553 - ​ Jeff Green: Racing For Legends Like Earnhardt, Childress & Petty

The Dale Jr. Download

Dale Earnhardt Jr. sits down with longtime NASCAR competitor Jeff Green to learn more about how he rose from the short tracks of the Midwest to having one of the most dominant seasons in the NASCAR Xfinity Series history. After growing up in the footsteps of two racing brothers, David and Mark, also of NASCAR fame, Jeff ventured down a path that landed him at Dale Earnhardt Inc. in 1995. When he took a call from the Intimidator himself, DEI was at an interesting point in its history, where Dale Sr. was looking to retire from part-time NASCAR Busch Series racing and put someone in the car full-time. Jeff and the No. 3 team had moments of brilliance and strong runs, but he felt it was still “Dale Sr.’s team” and he decided to try out a different opportunity.

Jeff found victory lane for the first time in his NASCAR Xfinity career with Diamond Ridge Motorsports at Las Vegas in 1997. The team was excited about Jeff’s success and rushed him into the Cup Series, which Jeff explains was a difficult transition to make, and before long the team shut down. His glory years in the Xfinity Series came from 1999 to 2001 when he had two runner-up points efforts and a dominant 2000 championship run, where he won by over 600 points. The success brought an opportunity with Richard Childress Racing and Jeff, feeling like he was in the prime of his career, jumped at the chance to drive for a premier racing team. But when a run-in with his teammate Kevin Harvick ultimately got him fired, Jeff began a journey of moving from team to team, looking for stability. Along the way, he spent time back at DEI as well as at Richard Petty Motorsports driving the famed 43 before retiring from driving in 2021.

Dale and Jeff reflect on their years spent racing each other in the Xfinity ranks, Dale’s first memories of Jeff at DEI, late model racing trips, and Jeff’s current day-to-day activities.