Jeff Green's new team has a new sponsor and a new number. Credit: Autostock

Conversation: Jeff Green

LAS VEGAS -- It is no secret that the influx of Nextel Cup regulars into the Busch Series has become a touchy subject, and Jeff Green is as good an authority as anyone on the issue.

	Jeff Green drives the No. 66 Chevy for Haas CNC Racing. Credit: Autostock
	Jeff Green Career Cup Series stats Year Starts W T5 T10 1994 3 0 0 0 1996 4 0 0 0 1997 20 0 1 2 1998 22 0 0 0 1999 1 0 0 0 2001 8 0 0 1 2002 36 0 4 6 2003 31 0 0 1 2004 36 0 0 1 2005 36 0 0 0 2006 3 0 0 0 Totals 200 0 5 11

Green is the last man to win the Busch title while driving for an independent Busch Series team, and even though he has driven full time in Nextel Cup for several years, his tone clearly backs the Busch regulars on this issue.

Green, 43, spoke with NASCAR.COM's Ryan Smithson about his extensive hobbies, his new job at Haas CNC Racing and Bobby Labonte, his successor at Petty Enterprises.

Q: Jeff, is there anything that can be done about Nextel Cuppers dominating the Busch Series every Saturday?

Green: Who knows. The way the rules read, and the way things are in our sport, it doesn't protect the Busch regulars, the guys that are there every weekend. The guys that used to go to South Boston and Hickory and places like that.

So, what do you do? I don't know. I am not really a baseball guy, but I don't think a pro could go play Triple-A if he wants to.

I don't know what you do about it. I don't know whether you put a limit on how many they run, if they don't run any, there has got to be something that NASCAR can come up with to make it better, to make Busch regulars feel more welcome or more at home.

How much are the Cup guys bringing to the Busch Series? They are taking things away from the Busch guys and the Busch teams, but they are also bringing sponsors that would not have been there if they hadn't came. I don't know how you do it, how you go about it, but there has got to be a way that they can control it a little bit.

Q: The new testing rules -- which limit Nextel Cup tests -- does that throw gasoline on the fire as far as Nextel Cup regulars running Busch races?

Green: It tends to make them go and want to race more and want to be able to race on Saturday just to get that time on the racetrack. That is the perfect situation to go out there in race mode, or race preparation.

You have 42 other cars around you. You are basically running the same racecar, other than horsepower. You have the same tires and a lot of the guys use the same pit crew and things like that. All that is a prelim to Sunday for them.

That just gains on what they want to be able to find out for Sunday.

Q: Is it a better situation when a team has a one-car team with a top engine lease or a multi-car team with their own engine program?

Green: I definitely think the single-car program here with Hendrick motors is the best situation I have ever been in.

I have been in the other situation where you have three or four cars to pull resources from, but it seemed like it never worked for me to get good information out of those guys.

I really like it this way, to be able to go out and do our own thing, it is like we have four other teammates and I see them coming to us as much as we go to them.

We can use that information when we need to and we don't have to use it when we don't have to. It is a good situation for all of us.

Q: Let's get very serious for a second. Do you think the media gives Elliott Sadler too much credit for being a big-time hunter when you arguably enjoy it just as much? Don't you deserve a little bit of credit? Be honest.

Green: Elliott does it differently. They run dogs and things like that. It's a Virginia thing.

	Jeff Green is in his first year with Haas CNC Racing. Credit: Autostock
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I enjoy hunting a lot, not because of hunting animals but being with my friends and sitting outdoors and seeing the squirrels and the birds and things like that.

It is a part of my life that I have come to love, and I enjoy it as much as I enjoy racing.

Q: Do you sit up in a tree stand with a 30-06 or do you walk around the field with a shotgun?

Green: Well, here in about a month, we're going to go out in the field with a shotgun and turkey hunt. But I enjoy bow hunting a lot too.

It's not always with a rifle. It is mostly with a bow. I am going to kill a turkey with my bow. That will be a big challenge to conquer.

Q: Did you ever do a Dukes of Hazzard, where you lean out the car window with your bow?

Green: Ha. No. That would be pretty illegal where I go. Everyone has their different ways of hunting; states have different rules.

Q: Jeff, I know you love old cars, hanging your own bodies, what have been some of your recent projects?

Green: I have a '41 Willy's coupe that I have been working on for a year and a half. It is going to be pretty exciting. I have pretty much done the whole car myself.

It has a SB2 Chevrolet motor with an 871 blower that is going to have 1,000 horsepower on pump gas, so it is going to be exciting to drive. I have put a lot of emphasis on how I want it to look; I want it to be real low and big tires. The look of today.

I built a '37 Ford a couple of years ago that I drive and I am really proud of it. I have a '69 Camaro that I am getting ready to start working on. I have got a lot of projects that I haven't had the chance to finish a lot of them up.

Q: Is this hobby investment or fun?

Green: Probably more fun. It is definitely an investment, but everything I have built, I don't want to sell it. One of these days I might have to. Hopefully I won't. In the future, hopefully I can do that for a living.

Jeff Green said his replacement at Petty Enterprises, Bobby Labonte, will do well for the organization. Credit: Autostock

Q: Last question. From a Petty standpoint, how well will Bobby Labonte do?

Green: They will get that whole program turned around. That organization is totally different from the last race of last year. They got a lot of new faces and a new leader. I can't put my finger on how well they will do, but Bobby Labonte gains a lot of respect in the garage area and on the racetrack.

He wants to win as bad as the next guy. He is not going to let it fail. Also, he has to have support, and if you don't have it, you won't be able to conquer.

I wish him well. That was two great years for me over there; I had a lot of fun. I can remember a lot of stories over those two years. It was a good experience for me.

Q: Is it harder than it was 10 years ago to come in as a driver and change a program overnight?

Green: I think it is. There are so many more doors you have to go through now. Back 10 years ago, there might have had two doors to go through, now you got like 20.

There is so many politics; the team owners are involved, the sponsors are involved, 10 years ago the driver and the crew chief made most of the decisions. That takes more time and time is not on our side right now.

When you have to depend on more people, in a way it's good, but when one guy pulls you apart and doesn't do his job, it is not good. I want to do it all myself, and when I can't have my hands on it, it tends to take more time than I want to.