, I just kind of had to shake my head. That’s just how our luck has gone this year. We never seem to get in an accident if the car’s not fast. If the car’s good, you can just about bet on us getting caught up in someone else’s deal. It happened at Charlotte, it happened at Richmond, it happened in the Daytona 500.

“If there’s one positive to having such a long season, it’s that you always have another race to look forward to. You look at some of the other series where they only race 16 or 17 times a year, and you have to think that they have two or three weeks, sometimes, to stew over a wreck or a bad weekend. With us, you’ve got to let it go, because you’re going to be back in the car four days later, and you can’t carry that baggage with you.”

GREEN JOINS TEAMMATE AT YELLOW RACING FAN EVENT: Jeff Green, driver of the No. 66 Comcast Chevrolet, will join his Haas CNC Racing teammate, Johnny Sauter, to sign autographs at the KC 2007 Speedweek event, being held at Country Club Plaza on Thursday, Sept. 27 from 4-9 p.m.

Green and Sauter will sign for fans from 6:30-7:30 p.m. CT, and attendees can also check out the Best Buy Fun Zone interactive display on site. In addition, two of Green’s No. 66 cars will be on display – one carrying the usual yellow and blue Best Buy design, and the other emblazoned with the same silver and blue Garmin paint design Green will drive this weekend at Kansas Speedway.

The event features race simulators, food, beverages and prizes, as well as a live performance by country singer and member of the MuzikMafia, James Otto.

For more information, visit www.teamyellowracing.com.

KANSAS FAN ZONE APPEARANCE: On behalf of Sprint and NEXTEL, driver Jeff Green will sign autographs for fans visiting Kansas Speedway’s Fan Zone (located between the Busch Series and NEXTEL Cup Series garages) on Saturday, from 10:15-10:45 a.m. CT.

LOSING A FRIEND:  Driver Jeff Green has been racing with a heavy heart for the past few weeks. Green and his wife, Michelle, recently lost one of their beloved Labrador Retrievers, “Short Track.” The 12 year-old yellow Lab’s health had declined over the past several months, and the Greens finally made the very difficult decision to have the animal put to sleep.

Jeff Green: “Saying goodbye to Short Track is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. I’ve always said our dogs are like our kids, and that’s how we treat them. We were blessed with 12 good years with Short Track, so that’s the positive you take out of this. Michelle and I are both pretty torn up about it. Anyone that loves their pets knows how tough it is to lose one. You really are losing a member of your family.

“We’ve gotten some really nice cards and letters from our fan club members, and I want to thank everyone for their prayers and well wishes. It means a lot.”

Many fans were introduced to Short Track and Vegas, the Green’s other Labrador, through their appearance in the 2006 edition of the NASCAR Pets calendar.

JEFF GREEN’S HISTORY AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY:  Driving the No. 10 Nestle NesQuik entry for PPC Racing, Jeff Green won the inaugural NASCAR Busch Series event at Kansas Speedway on Sept. 29, 2001. In three Busch Series starts at Kansas, Green has never finished worse than 11th.

In five Nextel Cup Series starts at Kansas Speedway, Green’s best finishing position was a 17th-place result, which came while driving a Richard Childress-owned entry in the 2002 event. Green has never finished outside the top-30 in a Cup event at Kansas. His best starting position was a ninth-place qualifying effort in the 2003 race, while driving for Petty Enterprises.

HAAS CNC RACING’S HISTORY AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY: In five Nextel Cup starts at Kansas Speedway, the Haas CNC Racing team’s best starting position was a sixth-place qualifying effort with driver Jason Leffler in 2003. The team’s best finish at Kansas Speedway came in 2005, when driver Mike Bliss finished 15th.