In his three NASCAR Xfinity Series starts this year, Austin Green has flown massively under the radar.
That in itself is fairly surprising, considering the 23-year-old driver is the son of 1994 NASCAR Busch Series champion David Green and the nephew of 2000 NASCAR Busch Series champion Jeff Green.
Yet, his three stellar performances have gone mostly unnoticed, even though the Concord, North Carolina native has mustered those finishes for an organization whose budget is a fraction of some of the Xfinity Series juggernauts.
Green has been competing for Jordan Anderson Racing, which has been working with TransAm Series team Peterson Racing Group to field the No. 32 Chevrolet in the first three road course events of the season.
At COTA, Green survived a late-race restart to finish seventh in his Xfinity Series debut, before taking some time off, only to return for the series’ next road course event at Portland International Raceway, one week ago, where he finished 15th.
However, Saturday at Sonoma Raceway was easily the best run of the season for Green and Jordan Anderson Racing, recording a fourth-place finish — the second top-five for JAR’s third part-time entry in 2024.
“We didn’t get the qualifying spot that we like, so I definitely need to work on that,” Green said after the race. “Just had to pick them off and it was a long race, so keep the nose on it and hats off to everybody at Jordan Anderson Racing. The [No. 32] was on rails today. We kind of struggled on the short runs, so I was thankful a caution didn’t come out there at the end, but it was awesome.”
Green says his next start in the Xfinity Series is currently scheduled to be the Chicago Street Course, less than a month from now on Independence Day Weekend. Growing up around the sport, the up-and-coming driver is obviously keen on eventually getting to run the series full-time one day.
Despite being a relative newcomer to the second-tier series, Green has brought a lot to the table in his short time working with Jordan Anderson Racing, as team owner Jordan Anderson explained after the race.
“Austin [Green] has brought a lot to the table. His road course experience has really helped elevate our road course program,” said Anderson. “We’ve worked really hard on our sim program, and really thankful to Chevrolet for all of their support. We’ve had him in the sim quite a bit and it’s really helped Jeb [Burton] and Parker [Retzlaff’s] programs.”
On the three road courses this year, Retzlaff, who Anderson stresses doesn’t have a road course background of any kind, has managed to finish 11th (COTA), ninth (Portland), and 11th (Sonoma) for the organization.
The fourth-place result is the ninth top-five result for Jordan Anderson Racing, and the third on a non-drafting track — with the team having previously scored a fifth at Charlotte in 2021 and a runner-up result at Portland in 2022.
“I’m so proud of Austin, he’s done a phenomenal job on the racetrack. He doesn’t have a lot of seat time, but he’s showing a lot of maturity in the racecar, and to bring it home clean two weeks in a row and see how well it’s gone,” Anderson added. “Happy for him and the Peterson Racing guys, and us working together has helped to make both programs stronger, and we’re working hard to just get better all around.”
With his breakout performance this past weekend at Sonoma, Green likely won’t be flying under the radar when the series heads to the Chicago Street Race. That, plus a limited schedule to finish the season – which may include some ovals – could turn some heads, and land Green a spot on the Xfinity Series grid in 2025.
