“It’s still a race car. It’s still got four tires, four shocks, four springs, and you still have to tune on it to get it the best you can. With the tire situation the way it is, as hard as (the tires) are, I think the other cars would have slid around as much as (the COT) did. I’m sure it will be much different on a mile-and-a-half track, but on a short track, I couldn’t tell much difference. “
Harold Holly (crew chief of the No. 66) said you had to bring out setup notes from four or five years ago and refer to them to set up the COT. Do you think that works in the favor of a veteran driver like yourself, as opposed to some of the younger drivers who weren’t around five years ago?
“I don’t know. In terms of the percentage of races I’ve driven, I’ve driven more of the older type setups like we had last weekend, with limited travel on the front end and stuff like that. It’s only been the last three or four years where we’ve been doing what we do on the other cars, with the coil binding. I don’t know if it helps or not, but I’ll take any advantage I can get, so I hope it does work in my favor. “
Is it too early to grade the COT, or do you think it’s going to help competition in the way NASCAR hopes it will?
“I think it’s going to be great (for the sport). Anytime you can make the car safer and make the competition closer because everyone’s the same, it’s going to bring the driver back into the equation even more, and the teams with more resources are hopefully not going to excel as much as they have.
“NASCAR’s got the teams in a much smaller box now than they have in the last three or four years, and they police that car so much, it’s much harder to bend the rules or find that gray area. It’s kind of like buying a kit car, basically. If NASCAR does what they say they’re going to do and keep policing the (COT) like they are, it’s going to give the teams without as much funding and without as many resources the chance to be much more competitive than they have been for the last three or four years. “
Martinsville is a track where you’ve run well. Do you think the short tracks suit your driving style more than the 1.5-mile tracks?
“I think we’ve performed better at the short tracks lately just because we’ve hit the setup closer or had better race cars at those places. I enjoy them all. I’ve won at big tracks and short tracks, so it really doesn’t matter to me where we’re going on any given weekend.
“I like Martinsville, but I wouldn’t say it’s one of my favorite race tracks. I like that you’re able to sling your car around a lot more. As a driver, it puts it back in your hands and how you drive can definitely make or break what kind of finish you produce that day. I like that. “
With the concern over the potential fragility of the front end splitter on the COT, do you think there will be less bumping and banging than in the past at Martinsville?
“I doubt it. There will still be rooting and gouging. I think you’ll see what you saw at Bristol, which is that there will be a lot of guys who are just off on their setups. There will be some who hit it right on, and there will be a few in between. I think that’s why the field at Bristol got spread out as much as it did, and you didn’t see guys take as many chances, maybe.
“With the other car, there would have probably have been 20 or 25 guys on the lead lap, and I think there were only 12 or 14 (at Bristol). I think a lot of guys missed (the right setup) and couldn’t get a handle on it, and I think you’ll see the same thing at Martinsville. “
How much of a relief is it to be comfortably in the top-35 in points this weekend?
“It’s one less thing you have to worry about, so it definitely makes Friday a lot easier, but you still have to worry about how you perform on race day. This early in the year, all it takes is one bad day and you can easily be on the outside looking in. With the way we’ve been on the mile-and-a-half tracks this year, we really need a good run this weekend. If we can put a few top-10 or top-15 finishes together and really give ourselves some breathing room, it’ll be a much better situation, but for now we’re just taking it one race at a time. “
JEFF GREEN’S HISTORY AT MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY:
In 13 Cup Series starts at Martinsville Speedway, Jeff Green’s best starting spot was a sixth-place qualifying effort in the Sept., 1998, event, when Green drove for Felix Sabates. His best finish came in Oct., 2004, when he finished seventh while driving the No. 43 car for Petty Enterprises.
HAAS CNC RACING’S HISTORY AT MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY:
In eight Cup Series starts at Martinsville, the Haas CNC Racing team has qualified in the top-15 five times. The team’s best qualifying effort was a fourth-place run by driver Ward Burton in Oct., 2004. The team’s best finish was the eighth-place finish Jeff Green posted in the October, 2006, event.
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