NASCAR Chevrolet Racing Quotes - Jeff Green

TEAM MONTE CARLO Contact: Nancy Wager
NASCAR Winston Teleconference nmwager@aol.com
Tuesday, July 23, 2002 GM Racing Communications
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The NASCAR Winston Cup teleconference featured Jeff Green, driver of the No.
30 America Online Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Richard Childress Racing (RCR),
and his crew chief, Todd Berrier.

Green is coming off a career best finish of second place at last weekend's
New England 300 and currently sits 18th in the point standings. The NASCAR
Winston Cup Series heads to Pocono Raceway for the Pennsylvania 500 on
Sunday, July 28.

Highlights of the Q&A's with Jeff Green:

(Can you give us a quick overview of the first half of the season and your
outlook for the second half?) "I think that everybody has known that the
entire RCR organization hasn't been up to where we need to be. All the guys
at the shop - chassis shop, fabrication shop, engine room - is really
working hard night and day seven days a week to put our cars back where they
need to be. I think we're getting there.

"The AOL car has actually run really good at places and had some chances for
top five finishes, but just blew them at the end of the race with pit
strategy or something happening on the racecar. I wouldn't be surprised with
the way we've been running the past couple of weeks - especially at Loudon -
that if we keep doing that and putting ourselves in positions to fun in the
top five each and every week, you're going to get wins. Hopefully we can do
that.

"The rest of the season, we're going back to tracks we've been to as a new
team - Todd and myself and the guys are trying to get used to each other -
we'll have notes to go back to those racetracks. So we're looking forward to
that."

(On racing at Pocono Raceway) "It's been pretty good to me over the years. I
haven't got a lot of experience there, but I've run four or five years
there. The first race this year, the AOL car had a brake problem right off
the bat so we really didn't get to show what we could do. But we're taking
what we've learned over the last couple of weeks - especially what we
learned at testing at Indianapolis - and we feel like that will help us to
have a good result on Sunday."

(Any special strategy for the Pocono race?) "We won't do anything
differently. We just have to have a good handling racecar. Pocono is a
unique racetrack. You have to handle on all three corners and all three
corners are different. Hopefully we can go up there and get our car
bulletproof and not break anything. That's a big racetrack on motors
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and gearboxes with the shifting that we do. We shift a lot around that
racetrack - a couple times a lap. You have to be concerned with that and not
break anything. We just need to get our car handling good enough where we
can go through those corners better than anybody and hopefully we'll have a
good result. Hopefully we'll have another top five; if not, another top 10.
That'll build our season and make our team better and put us up in the
points where we need to be, too."

(On his encounter with Joe Nemechek during the race at Loudon last weekend)
"I don't want to see anybody have any bad luck or get wrecked. It was
totally my fault. I was trying to get around Joe there and he actually came
down on me a little bit getting into (turn) one. I could not get slowed down
enough without hitting him. The next thing would be to try to lock my car up
and spin it out to keep from hitting him. But I didn't want to wreck myself
and I didn't want to wreck Joe, either. I hate that in those situations. As
much as we race these days - every week - you have to race hard to be able
to put numbers on the board. Unfortunately I ran into Joe and ruined his
day. But we were able to go on. It actually tore my right front headlight up
a little bit on my car. Actually it helped us a little bit. I just hate it
for Joe. I don't want to make a mistake and take anybody's day away from
them. I owe him a big apology for that."

(After the race, how do you guys react to each other after an encounter like
that?) "I haven't seen Joe yet, but I'm looking forward to talking to him
about it. I've been in his shoes before. You're made at that particular
point and obviously you're mad at what happened, but you just have to put it
in perspective and go on.  Last week is behind us and next week is our next
opportunity to win a race.  You just have to look at it like that, I think."

(When things aren't going as well as you'd hoped, and there are changes like
what's been going on at RCR, how do you keep things in focus?) "I don't
know. I think as a young driver, you'd probably have a tougher time doing
it. But as a little bit older driver, I feel like I've paid my dues and I've
seen the ups and downs. You just have to deal with it and make it the best
situation you can on that particular day and try to build off what you
learned and try to make it better the next week. If you can do that, I think
you might make your whole team better. You'll make the guys surrounding you
look up to you a little bit more and kind of play a role model. Those guys
at RCR work as hard as the next race team in the garage area and they want
to win as bad as they do too. We just try to pull ourselves together and try
to do the things we know we can do right with what we've learned, and
hopefully that will bring us to victory lane before long."

