Know Your NASCAR: The Greens

All NASCAR drivers dream about it: the security of being behind the wheel for one of the top Winston Cup teams. And the Green brothers of Owensboro, Ky. -- David, Mark and Jeff -- are no different.

Jeff, youngest of the three at 38, finally received his big break in the middle of July 2001 when it was announced he would be driving a third car for Richard Childress on the 2002 Cup circuit.

"The last two years in the Busch Series made my career," said Jeff, who is also in the hunt to win back-to-back BGN crowns. "We finished second in the points in 1999 and then won the championship in 2000. If it wasn't for that success I had driving for ppc racing, I would have never have gotten the opportunity to drive for Richard Childress."

Jeff's good fortune wasn’t lost on David.

"Jeff proved how good a driver he can be with ppc racing and now he will get the chance he deserves at the Winston Cup level," said David, who is oldest of the three at 42.

Mark, who is 41, echoed David.

"Jeff was always telling everyone that would listen that he was a good driver," said Mark. "And, now he will get the chance to prove it with RCR."

Although this season has been hectic for Jeff, he did take time to reflect about a special race during his 2000 BGN championship run.

It happened on July 22 at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colo., when he and David finished first and second in the NAPA AutoCare 250.

"That was a dream come true for me, to be able to race my brother down to the end to the checkered flag," said Jeff. "It was pretty awesome."

With their 1-2 finish, Jeff and David became the first brothers to take the top two spots at a Busch Series race since Jeff and Ward Burton accomplished the feat in 1993 at Myrtle Beach, S.C.

"Looking back on that race, that was a real special deal," said David. "I just think I should have been a little more mean with Jeff on the track, and maybe I would have won. But, maybe we will get a chance to do that again someday soon and I will be the winner."

As happy as they are for Jeff, both David and Mark would love nothing more than to join him at the Cup level.

Actually, David and Jeff did compete against each other in Winston Cup from 1997-99.

David finished a career-best 36th in the Cup standings in 1999, highlighted by a pole-winning effort at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November while driving for Tyler Jet Motorsports.

"I really felt like I was coming into my own back in 1999 while I was with Tyler Jet," said David, who ran nine races for the team. "James Ince, the crew chief, and I were really working well together. But when the season ended the car didn't have a sponsor. I really wanted to stay with them, but I had a family and needed a job, so I decided to sidestep a little bit and get back in the Busch Series with Cicci-Welliver."

David was no stranger to the Busch ranks.

He ran his first BGN event in 1989 and won the 1994 series championship while driving for the Labonte family in the No. 44 Slim Jim Chevrolet.

"Those guys put me in the position and taught me the rights and wrongs and taught me how to become a champion and made me a champion," David said of the Labontes.

Then, in 1996, David -- while piloting Buz McCall's car -- lost the Busch championship by a mere 29 points to Randy LaJoie.

"I would certainly like to race in Winston Cup again," said David. "But, I don't want to be in Winston Cup just to be there. I want to get with the right team and be competitive. That is why I chose to come back to the Busch Series. It has given me an opportunity to hone my skills even more and if I can have the kind of the success Jeff had, I know I will be in line for some kind of Cup ride down the road.

I know I am as capable as a lot of guys out there. I raced against the Jarretts and Labontes and held my own. My team and I just have to keep working hard and be consistent. If we do that we will be in Victory Lane and people will start taking notice."

David was ninth in the 2000 Busch points and is slowly making his way up the ladder this season after a tough start.

"We made some personnel changes in the team about halfway through the 2000 season," said David. "We had high hopes for 2001, but the team chemistry still wasn't right at the beginning of the year. I feel like we finally got back on track at Los Angeles (April 28) and I am excited about what we can do the remainder of the season."

While Jeff and David have spent plenty of time in the spotlight, Mark has been battling his way to get to the center stage.

"I am sure Mark probably gets pretty sick of answering questions about Jeff and I," said David. "But I know Mark is a very talented driver and he will get his chance soon."

Mark, meanwhile, is anxious to prove his skills are equal to that of his brothers.

"I get a long fine with Jeff and David," said Mark. "But, I put a lot of pressure on myself to be a better driver. David, Jeff and I all had pretty much the same success in racing up until the time I got to the Busch Series and now I need to show people that I can be as good as they have been in the Busch Series."

Mark was the first of the brothers to enter the stock-car racing circles at Kentucky Motor Speedway in Owensboro, and he quickly found success there.

And it wasn't long before David and Jeff followed their brother's lead.

"In a stock car, Mark was winning right off the bat -- we were chasing him," David said. "As the tables turned years later, he's been following us. Mark and I tried to beat up on Jeff, but he was one of the best out there. I looked up to, or down to Jeff, however you want to say it, for a long time because he was very good. Here we were doing the deal and Jeff was whipping on people. He was always good.

"Mark and I were so close in age that maybe we were too close. There was a lot of competition there because naturally, when it was time for me to drive a stock car at Kentucky Motor Speedway or a go-kart in a certain class, Mark was there, too. But it's really an honor now to say that we were such fierce competitors early. We probably had many a backyard fight, but it's all been worth it. It's really gratifying that with all that fierce name-calling, arguing, hair-pulling, whatever, that now it's ended up this way."

Unlike David, however, Mark put his Winston Cup ambitions on hold in favor of getting married and starting a family.

It wasn't until 1997 that he raced a full BGN campaign, when he came in 11th in the points chase.

"He never told me, but I could tell it in his voice that he was a little envious of me for a long time," David said of Mark. "He wanted to be there, he knew he could do it, but he wasn't. But he didn't take the wrong path. He probably took the right one with family first and then racing. Now, we're (he and Jeff) quick to help Mark out.

"I don't dare say for one second at this point in my life that he (Mark) made the wrong choice (family over racing), because now I have a great wife that knows NASCAR racing as well as I do," David said. "I'm awful thankful for that, and now I have a beautiful daughter, too. I have a perfect life and can race at the same time."

Mark began the 2001 Busch season as the driver for the Davis & Weight Motorsports Ford.

However, after racing in just a handful of BGN events, the team decided to change its focus to a limited Cup schedule.

Still, just when Mark thought things were improving Davis & Weight Motorsports overhauled its team July 20, which included letting Mark go.

David though has helped Mark get through the rough times.

See, Mark has been a spotter for David's Cicci-Welliver team at several Busch Series events.

"David has a good team, but being a spotter lets me see things from a different vantage point and offer David and his team advice," said Mark. "Plus, it allows me to go to the races and keep my name out there and I am confident things will work for me.

"That's the one thing that's good about us, we're they're for each other and we don't let each other get down. We're so close to each other and know what's going on in each other's mind and we're close enough that we can console each other in the bad and praise each other in the good. For us, it's all family because we've grown up doing it and we don't know anything else."