Green Posted 22nd-place Finish in Virginia 529 College Savings 250 at RIR

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In: Xfinity Series News

Jeff Green and the No 14 Hefty®/Reynolds® team finished 22nd in Friday night’s 1,000th NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Richmond Int’l Raceway.  The team not only rallied back from receiving heavy left-front fender and side damage, but also put themselves in position for a top-20 finish from being two laps down to the race leader late in the race.  However, on the final restart with six laps remaining, tire issues came into play and Green slipped two positions to finish the Virginia 529 College Savings 250 in the 22nd position.  With this finish, the TriStar Motorsports team took back the 22ndposition in the NASCAR Owner Standings after slipping one spot last weekend.

Starting from the 20th position, Green was able to maintain the spot in the first 25 laps, despite battling a car that was loose on entry and tight through the center of the turns. By lap 54, he slipped to the 24th position.  A welcomed caution on lap 66 allowed the team to bring the silver and blue Reynolds Wrap® Camry to pit road for four tires, fuel, and adjustments to help the car’s handling condition.  In spite of advancing their position on pit road, the team received a tire violation penalty, and as a result, had to restart the race from the tail end of the field in the 24th position.

On the restart, Green quickly began working his way through the lap-down cars and by lap 112, he was almost back to racing the cars on the lead lap.  Unfortunately, he ran out of time as the leaders passed him on lap 131, placing him one lap down.  An untimely caution two laps later trapped the Owensboro, KY native one lap down to the race leader.  Continuing to battle a car that was extremely tight in the center of the turns, Green brought the car to the attention of the crew where they changed four tires, added fuel, and made additional air-pressure and chassis adjustments in hopes of helping the No. 14 Camry turn better in the center of the turns.  On the lap 138 restart, Green was scored in the 24th position.

Over the next 30 laps, the car’s handling changed from being too tight in the center to being extremely loose on entry, so Crew Chief Todd Myers went to work forming a game plan behind pit wall with the team. On lap 171, spotter Stevie Reeves informed Green to watch out for the No. 55 car who was coming across the track headed for pit road.  Unfortunately, when Green got to the outside of the car, the No. 55 decided not to enter pit road and made a sharp right turn into the left-front fender and side of the No. 14 Camry, thus bringing out the event’s fourth caution on lap 172.  Green visited pit road twice during the caution period to receive repairs on the car and also to get four fresh tires and fuel.  When the race resumed on lap 180, Green was scored in the 25th position, one lap down to the race leader.

As the race continued, Green was able to work his way up to the 23rd position, despite the loose-handling condition and the left-side damage to the Reynolds Wrap® Camry; but on lap 228, the leaders had once again caught the 51-year-old driver and put him two laps down.  The team decided to take a gamble as the yellow flag waved again on lap 229 and remain on track to receive the wave around.  When the race resumed on lap 234, Green was scored in the 23rd position, one lap down to the race leader.

The gamble paid off as another caution flag waved two laps later making Green the recipient of the “lucky dog” award.  As a result, the team was able to return to the lead lap and restart the event from the tail end of the field in the 22nd position. 

With only 11 laps remaining in the event when the race resumed, it looked as though Green would have to settle on a 22nd-place finish since there wasn’t much time to pass all of the lap-down cars that were between him and the lead cars.  However, on lap 240, several cars tangled bringing out the final caution flag of the evening.  This allowed Green to move ahead of the lap-down cars for the final restart. When the race resumed with six laps remaining, Green was scored in the 20th position.

Looking to secure another solid top-20 finish, it quickly became evident that it wasn’t in the cards for the Hefty®/Reynolds® team as newer tires outran  older tires on the restart and as a result, Green slipped two positions in the final laps to finish the Virginia 529 College Savings 250 in the 22nd position.

Driver, Jeff Green Quotes:

“We had a decent car tonight, but I’m just bummed we were not able to get the finish we deserved.  We overcame a lot of obstacles and for that I am proud of the team, but in the end, we were on older tires and some of the guys behind us had newer tires so I didn’t have the grip I needed to secure that top-20 finish.”   

TMI PR

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