Jeff Green: Dodge/Save Mart 350 preview

The thoughts of #43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge driver Jeff Green heading into Infineon:

"Maybe the biggest challenge that we face as drivers, on the track, is road course racing. It's a tough deal. We just don't spend 34 weeks out of the year racing on them. We only have two road courses on the schedule, and they are two completely different tracks. But, that doesn't take away the importance of road racing and the importance of having road courses on our schedule.

"Sure, there are a lot of drivers that wouldn't mind seeing Sonoma or Watkins Glen being taken off the schedule, but on the other hand, there are a lot of drivers out there who would be pretty upset if they were. I think we all understand that road courses are a part of the history of our sport, and to take them off the schedule wouldn't be right from that perspective. We can't make changes all the time just because a few of us might not like certain things. We all know that we have to come to the road courses so it's not too bad.

"The road courses are sort of fun. It's a challenge for the driver. You're making 10 different left and right-hand turns to complete one lap, and turning right just isn't what we are accustomed too. You have to adapt to the track, the driving style, and to the car. All the elements are different when we come to Infineon. I think it's turning right that takes the most to get used to. If you're not a road racer you've spent your entire life on a race track turning left. Now, you have to come to a road course and turn both left and right. The cars slide a little bit more and it's tough. It's why you see so many guys slide off into the gravel all weekend. It's not that we're bad drivers, but this is something that maybe 80 to 90 percent of us are not used to doing.

"No matter what challenges lie ahead this weekend, I am pretty excited to get to Infineon. We're proud to have Spoonfuls of Stories supporting this #43 team this weekend. It's a great program to help put books into the hands of children and to teach them the importance of literacy. We're going to help donate books for laps that we complete this weekend. I think that is pretty cool.

"We've all grown up reading, and maybe we didn't do it as much as we should, but it's always important to read. At the track, we're always reading over our notes and studying them. We spend just as much time reading off the track as what we do racing on it. Racing and reading really do go hand-in-hand, and that's why Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories is such a great program.

"For a lot of reasons we are looking forward to Infineon this weekend. It's a big weekend both on and off the track. We are all going to be busy, but we are still focused on winning. I've had one start here and had some success. Hopefully we'll have some more with this Cheerios Dodge this weekend."