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(Is it difficult not to blame yourself during this process?) "I don't know.
Probably the easiest thing for other people to do is to blame the driver. If
you're doing the right thing to the racecar and trying to give all the
information you can back to the guys on pit road or in the garage area while
practice is going, that's all you can do. I just try to feed the information
back to Todd and the guys to the best of my knowledge.  I can't do any
more."

(Do you like road racing?) "I'm probably one of many in the garage area that
just accepts it. We don't do enough of it. Especially in the Busch Series,
we only run Watkins Glen once a year. Unfortunately, if you're an owner, you
have to build a car for that and you only get to race it once a year. That's
tough for an owner.  As a driver, it's kind of fun. We went to Sears Point
this year and I'd never been on the racetrack and we finished fifth. After
those days, you kind of enjoy them. But it's nice to go to a track where I
know where the corners are and where to use the brake and where not to. As a
driver, you look at it as a fun day because you get to hang the car out,
burn the tires off of it, shift the gears as hard as you can shift them and
hope you come out with a good finish. But for the most part, I think all the
drivers enjoy running ovals instead of road courses."

(Would it almost be better to run more of them so you'd get used to it?)
"Yeah, I think if we run one or two - five or six would be better. Again,
you have to build a racecar for those one or two races a year. Daytona and
Talladega are kind of the same way. But you have to look at it from the
fans' eyes. It's a different kind of race. It's fun for them to watch. They
can sit all the way around the racetrack and see different views of the
racetrack. That's what we're here to do is to try to please them and try to
sell AOL products and GM Goodwrench products and Cingular products. If we
can do that, that's going to make them happy and sell our sponsor stuff."

(How can you prevent blown engines and gearboxes this time around at
Pocono?) "We didn't have any of those types of problems in our three cars.
We had a brake problem eight or nine laps into the race. We've figured out
what that was. Hopefully that won't happen ever again, no matter where we
go. We weren't a part of that, so I don't think we could research that. Some
of the engine guys might have at RCR, but I don't know anything about that."

(Regardless of the track conditions at Loudon, shouldn't tracks be different
on a national circuit and not all look like Bristol or Daytona?)  "I think
challenge is good if that's what you're asking. Each racetrack should have
it's own face and most of them do.  At Loudon, what upset me and a lot of
drivers was that the track was coming up. If you
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got one inch out of line - out of the groove -- you'd get your right side
into those marbles or whatever was happening to the racetrack, and you'd
lose your racecar. And you'd lose your opportunity to win the race.  You had
to be really careful. What they - the guys at Loudon -- did to the racetrack
was add a lower groove that helped our situation. It helped us to be able to
pass. In (turns) one and two, the racetrack was perfect.  In (turns) three
and four, the racetrack was coming up. If they can cure that, I don't think
you'll see as many people complaining. And again, on a flat track, track
position is everything.  When you have 43 cars that are within half a second
in qualifying, it's going to be tough to pass. Drivers are going to tell you
what they think - especially some of them - and the fans enjoy that. Again,
it was challenging and I'm glad we came out pretty close to the top. Some of
the guys further in the back I'm sure had a better argument.  But I don't
think any driver, car owner, or crew chief wants to race on a track where
the blacktop is coming up. We might as well race on dirt if that's the case.
That was the only problem we had on Sunday."

(Were there too many cars on the track?) "I don't think that would make any
difference. From what they tell me, they repaved (turns) three and four a
month ago. And when you have 90-degree weather and 3400 lb stock cars going
around it, the pavement is not going to last. In the past, you've heard of
tracks doing that and the blacktop comes up, they paved it two or three
weeks before the race comes there. I think that was a no-no.  That's where
they got themselves in trouble. If the blacktop hadn't of come up in (turns)
three and four, I don't think anybody could complain about the racetrack. It
was probably a better racetrack than it ever has been."

(How did you and race winner, Ward Burton, have success if the track was so
bad?)  "We had some strategy.  There were several that had strategy. We
pitted and the tires were so good that they weren't giving up and the cars
weren't slowing down any. So there wasn't any need to pit if you had enough
fuel to go to the end. Ward and I were able to turn under guys. Our cars
were really good at the end of the race. We were able to pass cars. We just
had our car in a better situation and we had our pit strategy in a better
situation than a lot of other guys and that's how we got up front."

