BEST BUY TO BE PRIMARY ON NO. 66 FOR REMAINDER OF SEASON: Best Buy, which has served as the primary sponsor of the No. 66 Haas CNC Racing in a number of races this season, will have its logo displayed on the hood of the No. 66 entry in each of the season's final four Nextel Cup Series events.
UPDATE ON INJURED NO. 66 CREWMAN: Phillip Gee, jack man for the No. 66 Haas CNC Racing entry driven by Jeff Green in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, underwent an MRI examination of his injured left knee on Wednesday morning, October 25.
As of this writing, the results of that examination have not been released.
Gee, who injured the knee following a pit stop during Sunday's Nextel Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway, is expected to be out for the remainder of the season, according to team officials.
Gee said doctors did not detect any broken bones in their initial examination, but scheduled the MRI to determine if there is any ligament or cartilage damage to the knee.
Mike Casto, who serves as jack man for Haas CNC Racing's No. 00 Busch Series entry, will fill that role on the No. 66 entry during Gee's recuperation.
MOST RECENT RACE AT ATLANTA: In the March Nextel Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Jeff Green was running in the top-15 late in the race. Following a pit stop, Green felt a vibration under his No. 66 Best Buy Chevrolet and had to make a green flag pit stop to let his team troubleshoot the problem. The team determined that loose lug nuts on one of the wheels were the culprit, and Green finished 26th, one lap down to the leaders.
Q&A WITH DRIVER JEFF GREEN:
HOW DID IT FEEL TO GET A TOP-10 FINISH IN YOUR FIRST RACE WORKING WITH HAROLD HOLLY? "It was a great start, that's for sure. I keep talking about communication, but it can't be overstated how helpful it is to have someone like Harold on the pit box, who just instinctively knows exactly what I mean when I'm describing how the car's handling. I tell him, he makes the changes and boom, the car handles better. Last weekend really made me excited for the rest of the season, just to see where we can take things from here."
ATLANTA IS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE FASTEST TRACKS ON THE CIRCUIT. IS THE SPEED SOMETHING YOU EVEN NOTICE? "No, not really. I mean, everyone's going those speeds, so it's just like being on the interstate when everyone around you is traveling the same speed you are. You just don't notice it as much.
"As far as the track itself, Atlanta is a really fun place to race. You can go anywhere on the track and still be fast. Like most tracks, if you're car's turning good, you're going to have a lot of fun, and you're going to be fast. If the car's not handling well, you're going to have your hands full, and it's no fun at all.
"We had a strong run going there in March, so I'm assuming we'll take the same setup back from last time and let Harold make some tweaks to it for this weekend. I think we'll have a very competitive car again this time around."
Q&A WITH CREW CHIEF HAROLD HOLLY
YOU'VE BEEN A BUSY MAN THE PAST COUPLE OF WEEKS. HOW ARE YOU SPENDING THE MAJORITY OF YOUR TIME AT THE SHOP? "I'm up to my eyeballs right now, just going through the inventory of cars and working with all the different areas of the shop to change a few things on the cars. I'm also working with our engineering department quite a bit to incorporate some of the stuff we learned at the Homestead test last week into our cars for Atlanta, Texas and Homestead.
"Even though we're not as big as some other teams, you're still talking about nearly 100 employees working at Haas. It takes a little bit of doing to get everyone headed in the same direction in terms of what we're doing differently with the cars. It's been a lot of long hours, but I'm having a lot of fun, too.
"The other thing that's really keeping us busy is that we're getting our cars ready for Phoenix. We're going to send those out next week to meet up with the transporter at Texas and send them on, so it's really added to our workload over the past few days."
THE NO. 66 RAN WELL AT ATLANTA IN MARCH. WILL YOU USE A SIMILAR SETUP THIS TIME? "Yeah, we'll definitely work off the notes from March. It will be somewhat different, with some different front end geometry, and we'll incorporate some things we learned at Homestead, but it'll be in the same ball park."
WERE YOU HAPPY WITH THE TOP-10 FINISH AT MARTINSVILLE? "Yeah, it was a really good start. My goal for now is to try and get us running consistently in the top-15. If we can do that, then we'll slowly work our way into running in the top-10 on a consistent basis. If we can steadily gain on our performance, I think that's a very realistic goal to be in the top-15 week in and week out."
NO. 66 CREW WINS DRIVE THRU CHALLENGE AT MARTINSVILLE:
Jeff Green's No. 66 over-the-wall crew became the 15th NASCAR NEXTEL Cup team to earn a win in the weekly Checkers/Rally's Double Drive-Thru Challenge competition by claiming the honor in Sunday's race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
The Best Buy crew, which spent the least amount of time on Martinsville's pit road (285.023 seconds), helped lift the team to an eighth-place finish.
"I'm very proud of the pit crew for their hard work, not only this weekend, but for the entire season," said Green. "They've been doing a tremendous job for me each and every race, so I'm glad they're finally able to be recognized for it."
The No. 66 over-the-wall crew, which earned ,500 for the win, consists of: Phillip Gee (jackman), Michael "Shrek" Morneau (front-tire carrier), Kelly Kellis (front-tire changer), Zach McGowan (rear-tire carrier), Daniel Smith (rear-tire changer), Robby Maschhaupt (gasman) and Derick Jennings (catch can). The pit crew coach is Wayne Holden.
JEFF GREEN'S HISTORY AT ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY: In 12 Cup series starts at Atlanta, Jeff Green's best starting spot and best finish came in 1997, when he was driving for team owner Gary Bechtel. Green started seventh and finished fourth in the Nov. 16 event that year.
HAAS CNC RACING'S HISTORY AT ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY: In seven Cup series starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Haas CNC Racing has finished in the 13th position three different times. Ward Burton accomplished the feat in the second Atlanta race in 2003 and the first Atlanta race in 2004, and Mike Bliss finished there again in Oct., 2005.