#Jeff Green started 29th and finished 25th in Sunday’s 400-mile race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
#Green, like many other drivers, fought a loose handling condition on his No. 66 Chevrolet throughout the 400-mile event.
#The Vegas track has been repaved, which resulted in very fast speeds during testing in late January. As a result, Goodyear, which supplies all of the tires for NASCAR, chose to bring a harder tire compound back for the race in order to have a tire that could withstand the increased grip created by the new racing surface. The harder tires do not grip the track as well, which caused many drivers to spin out during practice, qualifying and the event itself.
#With the finish, Green now sits 35th in the owner’s points standings after three races of the 36-race NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series season
#The race was won by Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet), followed by Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet), Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Chevrolet), Matt Kenseth (No. 17 DeWalt Ford), and Mark Martin (No. 01 US Army Chevrolet)
#The top-five in points: Martin, Gordon, Jeff Burton (No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet), Johnson and Kenseth
Jeff Green and many other drivers in Sunday’s NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway were humming the same tune – and it could well have been the Simon and Garfunkel hit, “Slip Sliding Away. â€
Throughout the weekend, drivers voiced concerns over the very hard tire compounds Goodyear brought to the newly-reconfigured 1.5-mile track. Drivers reported that the tires did not grip the race surface, resulting in several drivers losing control of their cars during practice on Friday, and several more crashing their entries during qualifying.
When the race began on Sunday, those concerns seemed to receive support after two caution flags came out for crashes in the first nine laps of the 267-lap event.
For Green and many other competitors, it was all they could do to keep themselves from joining their counterparts in the garage area with wrecked race cars.
“It was like ice out there for most of the day, †Green said. “I was nearly spinning out on every single lap there for awhile. Harold (Holly) kept tightening the car up, but before it was all said and done, we were too tight. It was a balancing act, and the guys who hit it right were able to just drive away from everyone else. â€
In spite of the loose handling condition, Green managed to stay on the lead lap until lap 79, when he went one lap down to race leader (and eventual race winner) Jimmie Johnson. Green finished the event in 25th position, two laps down to the leaders.
With the finish, Green now sits in 35th position after the third race of the 36 event NEXTEL Cup Series season.
Green’s No. 66 Chevrolet sported a special paint design at the Vegas event, promoting Samsung’s Four Seasons of Hope campaign, which is partnering with Best Buy to raise money during the month of March for the Magic Johnson Foundation. Seeing Johnson, who was a guest of Best Buy and Samsung at the event, was one of the high points of the day for Green and the No. 66 team.
“Yeah, it was good to see Magic again, †Green said. “Hopefully, we raised some awareness for Samsung’s Four Seasons of Hope today, and we can help raise some more money for Magic Johnson’s Foundation. I’m sorry that we weren’t able to give him a better showing, but if fans will go to Best Buy and buy some Samsung products to support Magic, today can still be seen as a success. â€
The No. 66 team now heads east to Georgia, site of the fourth event of the race season. Green’s Chevrolet will sport its familiar Best Buy paint design as his Haas CNC team prepare for the 500-mile event at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS) next Sunday.
| 
|