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"Hopefully, we can keep digging where we're at right now. I think if they give us a little time in the Pennzoil car that we'll be good."
Green replaced Steve Park in the No. 1 before Charlotte, and in six races -- Ron Fellows drove it at Infineon Raceway -- Green's best finish has been 16th. He said they've run well at times, but admitted they've also run poorly at times.
He said, however, that as he and crew chief Tony Gibson get to know one another better, the performance should improve.
"It's just hard to get thrown into something and make roses out of it," Green said. "We're gaining ground on it."
Green isn't actively "campaigning" for the job beyond September, but he does want to stay in the car.
"There aren't a lot of opportunities to go out here and win races," Green said. "The car I'm in, I've got an opportunity to win races. Hopefully, we can keep growing together, and they'll want me. I definitely want them.
"If that doesn't happen, I don't know. There are a couple Busch cars out there that look pretty good. You never know. My deal is I want to win. If I can't win, I'm not going to be just walking around here looking for something just to drive. We'll see what happens."
When John Andretti was fired from his ride with Petty Enterprises last month, his continued participation in the Coca-Cola Racing Family of drivers might've been called into question.
Coca-Cola launched a promotional program recently that included Andretti. The ad shows a smiling Andretti in the group shot wearing the Cheerios garb he wore with Petty.
"It's a contracted thing," Andretti said. "Coca-Cola called me up right after all that (firing) happened and said 'we still want you as part of the family.'
"That made me feel great. You find out what you've done in life, when you get kicked down and everybody jumps on you, beats you up and holds you down. You think you've probably been pretty much of a jerk your whole life.
"Things were exactly the opposite for me. Coca-Cola jumped right on board. I told them, 'You don't have to pay me.' They said, 'No, no John. You're part of the family -- we want you to make appearances for us and stuff.'
"It's a great relationship."
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In the opening moments of Saturday morning's Happy Hour practice at Pocono Raceway, Hendrick Motorsports crewman Ryan DuBois suffered a right ankle injury while working in the team's garage stall.
Chad Knaus, the crew chief for driver Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet, said DuBois was being x-rayed in the track's infield care center Saturday afternoon.
DuBois was removed from the team's stall on a stretcher, but was laughing and kibitzing with friends when he was loaded into an ambulance for the trip to the care center.
DuBois, a general mechanic that cleans the windshield on Johnson's car on race day, said he would undergo "further evaluation" before determining if he would perform his duties in Sunday's Pennsylvania 500.
After two days of practice and qualifying at Pocono Raceway, Kyle Petty's No. 45 Georgia Pacific Dodge team was the only one that had to make an engine change, due to bearing fragments it discovered in the oil filter following Happy Hour practice.
Petty was 31st in Happy Hour and 35th in the day's first practice. He qualified 35th for Sunday's Pennsylvania 500, but will forfeit that position on the pace laps and drop to the rear of the field.
After two Petty Enterprises cars failed to qualify for the Pepsi 400 at Daytona earlier this month, Kyle Petty blamed engine builder Mike Ege. Ege also builds engines for Jimmy Spencer's Ultra Motorsports team, and Spencer has a complaint, too.
"I think the direction we were going was for big power numbers, and our motors aren't accelerating like they should," Spencer said last week in a teleconference. "Mike is working on that now. We have plenty of horsepower, but we don't have the acceleration factor that is necessary, and as we speak Mike is working hard."
Despite their concerns, as Petty did, Spencer said he was glad to have Ege.
"I wouldn't trade him for anything," Spencer said. "I think the world of Mike Ege and the whole group. We have only had one engine failure this whole year. All-in-all we have had good power, we just need more acceleration to help the car get up off the corner."
While most drivers were pleased with the new surface in the turns of New Hampshire International Speedway during last Sunday's New England 300, Rusty Wallace said more needs to be done.
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| Rusty Wallace says New Hampshire International Speedway needs some more work. Credit: Autostock |
"It's a very frustrating race track to run," Wallace said. "It's a horrible design. It's got a great owner (Bob Bahre). If it wasn't for the track owner...
"He's just going to have to dig it up and reshape it and put some bank on it and get it right. Just re-asphalting it didn't work."
Of course, NHIS isn't exactly Wallace's favorite track, despite his victory in the first Winston Cup race run there, in 1993.
"That place does frustrate me," Wallace said. "Of all the tracks we run, that's absolutely one track I don't like. It's all track position. It's how you come out of the pits. If you come out in front you're probably going to stay out front. If you come out in the back you're going to stay in the back."
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