(Did you expect to be the highest RCR team in the point standings at this
point in the season?) "With the No. 29's (Kevin Harvick) history and the No.
31's (Robby Gordon) history, we had an awesome opportunity to gain from
their notes and to go to different tracks and be able to be right on.
Obviously, we didn't figure that the No. 29 was going to struggle as much as
it early in the year and get in so many wrecks. I had high expectations to
be leading the points right now and to be winning races. I'm a little
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bit disappointed where we're at, but I don't think any of the RCR teams are
satisfied. But we're still working pretty hard to get up there close to the
top 10 before the year is over."

(On Richard Childress) "I think he's just seen everything. He's been around
forever and he's got that Earnhardt attitude too. As good friends, Dale
(Earnhardt) and Richard learned a lot from each other.  I think Richard is
teaching a little bit of that to us right now. He's just an awesome
individual - on and off the racetrack. When you get him away from the
racetrack, he's something else. And even at the racetrack, he's a supporter.
He knows the ins and outs of racing and he knows how the luck goes sometimes
too. I'm just very proud to be a part of RCR and have RC as a friend. I
don't think there's a better friend in the world so I'm pretty proud of
being where I'm at right now."

(When you joined RCR, were you accepted right away or did you have to prove
yourself?) "I don't know. I don't know if I have to prove anything or not. I
think I've proved myself over the years that I can get the job done. As far
as proving it to ourselves, we needed to make sure that Todd and myself see
eye to eye and get everything done on the racecar like we think we need to
before the race starts. I think we've accomplished that. Todd and I are
learning each other more and more. Todd and all the AOL guys were Kevin
Harvick's ACDelco team for the last two years. So they're getting used to me
and I'm getting used to them. We're getting better each week and we can read
each other better and that's showing on the racetrack."

(If NASCAR doesn't want the drivers to do burnouts when they win because it
will make the car lower, is it hard to hold yourself back?) "If I ever win
one, I'm going to burn the tires off of it, I don't care what they say.
That's part of the victory. It's part of getting the fans pumped up. We can
put more tires on it after the race, that's not a big deal. We've seen some
great burnouts over the years and if the fans leave with that memory in
their mind, hopefully they're going to buy memberships on AOL and all our
sponsors. That's just refreshing for them. After you win a race, there's no
doubt in my mind, at that particular moment there's no higher high in the
world. If you can't show a little excitement, I think that's taking life
away from you. I would be one to argue with them. That's the first I've
heard of that. I hope they don't do that."

(With NASCAR's policy of issuing more severe penalties, are the drivers
becoming more involved to make sure they don't lose points?) "Well, we're
dealing with an eighth of an inch. That's about the thickness of a quarter.
It's not very much. With the springs that we're using today, it's very easy
to lose height in your car. Throughout the day you're adjusting the racecar
and it's easy to lose height. So now I guess we're
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looking at having to start the race a little bit high. To me, that's Todd's
job and the guys who are setting the car up that morning to be sure we can
make it through (post-race inspection). I don't think it's the job of the
driver. The driver has enough to think about during the day to make sure he
brings the best finish home and to try to bring the car home in one piece
than to worry about whether the car's going to be high enough after the
race."

(And yet the driver is on the line if NASCAR takes away points, isn't he?)
"Yeah it's kind of funny the way our points system works. At the end of the
year, you go off driver points for the championship. You don't really go off
owner points. It's hard to do one and not the other. But still, it's all one
team. The driver is part of that race team. If you penalize one part of that
race team I think you've got to penalize them both. At the end of the day,
it still means the same. But still, at the end of the year you've got to
look at if they hadn't penalized Dale Jarrett by 20 or 25 points there, that
would maybe put him in a different position at the end of the year and I
don't think that's fair either."

(On co-existing with Kevin Harvick and Robby Gordon) "Yeah, I laugh a lot at
what the media stirs up. You've got to look back at the last two years in
the Busch Series and we were not teammates. We didn't have the same owner.
Unfortunately, I got a lot of the brunt of that deal. I remember one time at
Bristol when everybody kind of made a big hype over where he won and I
finished second.

