Talledega NASCAR Chevy Notes: Jeff Green in Winston Breakfast Club

CHEVROLET/TEAM MONTE CARLO NOTES AND QUOTES
EA SPORTS 500
TALLADEGA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
NO. 30 OF 36, NASCAR WINSTON CUP SERIES
TALLADEGA, AL.
SATURDAY, OCT. 5, 2002   
WINSTON BREAKFAST CLUB
Guest:  Jeff Green, No. 30 AOL Chevrolet Monte Carlo

HOW IS THE AOL CHEVY MONTE CARLO RUNNING AND WITH NO QUALIFYING YESTERDAY,
HOW IMPORTANT IS TESTING TODAY AND WHAT¹S THE OUTLOOK FOR TOMORROW?

"Still mad I got beat in the truck yesterday, right now (part of Winston No
Bull 5 promotion). My AOL car ran really well yesterday. I think we had a
chance of getting in the top five or top 10 at worst (in) qualifying. But
we¹re going to start 17th. It¹s not a bad starting spot. You can start
anywhere here in Talladega and I think you can win here if you¹ve got a good
enough race car. I¹m sure the guys that (have) won here before, Dale Jr. and
Mike (Waltrip) and those guys will be the guys we¹ll have to beat and
hopefully we can pair up with them and stay there Œtil the end. You never
knowŠThe million dollars would be wonderful for our team and making a
millionaire out of Roger (Phelps of Milton, N.C.) will be awesome too. We¹re
going to try to do our darnedest and I just want to take that trophy home.
That¹s what it¹s all about. I think that would be the neatest thing I ever
could do."

HAVING YOUR FIRST WIN HERE WOULD BE VALUABLE.

"Anyplace that would be our first will be valuable. This is our next race.
What Winston does for our sport first of all and then to put this on top of
it, the No Bull 5, (it¹s) just an honor for me to be a participant in it.
And I¹m sure it is for all these other five people sitting here with me."

ON THE TRUCK COMPETITION YESTERDAY, DID A COUPLE OF PEOPLE SURPRISE YOU?

"Well, when Todd (Bodine) left I didn¹t think he¹d ever come back as fast as
he was going. To be able to beat that time was pretty exciting for me, then
Ryan (Newman) beat us. If I could do it over again I think I could beat him
now. I think I learned some stuff, thought about some stuff I should have
done and I should have thought about before I went and got into the truck,
but I didn¹t. It was pretty fun. It¹s just an exciting way for us to show
our talent a little bit more for the fans sitting up in the stands and for
the fans watching. It¹s exciting for us."

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULDN¹T RACE OR PUSH TO THE LIMIT?

"I don¹t think so. As growing up, I¹ve told this story quite a bit, my
brothers -- I¹ve got two brothers. We¹re very competitive with each other
growing up. I remember when it rained real hard we had gutters out in our
street, we would get Popsicle sticks and put a number on them and race them
down the gutter. Anything that gives me a checkered flag I think we¹d race."

ON YOUR PLANS TO RUN THE IFC SERIES IN CANADA?

"We¹re going to run, I think, four or maybe six races in that league.
There¹s five or six of us. Matt¹s (Kenseth) is one of them, Tony Stewart.
It¹s going to be a Tuesday night race. I think one of them is a Saturday
night race or a Sunday race on a weekend that we¹re off. I didn¹t have
anything to do that weekend so might as well go race, right? It¹s going to
be fun. Matt did a little bit last year and he said it was really a lot of
fun. You just get to meet some great fans. AOL is going to be on my race
car. So it¹s just another way to get up in Canada and promote AOL, and I
think that¹s the greatest thing we¹ll do for them."

DID YOU FEEL FROM YOUR END YOUR TEAM HAS BENEFITED FROM ALL THAT RESEARCH
AND COOPERATION AT THE PLATE TRACKS?

"I think it surely hadn¹t hurt us. It hadn¹t shown in our performance, I
don¹t think, and our results the way DEI has. Why, I don¹t know, because I
think we feel like we¹ve got all the information we need to make our cars as
fast as theirs. I don¹t think Dale Jr. or Mike Waltrip¹s any better drivers
than we are. I don¹t they can see the air any better than we can. They put
themselves in position to be at the end. That¹s been my concern; I¹ve got
into wrecks the last three races, you know. If we can miss those things and
put ourselves in contention and put oursleves in position I¹d be up there
with those guys. I think we have a good enough shot at winning as they do. I
think they¹ve come a long way. I think our cars are better this weekend than
we¹ve had in the other three races this year. I think that¹s the time to
have it. It¹s a good time for us to have it anyway."

WHAT¹S IT LIKE BEING IN A WRECK WHEN YOU SEE IT ALL HAPPENING AROUND YOU?

"I haven¹t been in the Big Ones, I¹ve been in the small ones. Fortunately I
haven¹t really witnessed that yet. I hope I don¹t. I¹ve seen people go into
those things and come out of them; you¹re just bouncing off people. You
really don¹t know what you¹re hitting until it¹s all over and people are
hitting you again. You know, you come down here with the mindset not to let
that happen, I guess. Racing these things, you¹re racing three our four
inches apart for 500 miles, and things happen. People make mistakes.
Unfortunately, it gathers you up in it. I think none of these wrecks would
happen if we could take those mirrors out of those race cars. The only time
it happens is when somebody blocks somebody and the other guy doesn¹t let
off. I don¹t know. What do you do? We¹re out here to race, we¹re out here to
try to win and if the guy blocks you and you think you¹ve got that
position...I don¹t know whether it¹s worth turning somebody around for that
and causing a 20-car pileup. I think I¹d feel pretty bad after it was all
over Œcause I did that on my own. We¹re just going to try to do our job, try
to make sure we don¹t hit anybody and hopefully we have a fast enough AOL
Chevy so we can get there to the front and not have to hit anybody."

