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Green Takes Point Lead with Mr.
Goodcents 300 Win
Frantic
last lap dash nets third victory of the
season
Kansas City, KS (October 4,
2003) ... Baseball Hall of Fame Catcher
Yogi Berra used to say, “It’s not over
till the fat lady sings”. Well, if Berra
or the “fat lady” were at the Kansas
Speedway Saturday afternoon for the Mr.
Goodcents 300 NASCAR Busch Series event,
they both were “screaming” as they watched
the final lap. David Green, who was second
on the restart with one lap remaining,
beat Bobby Hamilton Jr., Kevin Harvick,
and Greg Biffle to the checkered flag to
post his third win of the 2003 season.
The win also propelled Green back atop the
NASCAR Busch Series point standings.
The frantic last-lap dash
for the win was a fitting climax to one
of the best races of the 2003 season. A
total of fifty cars traveled to Kansas
in hopes of making the Mr. Goodcents 300
starting field. Qualifying on Friday
afternoon was very competitive with
Michael Waltrip winning the Bud Pole
with a speed of 178.365 mph. David Green
put the Timber Wolf Pontiac in the third
starting position with a lap of 177.328
mph around the 1.5-mile track.
David Green and his
Timber Wolf Pontiac didn’t take long to
serve notice that they were going to be
very competitive as he took the lead
from Waltrip on the third lap of the
race. Green would pace the field for the
next fourteen laps before Waltrip retook
the lead on lap 17.Green would race in
the top three until his first pit stop
of the race on lap 60 under green flag
conditions. The Timber Wolf crew gave
Green four fresh tires, fuel, and made a
slight chassis adjustment during this
stop. This stop came during the initial
round of “green-flag” pit stops. When
caution waved on lap 71, Green came to
the pits for fuel only and would restart
10th on lap 77. Green would
then begin to work his way back to the
front and by the halfway point of the
race, lap 100, Green was running sixth.
When caution again waved
to slow the field on lap 114, Green took
this opportunity to come to pit road for
more service. After a four tires and
fuel stop, Green rejoined the field.
However, the NASCAR official in the
Timber Wolf pit called Green back to pit
road so that the lugs on the left rear
could be checked. Green made his
requested stop and would restart in 19th
on lap 118.
However, within several
laps, Green reported to Crew Chief Jason
Ratcliff that something was wrong with
the left rear tire. Fortunately, caution
again waved on lap 124 for a Tim Fedewa
spin in turn four. Green came to the
pits for left side tires and fuel. After
this stop, the crew examined the left
rear wheel and discovered damage to
several of the holes where the studs
came through. The Timber Wolf Team
certainly caught a break with a caution
so that Green could pit for left side
tires.
Green would restart 20th
on lap 129 and begin another charge to
the front. By lap 140, Green had raced
his way up to the 12th
position. When caution waved on lap 142,
Green took this opportunity to come to
the pits for fuel only. Green could now
make it to the finish on fuel without
another stop.
When the ninth caution of
the race waved on lap 170, Green was
running sixth. With valuable Busch
Series points at stake, Green made a
final determined charge to the front. On
lap 179, Green passed Scott Riggs for
fifth. Two laps later, Hank Parker Jr.
was the victim as Green moved to fourth.
On lap 188, Green eased past Kevin
Harvick for third. With the laps winding
down and Michael Waltrip and Bobby
Hasmilton Jr. having a substantial lead
over Green, it appeared that the Timber
Wolf Team would finish third. Not so
fast race fans. Remember Berra’s
statement about the race not being over
quite yet.
On lap 197, leader
Michael Waltrip blew a right front tire
entering turn one and slammed the first
turn wall. The caution waved and the
field was set to receive the green and
white flags at the same time. That meant
one lap would decide the winner of the
Mr. Goodcents 300. Bobby Hamilton Jr.
led Green, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick,
and Jason Keller as the flags waved to
restart the race.
Entering turn one,
Hamilton’s car appeared to slow down and
Green slid underneath the #25 car to
take the lead. Greg Biffle, who was
battling both Green and Hamilton, tapped
the #25 car and sent Hamilton into the
turn one wall. Biffle was able to
continue and sped around the track.
However, David Green beat all of his
competitors back to the flag and won the
Mr. Goodcents 300. It was Green's’third
victory of the season and moved him atop
the Busch points with only six races
remaining in the 2003 season.
After much discussion
with NASCAR officials, the final race
rundown found Green beating Harvick,
Biffle, Keller, and Parker Jr. for the
win. The updated points have Green with
a 21-point advantage over Scott Riggs,
46 over Brian Vickers, 48 over Ron
Hornaday Jr., and 59 over Jason Keller.
Your eyes are not deceiving you, that’s
only 59 points separating the top five
in the battle for the coveted NASCAR
Busch Series title.
The battle now heads to
the Lowe’s Motor Speedway for the first
ever night race for the Busch Series at
the Concord track. The Little Trees 300
will be run on Friday, October 10th
at 8 p.m. EDT. Qualifying is set for
Thursday, October 9th at 4:30
p.m. EDT. The Speed Channel will
televise qualifying live, but the Little
Trees 300 will be shown on a
tape-delayed basis at noon EDT on
Saturday, October 11th on
TNT. And, if the Little Trees 300 is
half as exciting as the Mr. Goodcents
300 at the Kansas Speedway was, there’s
no need to bring yourself a cushion. You
won’t need it, you’ll be standing and
cheering the entire 200-laps.
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