Best Buy Team Finds Setbacks at Lowe’s Motor Speedway

CONCORD, NC (Oct. 13) – Jeff Green and the No. 66 Best Buy team fell victim to bad timing during Saturday’s 500-mile NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series event at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Green and the team finished 32nd, four laps down to race winner Jeff Gordon.

Starting from the 37th position, handling issues caused Green to go a lap down to the race leaders around lap 57 of the 334-lap event. Crew chief Harold Holly chose to gamble on a “short pit” strategy, bringing Green to pit road for fresh tires and fuel on lap 65.

By pitting earlier than the frontrunners, Holly hoped a long green flag run would allow Green to stay on track when the leaders had to pit, which could greatly improve the No. 66’s track position.

That strategy was foiled when NASCAR called for a caution flag just two laps later, trapping Green and the Best Buy Chevrolet two laps down.

When Tony Raines spun to bring out the next caution on lap 76, a confusing set of events put Green another lap down, at least temporarily. First, spotter Kyle Harvey did not get the message the caution period would be a “quickie” caution, meaning all cars, including those not on the lead lap, could all pit together (normally, only lead lap cars may pit the first time by after pit road has been opened, and those cars not on the lead lap are allowed to pit the next lap).

Without this information, Green pitted the second time by and had to hurry back out to catch up to the field before the green flag was displayed. After Green exited pit road, officials informed the team Green had ignored a NASCAR official’s signal to stop at the end of pit road. Green was told to come in and serve a “stop and go” penalty (meaning he had to drive to his pit stall and come to a complete stop before returning to the race), which put him three laps down.

Crew chief Harold Holly argued that since the race was returning to green flag conditions, there was no way pit road could be closed and Green had done nothing wrong. After some discussion, NASCAR agreed and told Holly his team would be awarded a lap back during the next caution period.

When a caution flag came out on lap117 for debris on the track, Green passed the pace car to gain his lap back, then used the opportunity to come in for fresh tires, fuel and chassis adjustments.

From there, Green and his team slowly fought their way back up the leaderboard, gaining positions as other drivers fell victim to accidents and mechanical difficulties.

With 12 laps to go, the Best Buy team ran into another setback when Green’s car began dropping oil onto the race surface, bringing out the 14th caution flag of the event. As Green took his car to the garage, NASCAR displayed the red flag, stopping the race for 12 minutes to allow workers to clean the track.

During the stoppage, the No. 66 crew determined debris must have punctured an oil line under Green’s entry. When the race resumed, the crew was able to quickly replace the damaged line and return Green to the race, losing just two laps in the process. Green crossed the finish line in 32nd position.

Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet) expanded his points lead in the Chase for the Championship by winning the event, marking his second win in as many weeks.

Chase drivers took the next three finishing positions, with Clint Bowyer (No. 07 Jack Daniels Chevy), Kyle Busch (No. 5 Kellogg’s/CARQUEST Chevrolet) and Jeff Burton (No. 31 AT&T Chevy) finishing second, third and fourth, respectively. Carl Edwards (No. 99 Office Depot Ford) brought his entry home in the fifth position.

Gordon now holds a 68 point lead over the driver in second place, Gordon’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jimmie Johnson. Johnson, who has five wins at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (LMS), spun late in the event and finished outside the top-10 at LMS for the first time since 2001.

Bowyer is 78 points behind Gordon with five races remaining in the season, while Tony Stewart (No. 20 Home Depot Chevy) has a 198-point deficit to overcome to take home the championship trophy. Edwards is fifth in points, 240 markers out of the lead.

Green holds the 28th position in the NEXTEL Cup Series drivers’ points standings, and team owner Joe Custer is now 30th in owners’ points.

From the 1.5-mile Lowe’s Motor Speedway, the series heads north to Virginia and the confines of the .526-mile Martinsville Speedway, the shortest track on the NASCAR circuit.

It was at this track one year ago where Jeff Green reunited with crew chief Harold Holly for the first time since the duo paired to dominate the NASCAR Busch Series from 1999-2001. In their first race back together, the Green-Holly combination posted an eighth-place qualifying effort, and backed that up with an eighth-place finish.

The 500-lap NEXTEL Cup Series race airs live from Martinsville, Va., next Sunday, Oct. 21, beginning at 1 p.m. ET, on ABC and MRN Radio affiliates.