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE 13-GALLON FUEL CELL RULE?

"I think it¹s going to be a good rule. The only unfortunate part, I think,
is we¹re going to be on pit road a lot more and that¹s going to give a lot
more chances to get somebody hurt. I don¹t want to see any of these guys get
run over. Not just my team, all these guys are my friends in the garage
area. If somebody got hurt or (if somebody would) break a leg, or get a head
injury or somethingŠfortunately, we got helmets now on these guys; that will
help that. But, also putting yourself on pit road twice as much gives you
opportunity to have something happen. I think it¹s going to split the field
up. After the first stop it should be a better ŠWe shouldn¹t be so uptight
anymore. This race is very mentally draining for me. Physically it¹s not
hard at all. When you have to look out your rearview mirror more than you do
the windshield it¹s pretty tough, I think. I don¹t think that¹s very good
racing for us. We¹re just kind of like on pins and needles. And that¹s why
when something explodes and somebody makes a mistake, that¹s why you have
such a big wreck. Hopefully it will split the field up like they want, maybe
put us in two or three packs instead of one pack. I think you¹ll still see
as good a race, but maybe we¹ll have the danger down a little bit."

YOU¹VE BEEN INVOLVED IN WRECKS RECENTLY. IS THAT BECAUSE OF POOR QUALIFYING
OR LOSING SPOTS ON PIT ROAD?

"Qualifying I think has been our big problem. When you qualify 29th or 36th
every week you have the opportunity to get into somebody else¹s mess. And
that¹s what happened at Kansas. We didn¹t have a very good race car there at
the first of the race and got shuffled back a little bit and the track was
really slick. For the most part, we need to try to get better qualifying. We
race really good. We really come to the front most of the time. We have a
top-10 car just about every week. In the Winston Cup Series I think that¹s
saying quite a bit, as a first-year team. That is our problem, is getting
qualified. These guys can go out and put a lap down and we can¹t do that. We
just have to work on that. We still shouldn¹t get in wrecks, no matter where
you start. I think it¹s just people making mistakes. There was a mistake
made there at Kansas that I got into and kind of ruined my day really early
in the race. For the most part, other than that, we¹ve had a pretty good
season. We hadn¹t gotten into that many wrecks. You¹re going to get in
wrecks if you¹re going to race, and you¹ve got to accept that and I¹m still
learning what I need to do in the beginning of the race, the end of the race
and the middle of the race. Hopefully we can get better qualifying and that
would put us in a better position where we can ride a little bit instead of
racing so hard the first of the race."

WITH THE SMALLER FUEL CELLS, MORE PIT STOPS, IS IT GOING TO BE MORE
DIFFICULT FOR THE DRIVERS TO SEE THE HAND SIGNALS TO KNOW WHEN THE OTHER
TEAMS ARE GOING TO MAKE PIT STOPS?

"It has become a bit more difficult to see guys waving inside the car
because of our headrests and window and our nets and stuff that we¹ve got in
our race car. I think more than not nowadays everybody tries to signal out
the left-side window. If you can get your hand out the window and you can
really see that hand really wellŠ I think if everybody used that idea I
think we can see each other pretty good. Spotters really talk a lot,
especially at these race tracks where you know he¹s going to pit and this
pit road is far enough down off of (turn) 4, I think it¹s really going to be
a lot easier than it would be at Daytona or any other place. I don¹t think
it¹s going to become a problem and hopefully after the first pit stop we
won¹t be 43 cars on the pit road at the same time, so that will help too."

POINTING OUT THE LEFT-SIDE WINDOW BECAUSE OF ALL THE SAFETY EQUIPMENT, IS
THAT WHAT TEAMS ARE DOING MORE?

"It¹s more what the drivers are doing. That¹s the first time I¹ve ever done
it this year to signal that you¹re coming in. Most of the time you throw it
up in front of the mirror inside the car with your right hand. I think it¹s
a lot more visible out the left side. Everybody¹s got gloves on, they¹re
pretty bright gloves, and you can see that hand waving pretty good. Most of
the drivers are pretty good. Off of (turn) 2 you start waving. I try to do
it all the way down the back straightaway, especially if there¹s someone on
you or a pack behind you. Hopefully everybody can see, and, again, the
spotters will take a big toll on that too, of helping people know that
you¹re coming in."

Q&A FOLLOWING PRESS CONFERENCE:

ON FUEL ECONOMY:

"If you can get a couple of more laps out of each stopŠI don¹t know, I
haven¹t really sat down and figured the laps out, I¹m sure Todd (Berrier,
crew chief) has. Anytime we go to a race track fuel mileage comes into play.
We have to think about that. We¹ve been pretty good at that. The guys pack
the fuel in there and the car¹s getting good gas mileage at open race
tracks, without restrictor plates, so I don¹t see why this track would be
any different. A lot depends on how the cautions fall too. You can¹t really
plan a race on fuel mileage until it starts, until it happens. We will just
have to look at it as it goes."

DID YOU MAKE A DEAL TO HAVE DRAFTING PARTNERS?

"I haven¹t got a lot of restrictor plate racing experience, but every time
you try to make a deal it goes sour the first lap. All these guys are your
buddies, most of them are, and you can pretty much count on all of them.
I¹ve got a few friends out there that I know that I can count on, but the
other ones you¹ll have to just play it by ear. If you help them they¹ll help
you and if you¹ve got a fast race car, they¹re going to sure help you too.
That¹s our concern this morning, just trying to get our AOL Chevy running
really well and hopefully be at the top of those speed charts and those guys
will see that and the car will perform tomorrow and those guys will hang
with you if it¹s real fast."