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Daytona Beach, Florida (February 19)- It was a beautiful sunny day for the Hershey’s Take 5 300 at Daytona International Speedway where Kleenex® Racing, along with David Green and company, kicked off a new season together.  With plans for victory lane, the #27 Kleenex® Ford Taurus ran into some bad luck with handling problems and yellow flags, giving them a 22nd place finish.  While the team’s expectations were not met, it in no way reflects the way this team raced together.  They may not have been winners in Daytona, but they performed like champions.

“Let’s fire it up,” said new crew chief Stewart Cooper as he signaled for driver David Green to start his engine.  It was finally time to start racing again.   With a qualifying lap time of 50.202, the Kleenex® Ford Taurus started the race off in the 25^th spot.  As soon as the flag went green, the excitement flared.  It was stock car frenzy as every team tried to make gains.  “These guys in front are acting crazy, I’m gonna take it easy,” said Green on lap four.

On lap 12, Green was in 33^rd and began to mention that the nose was starting to slide a little.  By lap 22, the problem had progressed and the car was really starting to run tight. The caution flag went up on lap 27 and crew chief Stewart Cooper took that chance to make track bar and air adjustments to the car.  With a balanced car now on his side, Green took off with a green flag on lap 29 and gained five positions to 27^th  place.

With a pit stop on lap 68, a track bar adjustment was made to try and balance out the car once again.  While most teams also received four new tires, Crew Chief Stewart Cooper made the executive decision to save their last set for the final laps.  The flag went green on lap 71 and David shot off to the 10^th position.  However, with little traction, he was quickly passed by some fresh tires and was vigorously fighting to hold a middle position. 

By lap 99 David Green was in 28^th place and the caution flag was up.  With one final chance to balance out the car, Crew Chief Stewart Cooper made an air adjustment and gave the Kleenex®/Scott® Products Ford four new tires.  On lap 105 the green flag was up and Driver David Green was in the 25^th position.  With a fresh set of tires, Green was able to gain 2 spots in just 5 laps to 23^rd.  Unfortunately, the #27’s momentum was broken due to a wreck on lap 112.  The flag went green again on lap 114, but with only six laps left in the race, Green was only able to gain one more position, finishing the race 22^nd.

“Saving those tires till the end is what we needed to do.  Stewart made an excellent call,” said Green.  “If the rest of the race would’ve been all green it would have shown better.  The caution ruined our advantage.”  Crew Chief Stewart Cooper agreed saying,  “Given our situation, it was our only chance, if that caution had come out 10 laps earlier, we would have made much better gains.” 

The whole team’s feelings about the race were summed up by David Green when he said, “Well, that finish isn’t what we wanted or expected.  The team deserved better than that.  They performed great.  But I have no doubt that we will pick up and start winning at a level of our own expectations.”