Green, Garmin Chevrolet Navigates Way to a top-20 Finish at Kansas Speedway

Kansas City, Kan. (Sept. 30) – Sunday’s NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race at Kansas Speedway was an event defined by numbers; first, there’s seven – the number of Chase for the Championship contenders (out of 12) who ran into problems and finished 30th or worse. This was followed by two – the number of times the race was stopped due to rain. Next up is 57— the number of laps the race was shortened due to impending darkness, and finally, there’s three – the number of laps at the end of the race that were run under caution due to the fading sunlight.

The number that meant the most to Jeff Green and the No. 66 Garmin Chevrolet team, though, was their 20th-place finishing position, the best finish for the driver and his Haas CNC Racing crew since a 20th-place run at Watkins Glen back in early August.

“It's our first top-20 finish in awhile, so we have to look at that as a positive,” Green said. “The car was way too tight for most of the day, but that's something we've dealt with for most of the year with this car. I’m proud of the guys for giving me some great pit stops, and I think we had a pretty good day in the points, so I’m pretty happy with how the race turned out, overall.”

Starting from the 37th position, Green dropped back as low as 40th in the early going.  Just 11 laps into what was scheduled as a 267-lap event, the rains began to fall, bringing out a caution flag. During the yellow flag period, Green pitted for fresh tires and a chassis adjustment before the precipitation increased, which caused NASCAR to bring the field down pit road and stop the race for what ended up being a 45-minute rain delay.

When the race restarted, Green was shown in 33rd position and he remained in the top-35 until a lap 27 caution gave the team a chance to bring the No. 66 back in for more adjustments and tires. Restarting the race in the 37th position, Green found his way up to 30th before another caution period occurred around lap 60.

The crew again took the opportunity to adjust on Green’s Garmin Chevy, and he restarted the race in 28th position. As the caution flags continued to fly on laps 70, 90 and 100, respectively, the team continued to work to improve the handling of Green’s entry.

Taking on right side tires only allowed Green to gain track position on several stops, and he was being shown in 24th position by lap 141. Around that time, the frontrunners began coming to pit road for green flag pit stops, and the No. 66 was being shown in 18th position on lap 145.

Just then, the skies opened up again, forcing the field of cars back down pit road and bringing out the second red flag stoppage for rain. This time, the competitors had plenty of time to talk strategy and rest up, as it took some time for the showers to pass and for NASCAR to dry the 1.5-mile track. By the time the competitors refired their engines, nearly two hours and 15 minutes had elapsed, and everyone knew there would not be enough time remaining before nightfall to complete all 400 miles (267 laps).

Once the cars returned to the track and NASCAR opened pit road, Green immediately ducked in for fuel, fresh tires and more adjustments. The race restarted around lap 155, but green flag racing didn’t last long. An incident on the following lap, in which the No. 55 of Michael Waltrip and the No. 21 of Ken Shrader made contact, caused a number of cars to pile up behind the spinning cars, including Chase contenders Matt Kenseth and Martin Truex, Jr. When the smoke cleared, no fewer than five cars were heavily damaged and several others received slight damage in the accident, including Green’s No. 66 machine and the No. 20 Chevy of another Chase contender, Tony Stewart.

During the caution period, Green pulled up alongside his teammate, Johnny Sauter, to allow Sauter to survey the damage on Green’s car. Sauter relayed to his spotter that the right front fender on Green’s machine was pushed in slightly, and Green’s crew chief, Harold Holly, made the call to bring the car in for fresh tires and repairs to the fender. Holly feared that if the fender had been pushed in enough that it rubbed on Green’s tire, it could result in a cut tire that might destroy a shot at a good finish.

In hindsight, Tony Stewart, who also suffered fender damage in the accident, should have done the same as Green and come in for repairs. Instead, Stewart remained on track, and when the race returned to green flag conditions around lap 165, video footage showed smoke pouring from the right front tire of Stewart’s machine from where the car’s fender was rubbing.

Some 10 laps later, the rub caused the tire to fail and as Stewart slowed, he was hit from behind by fellow Chase contender, Kurt Busch. The impact sent Stewart’s machine slamming into the outside retaining wall. Another driver in the Chase, Carl Edwards, couldn’t avoid Stewart’s spinning car and smashed hard into the No. 20 machine, heavily damaging Edwards’ car as well.

With Green now being shown in the 25th position, the decision came down to have him come back in for more tires and another chassis adjustment. Around this time, word came down from NASCAR that since Kansas Speedway is not equipped with lighting for racing at night, the race would be shortened by 57 laps, with the event ending on lap 210 instead of the advertised 267 laps.

Another caution on lap 183 moved the No. 66 up to 15th, but following the lap 187 restart Green fell as far back as 22nd position due to the tight handling condition on his car.

Green rallied to 20th position before the final caution flag of the event came out on lap 207 for debris. With the last rays of sunlight fading, Green and a number of other drivers radioed their teams to report their uneasiness about racing in the falling darkness. NASCAR took heed of the driver’s concerns, and chose to run the final three laps under the caution flag to reach the 210-lap mark.

Leader Greg Biffle (No. 16 AFLAC Ford) was declared the winner, followed by Clint Bowyer (No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet), Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet), Casey Mears (No. 25 National Guard/GMAC Chevrolet), and Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet).

Adding another strange note to the proceedings, Biffle’s car was running out of fuel on the final lap, and began sputtering and slowing on the track. Bowyer and Johnson actually crossed the finish line ahead of Biffle, but since everyone’s position in the field is frozen when the caution flag comes out, Biffle was declared the winner.

Read all about what was arguably one of the stranger races in recent memory at NASCAR.com (http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/headlines/cup/09/30/kansas.post.race.ap.ap/index.html)

With the finish, Green moves up one spot to 28th in the NEXTEL Cup drivers’ points standings, and team owner Joe Custer is now 30th in owners’ points.

In addition to Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Martin Truex, Jr., and Matt Kenseth, Chase contender Kyle Busch had his car damaged in an early accident involving Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and another “Chaser,” Jeff Burton, had mechanical problems.

The topsy-turvy day for the 12 drivers in the Chase for the Championship shook up the points, as Jimmie Johnson is now back atop the leaderboard, followed closely by Jeff Gordon, who sits just six points back. Clint Bowyer is third, just 14 points out of the lead, while Tony Stewart took a huge hit in the points and now sits 117 points back. Kevin Harvick rounds out the top-five Chase contenders after three of the 10 “Chase for the Championship” events have been completed.

The drivers now head to the longest track on the NASCAR circuit, the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. This race is always seen as a crap shoot by the 43 competitors, as tight racing and large packs of cars can mean a huge wreck, which is so common it even has a nickname, “The Big One,” can break out anywhere, at any time.

The 500-mile race from Talladega will air live on Sunday, Oct. 7, beginning at 1 p.m. ET on ABC and MRN Radio affiliates