DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – 2000 NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) champion Jeff Green has rejoined Rick Ware Racing (RWR) for Friday night’s Subway Firecracker 250 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
Green, the Owensboro, Kentucky native drove for the longtime XFINITY Series team in the season-opening PowerShares® QQQ 300 and while competitively running inside the top-15 fell victim to a mechanical failure and was forced to retire from the event.
Less than five months later, Green and his RWR team return to Daytona in the No. 17 CarportEmpire.com / Dashhub Toyota Camry.
“I’m looking forward to this opportunity to get back with Rick Ware Racing and try to finish what we started at Daytona,” said Green. “We really had a pretty good car in February and was just biding our time, before transmission issues sent us to the garage. Hopefully, we won’t have the same issue on Friday night and we can go out there and have a good run for Carport Empire and Dashhub.com.”
The 52-year-old Green will look to make his 23rd career NXS start at the “World Center of Racing” with hopes of capturing his fourth top-10 finish at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.
In his previous 22 efforts, Green delivered a track best of second in the 1999 season-opener driving for ppc Racing.
Carport Empire is one of the largest distributors of quality carports, metal carports, steel carports, metal garages, steel garages, storage buildings and more in the United States.
“On behalf of our employees, distributors, friends and associates, we’re proud to back Jeff Green this weekend at Daytona,” said Carport Empire owner Kevin Keen. “We feel that he will be a great ambassador for our company, while giving a champion-like performance on Friday night.”
Dashub was founded by a group of car enthusiasts who set out to revolutionize the car buying experience. As an online used car auction company, their mission is to create an easier, more affordable way to purchase a car by giving our clients exclusive access to insurance and salvage auto auctions.
Team principal Rick Ware says he’s grateful to have another opportunity to work with Green and hopes with his experience, he can help lead the team to their first top-10 finish of the year in their 25th anniversary season of competition.
“Jeff exceeded our expectations in February and we felt like we owed this race to him this weekend,” Ware said. “His experience and knowledge for restrictor plate racing is a huge asset to our organization and I know he can help our other RWR drivers too. We look to finish what we started on Friday night. Of course, without Carport Empire or Dashub, none of this would be possible.”
The Subway Firecracker 250 (100 laps / 250 miles) is the first of 33 NASCAR XFINITY Series on the 2016 schedule. Practice begins on Thursday, June 30 from 2:00 p.m. – 2:55 p.m., while a final session is set for 4:00 p.m. – 4:55 p.m. Qualifying is set for race day, Friday, July 1 beginning at 2:10 p.m. The 40-car field will take the green flag shortly after 7:30 p.m. with live coverage on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), the Motor Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Satellite Radio, Channel 90).
Rick Ware Racing is on Twitter. Follow them @RickWareRacing.