Notes: Green enjoys new role as test driver for HMS

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Never in his wildest imagination did David Green think he'd ever get so much satisfaction out of being a test pilot -- and he's glad, as 2008 gets into full swing, he was a little ignorant of the importance of his role in Hendrick Motorsports' ongoing success story.

"If I knew then, what I know now, I probably would have felt a lot more pressure when we were doing all that testing with the Car of Tomorrow last year," said Green, the 1994 Busch Series champion who is now Hendrick's primary test driver.

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Green did hundreds and hundreds of development miles for Hendrick's Car of Tomorrow program, with which Hendrick -- which won 18 of 36 total races -- won nine of 16 COT outings last season.

"The satisfaction I've gotten from doing this [testing] is tremendous -- it's as close to racing as you can get," Green said. "I never dreamed I would get the notoriety and the thanks for doing this kind of work, and it's very flattering."

The wave continued this weekend for Green, who spent three days at Daytona International Speedway working with the No. 5 JR Motorsports team that's the result of a Nationwide Series alliance between Rick Hendrick and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Green spent the first two-and-half days of the three-day Preseason Thunder test working on single car runs and car setups for its owner, who flew in to take part in drafting runs Sunday afternoon.

Green got the car good enough to where it was second quickest on the single-car cumulative speed sheet after three days of testing, of the 38 drivers who participated in single-car runs. But he was more enthused about something else.

"I was excited and maybe a little bit relieved that as I'd told him what I felt, when he went out and ran the car, his comments mirrored that," Green said. "So that made me feel good. We did some things to calm the car down, that we ended up undoing this morning prior to Junior getting here.

"And then he took it a step further, which we kind of knew would happen, because he's got a style and a feel that he wants. My feel of the baseline and his feel of the baseline was identical, so job accomplished for our team to do that prior to him getting here."

Earnhardt Jr. ended up fourth on the afternoon drafting sheet, behind Brad Coleman's No. 27 Baker Curb Racing Ford. JR Motorsports' lead driver, Brad Keselowski, was second-fastest in the drafting session.

"We did two long runs with him in drafting and he was very happy with it," Green said. "Bottom line, too, is that no doubt [Earnhardt Jr.] is one of the best restrictor plate drivers out there, and there were some things I learned today, just watching him, and listening to him, that makes me better able to understand what makes him so successful here."

Green was most enthused about the opportunity to do more work with, and for Earnhardt moving ahead in his role as Hendrick's COT test pilot, which Green has a test coming up in at Rockingham Speedway.

"As a test driver, especially in the COT program, if I can be even remotely close to what those drivers want to feel in their cars, then that's my goal," Green said. "This is my first time working with Junior, so I'm very excited about the COT testing we do, because now I have a baseline on what his feel is, and what he wants." (Continued)