David Green (NASCAR)
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Born: | January 28, 1958 | |
Birthplace: | Owensboro, Kentucky | |
Awards: | 1994 Busch Series Champion | |
NASCAR Busch Series Statistics | ||
Car #, Team | None | |
2005 Busch Series Position: | 8th | |
Best Busch Position: | 1st - 1994 | |
First Race: | 1989 Pepsi 200 (Hickory) | |
First Win: | 1991 Nestle 200 (Lanier) | |
Last Win: | 2005 Salute to the Troops 200 (Pikes Peak | |
Wins | Top Tens | Poles |
9 | 144 | 22 |
All stats current as of July 30, 2006. |
David A. Green (born in Owensboro, Kentucky on January 28, 1958) is an unemployed NASCAR driver. His two brothers, Jeff and Mark also compete on the NASCAR circuit. He is currently a spotter for Robert Yates Racing, and works with development drivers David Gilliland and Stephen Leicht, as well as Wood Brothers/JTG Racing driver Bobby East.
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[edit] Early Busch career
Green made his Busch Series debut in 1989 at Hickory Motor Speedway for Day Enterprise Racing, starting 15th but finishing 30th after suffering an engine failure. He ran two more races the next year, suffering transmission failure in both races. In 1991, Green signed up with FILMAR Racing to drive the #8, and made an immediate impact, winning the pole position at the season-opening Goody's 300. Despite failing to qualify for two of the first seven races, Green won in just his 12th start at Lanier Raceway. He would finish runner-up to Jeff Gordon for Rookie of the Year. Surprisingly, Green was fired from the ride, and spent the 1992 season working as a member of Bobby Labonte's pit crew. When Labonte moved to Winston Cup in 1993, Green took over the team's #44 ride. Although he did not win, he finished in the top ten 16 times and finished third in the points. The next year, he won the Goody's 250, nine poles, as well as the Busch Series championship. Surprisingly, he did not receive an immediate call-up to the Cup Series, which had become a recent trend. Nevertheless, Green stayed with Labonte Racing and won four more poles in 1995, but dropped to twelfth in points.
[edit] Winston Cup
After a dismal 1995 season, Green was offered a contract from Buz McCall, owner of the new American Equipment Racing team. Running the #95, Green returned to his former dominance, winning twice and finishing runner-up to Johnny Benson in the championship chase. At the end of the season, McCall and Green elevated their operation to Winston Cup, this time as the #96 with sponsorship from Caterpillar. Unfortunately, they were not able to duplicate their success, as Green failed to qualify for six races, and could only manage a best finish of 16th at the Coca-Cola 600. Despite this, he still finished runner-up to Mike Skinner for Rookie of the Year. After he couldn't manage a higher finish than 17th at Talladega Superspeedway, Green was fired from the 96 ride. Green returned to the Busch Series to drive for Team 34. He drove for the rest of the year, and finished in the top-five in his first six races for the team. Late in the season, he received a call from Larry Hedrick Motorsports, who had been struggling following the release of Steve Grissom from their #41 Kodiak Chevy. Green would run four races for Hedrick for the rest of the year, and signed to drive for them in 1999. In addition, he would run the #41 AFG Industries car in the Busch Series for Hedrick on a limited schedule. Still, Green continued to struggle, but had the lowest DNQ count(2) in his career.
As the season began to close, Green signed on for the rest of the season with Tyler Jet Motorsports, and enjoyed the best performance of his career, finishing a career-best 12th at Phoenix International Raceway, then won the pole the next race at the inaugural Pennzoil 400. Green did well in the Busch team, running seventeen races and having seven top-tens and a pole position. Since then, Green has made only limited Cup runs. He ran the Bud Shootout in 2000 in a car owned by Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and hoped to run the Daytona 500, but sponorship problems forced that deal to fall through. Green would fill in for an injured Bill Elliott for two races later on that season, and has done R&D work for Hendrick Motorsports.
[edit] Current Busch run
In 2000, Green returned to Team 34, taking sponsor AFG with him. That year, he had eleven top-ten finishes, and then six more the following year. At the end of that season, AFG left, and Green was left without a permanent ride. After a few part-time rides, Green finished out the season with Hendrick Motorsports, replacing Ricky Hendrick in the #5. That performance gave Green a brief return to Cup, running two races in Hendrick's R&D car. During the saeson, he also worked in Winston Cup as a spotter for Dale Jarrett.
In 2003, Green signed with Brewco Motorsports, and returned to his winning form, as he visited victory lane three times, and finishing second in points. He would not win in 2004, but he did run another Cup race at Richmond for Brewco, finishing 31st. In 2005, Green won at Pikes Peak and had an eighth place finish in points. After failing to finish in the top-five during the 2006, Green was released from Brewco in the closing part of the season. He will drive for Riley D'Hondt Motorsports in the season-opening Busch race at Daytona in 2007. In a photo shoot for ESPN for the 2007 Busch season he was spotted in a uniform for Riley D'Hondt Motorsports [1]
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Racing Reference
- [http://www.nascar.com/2006/news/headlines/bg/09/25/dgreen.spotting/index.html Green trying to spot a driving job.
Preceded by: Steve Grissom |
NASCAR Busch Series Champion 1994 |
Succeeded by: Johnny Benson |