Green among many reaching for guitar

CONCORD, N.C. -- There must be something about a Gibson guitar.

Sure, it is a fine musical instrument that a lot of people like to play. But when you turn it into a trophy for a NASCAR Busch Series race, it becomes something else.

	Bobby Hamilton Jr. is eighth in the standings heading into Nashville. Credit: Autostock

"I understand that the track gives away a Gibson guitar to the winner of the race, so that would be a very cool trophy to win," rookie J.J. Yeley said of Nashville Superspeedway, site of this weekend's Pepsi 400.

He's not the only one who wants it, of course.

"After coming so close the last few years and leading every NASCAR Busch Series race at the speedway, I really have a burning desire to pull into Victory Lane and have them hand me the guitar," Bobby Hamilton Jr. said.

Hamilton Jr. probably has a better chance at winning one than Yeley, for he led the most laps in the first race last year and finished fifth in the second.

Kyle Busch, like Yeley, hasn't race at Nashville. But the 18-year-old still wants that trophy.

"The Nashville trophy is pretty sweet," Busch said. "It's just awesome to have a trophy that you can actually play, if you've ever taken lessons. I can't play at all. I had never held a guitar until I won last year's ARCA race.

"The photographers told me to hold it like I was playing it, then said I was holding it wrong. I was like, 'How am I holding it wrong? I've seen musicians do this plenty of times on TV.'

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"It's definitely the coolest trophy I've ever won. I still haven't figured out how to display it, though. It's just sitting in its case right now. I'd love to have another one to go with it. Maybe I could use them as bookends."

David Green won a Gibson guitar last year, getting the lead on the final lap from future teammate Johnny Sauter. Green enters the Pepsi 300 this weekend as the points leader, and he's driving a car nicknamed -- what else? -- Gibson.

Yes, the new Chevrolet Monte Carlo is named after the Nashville trophy. Green has two of them, having won at the old Nashville Speedway USA in 1995, too.

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Nashville is Green's home track, as he grew up in Owensboro, Ky., about a two-hour drive from Music City USA.

"As a team we are excited to get back home and defend our race win there last year," Green said. "It's also exciting to go to our first Busch Series standalone event. The Busch Series deserves to be the headliner race and with the stop at Nashville, it'll be a barn burner I promise."

Green got the points lead last week with an eighth-place finish at Texas, his fifth top-10 of the season -- the most of any driver. He last led the points last October before slipping to second, 14 points behind champion Brian Vickers.

"After falling 14 points short last year, we had a lot of time to reflect over the off-season," Green said. "It's reassuring to know that we have not skipped a beat. This early in the season, there is a lot less pressure in leading the points. Now later in the season that might change. You almost become a target as the competition steps up to the plate. Nonetheless, we would rather be chased, than chasing."

	David Green has brought a car named "Gibson" to help him win the Gibson guitar again in Nashville. Credit: Autostock

Most of the Busch Series teams have been chasing Team Brewco in 2004. Green leads the points, with Sauter in ninth. Sauter's addition, with crew chief Newt Moore, as been a big help to the team, Green said.

"My confidence is sky high and what a better place to prove our ability and talent as a group than Nashville Superspeedway," Green said. "It's also cool to have Johnny Sauter as my teammate, especially since we went wire-to-wire with him in the final laps there last spring. His crew chief has really made our whole organization a lot stronger. Jason (Ratcliff, Green's crew chief) and Stewart (Cooper, his car chief) have a great working relationship with Newt, and hopefully, Johnny and I can come off of Turn 4 for the victory ... but of course, the Timber Wolf Chevy by a pinch."

This weekend's race marks the first time Green will use a Chevrolet. Pontiac, the car it used last season, got out of NASCAR, but Chevrolet allowed Team Brewco to run the Grand Prix until it was ready to make the switch.

"To be honest, I have no idea what to expect," Ratcliff said. "We haven't been to the wind tunnel with one and we haven't been on the track with one. But nonetheless, teams win every week in Chevrolets. There really isn't that much of a difference between body styles anymore. There's no doubt we'll have some bugs, but we'll work them out and be stronger than before."

And don't forget, it's called "Gibson." Can "Gibson" win a Gibson?

Green sure hopes so. Of course, there will be 42 other drivers who want one, too.