"But now that we're teammates and have the same owner and work out of the
same shop and have a lot of the same guys working on our racecars day in and
day out, if we're not for each other we're not going to make that team
better. Robby and Kevin had a problem at Sears Point last year. But I've
never had a problem with either one of them. This year, we've worked really
hard together. Hopefully I help those guys as much as they help me because
they help me quite a bit. I think we kind of look out for each other.
Definitely the last couple of months, our teams have worked harder and
closer together and I think it's showed on our results come Sunday."

(Is it better to have three type-A personalities on the same team to achieve
certain goals?) "Yeah, there's no doubt about it. If I didn't have two of
the most hard-charging guys on the circuit, I don't think our team would be
as good. It wouldn't make me as good. They can go out and try stuff and if
they're 35th on the list, I don't know if I want to try that or not. I want
to be able to try the stuff that's going to get us in the top 10 every week.
Kevin and Robby do that, and that pumps me up and I think it makes us better
too as a team."
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(How has the mood around the shop changed over the recent weeks?)
"Definitely all of us want to win. But we have to crawl before we walk. The
mood at the race shop every time I'm there, those guys have got their heads
down digging and trying to make it better. For a driver, it makes you pretty
pleased to know those results are coming. I think we've showed that the last
couple of weeks and hopefully we can keep showing that."

(On the subject of track surfaces, which track has one of the better
surfaces in the country?) "The tracks they've built recently like Kansas,
California, Los Vegas, Chicago, Indianapolis are good. For some reason, the
tracks (surfaces) they've built out west have not deteriorated. It gives you
a lot of grip when you go back there. The speeds stay good and the tires
stay good. I don't know what they've done differently, but it sure makes it
a lot easier on us and it makes for a better race."

(On his good run at Sears Point might have set the stage for the second half
of the season) "I don't know if it did anything different for us, but it was
a good finish for us. We try to do that every week. If we have a winning
car, we're going to try to win with it. If we have a fifth place car, we're
going to try to run fifth with it. That day, we had a car that could run in
the top five and we did everything right on pit road to be able to put
ourselves in that situation. I try to get all I can out of the racecar.
Also, our performance is getting better. I think Todd, myself, and all the
other (team) crew chiefs and drivers are learning each other better as a
whole. We're able to use their notes a little bit more. They're able to use
our notes a little bit more. As a whole, I think that's paying off. I think
the engines are getting better, the cars are getting better, and our set-ups
are getting better. Todd knows what I want a little bit more and I know what
he wants to hear a little bit more now. It's getting a little bit easier for
us."

(On the difference between the Busch Series and the Winston Cup Series)
"Don't get me wrong. The Busch Series is very, very competitive. It's tough
to win over there. But you've only got 15 to 20 cars that can win each week.
In the Winston Cup Series, you've got 43 cars that can win each and every
week. So, for the results to be there at the end of the day and to be able
to roll into victory lane, it's just a little bit tougher. Those wins are a
little bit more far and few between because you have so many good sponsors
and good teams and resources to pull from. In the Cup Series, there are a
lot of two and three-car teams. That just adds to the magnitude. When one
car is good, that means the other car is probably going to be good too.
Those top five spots and top 10 spots are getting more and more tough each
week. Look at Bobby Labonte and those guys that are struggling now that were
champions two years ago. I think it's because the competition level has
gotten
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better and those guys just got a little bit behind. Definitely they're
working just as hard as anybody to get there, but it's just tougher to win."

(Regarding sponsorships, do you worry about some of the Wall Street problems
that are happening now?) "I don't look at it. There are plenty of people at
RCR to look at that and that can worry about that. Todd and myself have a
lot more things to worry about than what's going on on Wall Street or with
the economy.  But everybody is probably hurting a little bit. I don't think
it's just our sponsor. I think everybody is in a situation that hopefully we
can get out of really quick. Things like the runs that we've been having
recently are helping our sponsor sell memberships and that's what we're in
it for."

Q&A's with Todd Berrier:
(What's your perspective on the first half of the season and your outlook
going into the second half?) "The first half of the season we haven't been
as strong as we have wanted to be. Both Jeff and I have been used to winning
races and running good. We knew we weren't going to come over here and whip
the world to start with. We knew we have to build up to get here. I think
some things haven't gone our way but opportunities were there. We've had
some real good runs. We've had some engine failures or some bad pit moves
that have caught us behind. We've worked hard on getting the pit crews where
they need to be. Jeff and I have worked on knowing what each other wants and
needs and getting that car where it's got to be. I feel like it's coming
along and I'm sure we're going to run better the second half of the season.
It's getting better and better. I don't expect to go out there and whip the
world instantly. We've got to go our there and run consistently in the top
10 before we're going to win a race or whatever. It would be nice to win
right now. It would have been nice to win last weekend. But we've got to
finish fifth, we've got to finish second on a consistent basis to know that
we're capable of winning races."

