Eyes on Xfinity: Don’t Overlook Austin Green

The NASCAR Xfinity Series gave us plenty to talk about at Sonoma Raceway.

Shane van Gisbergen won again, re-igniting a rivalry with Austin Hill in the process and cementing his post-race victory drift lap into racing lore while drawing a middle finger from Hill.

Ty Gibbs showed race-winning speed, the only driver able to keep up with SVG on a long run. But when pit strategy put Gibbs back in the pack, a huge pileup ended his day, eliminating SVG’s strongest competition.

AJ Allmendinger had a miserable day which would’ve rang the alarm bells about the state of Kaulig Racing, if not for the curious juxtaposition between he and his race-winning teammate.

Brandon Jones finished dead last and fell to 30 points below the playoff cut line. Another playoff bubble driver, Anthony Alfredo, finished 31st and sits 31 points below the line.

There is another story we’d be crazy to overlook.

The fourth-place finisher? Rookie driver Austin Green.

When the Concord, N.C., native finished seventh at Circuit of the Americas in March, it seemed like an enigma. Some might’ve written the finish off as a road course fluke. Surrounded in the top 10 by the likes of Kyle Larson, Hill, Sam Mayer, Chandler Smith and Allmendinger, Green seemed like the focus of a “which one doesn’t belong” puzzle.

Green’s next opportunity came at Portland, where he finished a quiet but solid 15th.

“Smooth and technical” is how Green described his driving style to me. After a top 10 and a top 15 to begin his Xfinity career, this starts to check out.

When Green showed up at Sonoma, he had the confidence to do even better.

“I was very confident with the car our team put together. I didn’t qualify as well as I’d like but I knew we had the long run speed.”

The confidence was warranted. Now he has a top five and two top 10s in his first three starts.

Here we have a part-time rookie driver with zero Craftsman Truck Series starts and one lone ARCA start, who has come in and taken the Jordan Anderson Racing No. 32 car that is 35th in owners points to finishes of seventh, 15th and fourth. An average finish of 8.67 through his first three starts driving for a team that doesn’t typically run near the front.

Green’s entry wasn’t exactly the same team that has fielded other drivers this season with the No. 32. Anderson is officially listed as the owner, but the entry was a partnership between JAR and Green’s Trans Am team, Peterson Racing. Green alluded to this in his comments for this story.

“Having a great team like 3Dimensional Services Group, Jordan Anderson Racing and Peterson Racing definitely helps myself to run up front with the fast cars they prepare,” Green said.

After the finish, Green’s father, Xfinity Champion David Green talked more about the entry.

“Very proud of him, the whole team actually,” David Green said. “This is his TA2 team, Peterson Racing. It’s Austin and the team’s third race ever in the Xfinity Series so very proud of all of them.”

As he should be. These first three races have gone about as good as anyone could expect.

The younger Green won the 2023 Rookie of the Year award for Trans Am’s TA2 series. He talked about the differences in the competition level between the two series.

“The competition in the NASCAR Xfinity Series is a lot stronger and more competitive,” Austin Green said. “Everyone races super hard and are driving 110% every lap from the start. It makes the racing super exciting.”

When you look at these early results you may think Green is a road course ringer, not ready for that increased level of competition on the ovals. But you’d be wrong, and that is one of the most interesting things I learned from him.

“I’m very comfortable on ovals because I grew up racing ovals in a multitude of different cars and have only recently began racing on road courses,” Green said.

Imagine that. This young man comes in and runs the way he has on road courses in his first three starts. But he’s not a ringer, and actually has less experience on road courses than on ovals. The more you learn about Green, the more you realize the high potential he has.

At 23 years old, Green seems to have had a career in racing on his mind since being a young kid and watching his father race. But he didn’t put all his eggs in the racing basket, either.

“I recently graduated from Appalachian State University with a degree in Business Management. Balancing getting a degree and working on my career in racing was a challenge and hectic at times but I am grateful to have made it through.”

Green should be commended for getting an education, but if these first three races are any indication of how a career in NASCAR might go, he should be set for years to come as a successful driver. You have to think team owners are taking notice. He credits his father with being a big help in making it possible.

“There are many pros to having a champion as a father. He is always there to help me train and work on getting ready for a race. He is experienced in racing and I always try to pick his brain whenever I can.”

Some qualities of father have transferred to son. David Green was not only a champion but voted most popular driver as well. In his 1994 championship season, Green had just one win, but backed it up with 10 top fives and just one DNF. In 1996, when Green finished second in points, he had two wins, 18 top 10s, and only two DNFs. In 2003 he had a career year by many respects; with three wins, 21 top 10s, and not a single DNF. Brian Vickers won the championship that year, beating Green by just 14 points.

For Austin, we are looking at a small sample size, but we can start to see the resemblance already. How many rookies manage to finish top 15 in their first three races without a major on-track incident, while so many of their competitors got caught up in multi-car crashes? Green has shown speed, poise, and consistency that don’t often come so early. If you ask him what his keys to success have been, you’ll hear this come through.

“Maintaining a cool head throughout the race is a huge factor to having a clean finish,” Austin said. “I do the best I can to keep the nose and fenders on it so I have something to fight with at the end of the race. Also, being given the opportunity by Doug Peterson is something I’m very grateful for and am glad I can give everyone on the team the results they deserve.”

Green said Kyle Busch was his favorite driver growing up.

“(Busch’s) driving style and aggressiveness on the track was something I found interesting as he was always running well and winning races.”

These days, Busch’s Xfinity starts are sporadic, with only one on the season thus far. With several more Xfinity races planned this season, Green could get a chance to race against his childhood hero.

“We have the rest of the Xfinity road courses on the schedule as well as Martinsville and Bristol in the fall. We also have a couple more Trans Am TA2 races scheduled throughout the year.”

So we won’t see Green on the circuit over the next three weekends. When the series goes back to the Chicago street course on July 6, all eyes figure to be on van Gisbergen. But don’t overlook Green. You might expect him to set a modest goal for himself, maybe another top 10?

“My goal for the next race at Chicago is to first work on qualifying to start better in the field, and then go fight for my first career win.”

As far as the big picture goals, Green made it clear in his post-race interview at Sonoma.

“The main goal is just, hopefully, to get to do this full time one day.”

A championship pedigree. A rookie who has excelled on road courses, despite growing up racing on ovals. Who has kept it respectful and clean on track while beating much more experienced competition.

Plus, a movie-star look might not do much inside the car but could help in the sponsorship game. Take a look at the photo of Green getting out of his car at Portland. If we’re casting drivers to play Cole Trickle in a Days of Thunder reboot, here’s a strong candidate.

P15 finish in Portland after a rough first half of the race and fuel pressure issues. Hats off to the 32 guys hard work all weekend. Onto Sonoma this weekend!

📸 @BarrVisuals pic.twitter.com/sEGBhIPD4L

— Austin Green (@austingreen2_) June 3, 2024

See what I mean?

Fans might feel like Green came out of nowhere and haven’t known much about him. For the next few weeks he’ll fall back off the NASCAR radar, but we haven’t heard the last of him and all indications are pointing to a bright future ahead.