Austin Green Hopes Home Success Leads To Xfinity Future

Austin Green (Jacob Seelman/Race Face Digital photo)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – For all that second-generation driver Austin Green has done in his motorsports career so far, this weekend’s NASCAR Xfinity Series stop at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL may be the most meaningful moment yet.

Green will “finally” get to race at his home racetrack, where he grew up competing in the Cook Out Summer Shootout Series as a youth racing Bandoleros and Legend cars, in NASCAR competition.

The now 23-year-old Green is set for his seventh career Xfinity Series start with Jordan Anderson Racing, driving the No. 32 3Dimensional.com Chevrolet as a third entry for the organization.

It comes in partnership with Peterson Racing Group – the team Green drives for in the Trans-Am Series – which is owned by 3-Dimensional Services Group founder and CEO Doug Peterson, whose company has sponsored Green throughout his Xfinity Series efforts this season.

While he’s relished the chance to step into the national spotlight in stock car racing this year, Green told Motorsports Hotspot during a media availability Tuesday at NASCAR Studios that racing at Charlotte “means the world” given his and his family’s history in the epicenter of the sport.

“This was the one [race] where, from the beginning of the year, I’d kind of marked off as the one I really wanted to make happen and make a splash in,” said Green, the son of 1994 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion-turned NASCAR official David Green, as well as the nephew to 2000 champion Jeff Green and longtime series veteran Mark Green.

“Growing up running the Summer Shootout and the Winter Heat [Series] at CMS, just … always as a kid, I wanted to run on the big track. Now, with it being the ROVAL, that dream will come true this weekend,” the younger Green continued. “It’s cool. It’s special. It’s always nice to race in front your hometown crowd, and knowing that some of them have followed me all this time is definitely a cool feeling.”

Austin Green in NASCAR Xfinity Series action at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway. (HHP/David Graham photo)

All but one of Green’s Xfinity Series appearances this season have come on road courses, and he’s finished inside the top 15 each time he’s turned both left and right.

While his oval debut in September at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway didn’t go according to plan, as he crashed out 50 laps into the race at The Last Great Colosseum, Green still recognizes the significance of having five strong finishes – including three top 10s – in any NASCAR national series so soon in his career.

“Going into COTA [Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas] for the first one I don’t think anyone really knew what to expect. Certainly, I didn’t,” admitted Green. “I think we were banking on a top 20 being a good day. I knew it would be a lot more competitive and harder at [the Xfinity Series] level. But everyone at Peterson Racing and Jordan Anderson Racing have supported me throughout the whole process and everybody on the box made really good calls to put us in great positions in a lot of these early races.

“I’m not going to share any secrets, but we always seem to find ourselves out near the front or in the top 10 at the end, so that’s really cool to see as someone in my position,” he continued. “I remember at COTA, the last restart I lined up ninth or somewhere around there, and I was looking around said to myself, ‘All right, there's a JGR [Joe Gibbs Racing] car,’ and I think [NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle] Larson restarted next to me, so that was pretty cool as someone who’s watched him growing up.

“It’s been great, though. It’s been a dream come true and I just can't thank [Doug] Peterson for believing in me and giving me the opportunities he’s helped generate.”

While his NASCAR starts have been sporadic this year, Green has raced full time in Trans-Am with Peterson in the ultra-competitive TA2 class for the last two seasons, including class rookie-of-the-year honors in 2023 and a track-record-setting pole at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course back in June.

His best Trans-Am finish this season was second at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International, but Green tipped that honing his road course skills in the long-running sports car series has benefited him in his NASCAR transition.

Austin Green in Trans-Am Series action at Sebring (Fla.) Int'l Raceway. (Peterson Racing Group photo)

“The cars are, I’d say, fairly similar in road racing aspects as far as driving style. There’s a lot of [technical] differences in between the two that I’ve kind of figured out … but it’s big heavy stock cars on road courses, is probably the biggest thing. There aren’t a lot of tracks that we go to for Trans-Am that we also go to for Xfinity, so that’s been a little bit of a challenge to show up, get the 20 minutes of practice, and then have to figure it out. But I think [Trans-Am] has been a great tool.

“Obviously I’ve learned a lot on road courses the past two year, because I grew up on short tracks, so the road course scene is fairly new. But thankfully, we’ve had success so far and I hope we can continue it.”

While performing well at the ROVAL is a short-term goal, Green’s long-term aspiration remains being able to follow in his father’s and uncles’ footsteps into the NASCAR national series ranks on a full-time basis.

Racing on more ovals is the key to that mission, which Green fully recognizes. He’ll get one more shot to this season, with his final Xfinity Series start of the year slated for Oct. 26 at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway.

“[Getting to get back on ovals] is taking me back to my roots, really,” Green noted. “I’d say it’s a bit simpler than a road course. I did a couple late model races this summer trying to get back in the oval swing to prepare for Bristol, and obviously that went the way it did, but it’s part of it. Now I’m looking forward to the next one at Homestead. I’ve never been on a mile-and-a-half [track] before, so that will be brand new just like everything this year has been.

“The main goal would be to do full time one day and run all the races,” he added. “But we’re still a fairly new group and figuring it all out. I think what we did this year was great. To do all the road courses and try a couple ovals was the idea, and we’ll see what develops for next year.”

As for Saturday’s Drive for the Cure 250, Green knows what he’s hoping for, even if Xfinity Series road-course racing this year has largely been dominated by three-time Australian Supercars champion-turned NASCAR rookie Shane van Gisbergen.

“We just want to be in the mix at the end,” Green said, a faint smile on his features as he did so. “If we can do that … anything can happen, right?”

Broadcast coverage of the Drive for the Cure 250 is slated for Oct. 12 at 4 p.m. ET, live on The CW, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.