(Was your second place finish at Loudon a boost for the crew?) "Oh yeah, it
helps them a bunch. Knowing that we're capable of doing it but never piecing
it all together has helped those guys. It gets them jacked up and working
harder. Not that they don't work hard already, but it give them a boost.  It
gives the whole team a boost. All three (RCR) cars finished in the top 10
last week. There are a lot of things getting done in the shop this week and
everyone is smiling and happy. It's got to help a lot."

(On the height of the cars to pass post-race inspection) "It's more
difficult than you'd think (to keep the cars the right height). You are
trying to get the thing as low as you can get it and you still try to give
yourself an eighth-inch cushion in there. But nowadays with the tires and
cars the way they are, we run a real soft spring and some stuff. Sometimes
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they do give up some during the race. Like Dale Jarrett this week - being an
eight-inch low - is kind of a gamble. I'm sure he started an eighth-inch
higher or something. What we're trying to do is run springs that we've run
before. There are times we have to put a brand new spring in the car and
race one we hadn't raced before and the thing seemed to settle some and it
costs you a little height. We're trying to be on the conservative side.
Ideally, you don't want the $25,000 fine. You don't want points taken away
from Jeff or Richard or the team. When we go to Indianapolis or even Pocono
this week, you're really going to have to be on it because that eighth-inch
is going to mean something. We're going to have to get all we can get and at
the end of the race be right on the mark."

(Are you and other crew chiefs taking a closer look at this since NASCAR has
increased the penalties?) "Oh yeah. There are certain brands of spring that
some of us are running that have continually lost a little bit of height.
Kevin Hamlin and Gil Martin and myself talked this morning about not running
those spring anymore just because of this week and making sure we've got all
the right stuff we need. And yet when you do have an advantage, you do have
a spring or something that will get you lower on the track and hopefully
come back. You've got to kind of take a chance, but you don't want to cut it
so close that it's going to cost you points. I feel like it's going to get
worse as it goes along. What happens to us at Pocono this week is not going
to be the exact same thing, I'm sure. So we've got to be leaning on getting
our stuff closer."

(On making the move from being Kevin Harvick's crew chief last year in Busch
to Jeff Green this year in Winston Cup) "Last year, I was working with Kevin
and Jeff at the same time when Jeff ran seven Cup races. We made a
commitment. I made one to Jeff and he made one to me that we were going to
make this thing work. We've been going forward ever since the first race of
the year. We haven't being going back. Things have been getting better and
better.  I just didn't see changing our team when we were already going
forward. It was the thing for us to do. Kevin and I are good friends and
Jeff and I are good friends, too. We had to put that aside and look at the
performance side of things and this team as a whole. We've moved shops in
the middle of the year and then to turn around and switch drivers and teams
and shirt colors would just be something else to throw at these guys.  I
felt like we were getting stronger week by week and that we should continue
going that way and not start from ground zero again."

(Was it a jolt to switch from the Busch Series to the level of Winston Cup?)
"The competition level is a little bit higher over here, but you still know
that your driver knows how to win and your team knows how to win. Ideally,
Jeff and myself and our team want to work at it harder to win over here
because it is harder. We're happy to be here and we
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want the competition to get harder and harder year after year. That's what
we're all in it for - to be the best at what we do."

(Do you feel more pressure because of NASCAR's increased penalties?) "I
think we all feel more pressure because of that. When it was a money thing,
the money didn't really matter. Hey, if we won the race this weekend at
Loudon and they wanted to take the win, it would still go down in the books
that we won the race. So you really didn't worry about that. They were going
to have to do something like this - take away points or even throw you out -
they have to make a stand on it for it to make a difference in the way we do
things.  Before that, so what if you got a $50,000 fine?  You don't want it.
But if that's what it takes to win a race or run good, and that's all
they're going to do then you've got to look at it on the competition side of
it. If you can pay 50 grand to win a race, then that's what you've got to
do. They had to take a stronger stance on it. Now, everybody is taking more
note to it and saying we'd better not get ourselves busted. We're all
looking at it a lot harder."

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