Richard Childress Racing (RCR) has ended the contract of Jeff Green as the driver for RCR’s #30 AOL NASCAR Winston Cup program , effective immediately. “Our relationship was not where we had hoped it would be at this point so we decided to make this move now,” said Richard Childress, president and CEO of Richard Childress Enterprises, Inc. “Jeff is a very good race car driver but sometimes change can be good for everyone involved. I’ll always be grateful to him for what he accomplished for RCR in both the Winston Cup Series and the Busch Series.” Green was the driver for the #30 America Online team since its inception for an eight-race schedule in 2001. He finished 17th in the 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup Series final point standings and is currently in 32nd place after the first 11 races this season. He earned two pole positions during his tenure at RCR, for this season’s Daytona 500 and the August 2001 race at Bristol. He also earned two Busch Series victories for RCR’s #21 team in 2002. A replacement driver will be announced at a later date.( RCR PR )(5-5-2003) UPDATE: Jeff Green will reunite with his former championship crew chief, Harold Holly, to try to win his third straight CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway later this month and will race a car for Team Amick Motorsports. The deal with team owner Amick, who has a great reputation as a Busch Series engine supplier, was a ray of sunshine for Green, who struggled to find a feel at RCR similar to what he had known at ppc. “I don’t know if it’s the latest step in a great, big chemistry experiment at RCR,” Green said, chuckling, of his demise. “I think all of us have tried to do the best job we could, to win races, and I’ve tried to do the darnedest job I could in the seat. Things just got in our way to be able to reach our goals, and I guess Richard wanted to make a change. It’s very surprising (because) we’ve had some good moments, but we had some bad ones, too, and it was time to try something different. I don’t think the drivers are the problem why they’re not winning and I don’t think it’s the crew chiefs,” Green said. “It’s not any body else — it’s just a combination of everything and competition is tough.” An RCR spokesperson said the team had until The Winston weekend, May 16-17 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, to settle on a driver. Green isn’t sitting still, either, as his deal with Holly displayed. He acknowledged his frustration at having his potential season best finish eliminated when teammate Kevin Harvick ran into him from behind after 267 of 400 laps in the Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond International Raceway. He said he’d had no indication his job was in jeopardy, prior to the blow-up after that wreck, in which he confronted Harvick on the race track while his teammate circulated under caution, then went to the pits to berate Harvick’s crew chief Todd Berrier. Green said he had not had a chance to talk with Harvick since Saturday night — at least not on the level that he expected. “No, I guess he does all his talking with his bumper, I don’t know,” Green said, chuckling again. “Any time that I’ve got into somebody and was sorry for it I’ve tried to call them and at least give them an opportunity to hear their side of it. I don’t know — I guess that’s just part of it. I’ve had some good teammates in the past that I enjoyed being around and I enjoyed being around Kevin and Robby (Gordon). It’s not like they’re going anywhere and hopefully we’ll be racing together soon and not miss a beat — just a little bit different perspective.” Green said he was sensitive to the issue surrounding the concern over Jerry Nadeau’s recovery after his serious crash last Friday during practice at Richmond, which leaves MB2 Motorsports and its general manager, Jay Frye in need of a driver at least for the short term. However, he said he would be working the phones, as well. “I’m not going to sit back and wait for them to call me (because) everybody knows about it, now,” Green said. “I’ve already talked to a few people and I would love to drive for Jay and those guys over there would be a great opportunity — to be associated with the U.S. Army would be pretty awesome. But we’re all thinking about Jerry and I don’t want to overshadow what he’s got going on in the next no-telling how long to get back to where he needs to be.(more at NASCAR.com ) UPDATE 2 so who is in the #30 car for the Winston Open? hearing it could be RCR Busch Series driver Ron Hornaday [which makes sense] or Mike Skinner [which makes no sense] UPDATE 3: Ron Hornaday says he has not been contacted about the #30 AOL ride and is Busch testing at Chatlotte.( XM Satellite- NASCAR Radio – Subscription Required)(5-6-2003)
