Despite posting the fastest lap overall during the first four days of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Preseason Thunder testing at Daytona International Speedway, driver Jeff Green and the No. 66 Best Buy Chevrolet team has no time to reflect on their achievement. The team is back at work at Haas CNC Racing’s new shops in Kannapolis, N.C., poring over the data gathered at the Daytona test, and preparing for the Las Vegas Motor Speedway test session coming up in a few weeks. Still, being the fastest to this point in testing has put smiles on the faces of everyone at the Haas shops, according to Harold Holly, crew chief of the No. 66 team.

“It’s a big momentum thing, no doubt,” Holly said. “It’s big for both teams - the (No.) 66 team going away from testing, and for Bootie (Barker, crew chief of the second Haas NEXTEL Cup Series entry) and Johnny (Sauter, driver of the second entry) as they head down for testing.”

Even more important is the morale boost it gives crew members who have worked for the past two months to get both teams ready for the test. “It means a lot to the shop guys,” Holly said. “It’s a great confidence booster for them to see the hard work they’ve put in pay dividends right off the bat. They’ve been putting in some long hours, so it was great to come in after the test and shake those guys’ hands and congratulate them.”

For Jeff Green, the test was not only evidence of the strength of his team’s engines and fabricators, but also of the decision to reunite Green with Holly, the crew chief who helped Green capture the 2000 NASCAR Busch Series Championship.

“I can’t say enough about how hard our body guys have worked, and of how strong those Hendrick (Motorsports) engines are,” Green said. “It’s an awesome feeling to go down the backstretch at Daytona with that kind of horsepower under the hood.

“As far as Harold, it really does feel like old times. He almost knows what I’m going to tell him about the car before I even open my mouth. From the first time we worked together, we just had a chemistry. You can’t create it - it’s either there or it’s not. It gives me an incredible confidence to have him leading our team, and I’m more excited about this season than I have been in a long time.”

Green spent plenty of time behind the wheel of his Best Buy entry over the three days the No. 66 team tested in Daytona. During the drafting portion of the test session, Green turned over 100 laps in his Best Buy Chevrolet, giving his team ample data as to how the car performs on a long fuel run.

“We were good right from the start of that long run all the way through to the end, and Jeff was extremely happy with how the car felt the entire time,” Holly said. “That’s crucial to being successful, so that was a big morale boost as well.”

While Holly was extremely satisfied with how the Best Buy Chevrolet performed in the draft, he feels there is still work to be done to improve the car’s potential in qualifying trim. With that in mind, Holly chose to forego the final day of testing on Thursday, as NASCAR limited the last session to single-car runs. Holly felt the team’s time would be better spent back in North Carolina, making changes to the car at the Haas shops.

“We need to pick up about a tenth or a tenth and a half of a second to be where I’d like in qualifying,” Holly said. “That’s why it’s great to have that second team. We went down there with a plan and brought our data back to share with Bootie. Now, he’ll pick up where we left off and develop things further. It’s the first time a Haas team has had that luxury, and I think it’s going to pay off huge for both teams.”

After the way it performed during the test, some might be surprised to learn Holly may not bring the same car back for the Daytona 500. “We’re finishing up a brand new chassis that will be the sister of one of the cars we tested,” Holly said. “It should have lower drag and qualify better, so it could be our Daytona 500 car. It really depends on what Bootie learns on the third day of testing next week and what the wind tunnel numbers look like as to which ones he and I will bring back. We’ll see.”

While Holly takes the test results with a grain of salt, understanding that testing doesn’t necessarily reflect how a team will perform under race conditions, he’s confident of his team’s chances, and clear as to which end of the speed charts he prefers.

“We were the only ones walking out of (Daytona International Speedway) with the fastest time, so it gives us bragging rights for at least a couple of days,” Holly said. “It’s fun to be the best of the bunch, even when there’s no trophy involved. I’m like everyone else that works in this sport - I always want to be first.”

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