LEBANON, Tenn. - If they could leave Nashville Superspeedway with a top 15 finish, crew chief Brian Ross said driver Mark Green and the ML Motorsports team would have reason to be happy.
They were just that, as Green drove the Mary Louise Miller-owned No. 70 Chevy to a 14th-place finish in Saturday night's Federated Auto Parts 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race."I told the guys if we come out of here with a top 15 we should feel pretty good about it," said Ross. "We were off just a little bit, there's little issues here and there, but things are getting better."
Saturday's race was the second time this season the Nationwide Series has been to the 1.33-mile concrete oval located outside of Music City USA. In their last trip to Nashville Superspeedway, Green and ML Motorsports qualified 29th and finished 26th.
This weekend marked the start of a new motor program for ML Motorsports, and both Green and Ross said it was a big help.
"I want to thank Brian and the guys in the shop for working so hard to make things better," said Green. "The new motor program really helped. We weren't getting beat down the frontstretch this time, now we can compare apples to apples and see where we really are."
Brian Keselowski, driving the Dale Earnhardt Jr.-owned No. 88 Chevy, won the 225-lap event, followed in the top five by David Stremme, David Reutimann, Clint Bowyer and David Ragan.
Mike Wallace finished sixth, while Scott Wimmer, Kelly Bires, Landon Cassill and Greg Biffle rounded out the top 10.
Joe Gibbs Racing's Joey Logano qualified on the pole and dominated the early part of the race but finished 31st, 17 laps down, after making contact with the wall.
Green and ML Motorsports started the season with finishes of 41st at Daytona, 24th at Bristol, 26th at Nashville and 28th at Texas.
Since then, they have made major improvements, finishing fifth, 22nd and 14th in their last three outings.
"Every week, things are getting better at the shop and at the track," said Team Manager Tony Barnes. "Things are getting better, and we're pleased with the direction the team is headed."
Through 14 races this season, ML Motorsports has attempted to run seven of them. Green and Team 70 will now look more like a full-time team through June and July, as Saturday's race kicked off a stretch in which they will run seven of the next eight races.
The 14th-place finish at Nashville was a good way to get things started after not having raced since May 2 at Richmond.
"It's a pretty hectic schedule," said Ross. "We're gonna take this car to Kentucky and keep trying to get better. We've got things pretty close. We're gonna keep working on it and making it better."
The team will be in action Saturday at Kentucky Speedway in the Meijer 300.
It will be a homecoming of sorts for Green, who is among the NASCAR drivers who hail from Owensboro, Ky.
"Kentucky will be special," said Green, who pulled off a three-wide pass of Carl Edwards and Jason Keller late in Saturday's race. "I'll have a lot of family there, and it's close for the team. You always want to show off in front of the people you grew up with."
Following the race at Kentucky, Green and ML Motorsports are scheduled to race at Milwaukee (June 21), Daytona (July 4), Chicagoland (July 11), Gateway (July 19) and O'Reilly Raceway Park (July 26).
