Xfinity newcomer Austin Green earns a brilliant fourth-place finish at Sonoma

In three starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series this year, Austin Green has dropped significantly off the radar.

That in itself is quite surprising, considering the 23-year-old driver is the son of 1994 NASCAR Busch Series champion David Green and nephew of 2000 NASCAR Busch Series champion Jeff Green.

But his three standout performances went largely unnoticed, even though the Concord, North Carolina native put together those finishes for an organization whose budget is a fraction of some of the Xfinity Series juggernauts.

Green competed for Jordan Anderson Racing, which partnered with TransAm Series team Peterson Racing Group to field the No. 32 Chevrolet in the first three road course races of the season.

At COTA, Green survived a late-race restart to finish seventh in his Xfinity Series debut before taking a break and returning a week ago for another road course event at Portland International Raceway, where he finished 15th.

However, Saturday at Sonoma Raceway was easily the best stretch of the season for Green and Jordan Anderson Racing, where they finished fourth – the second top-five finish for JAR, which is entering its third part-time entry in 2024.

“We didn’t finish in qualifying like we liked, so I definitely need to work on that,” Green said after the race. “I just had to finish them off and it was a long race, so keep your hats off to everyone at Jordan Anderson Racing. (No. 32) was on the rails today. We had some problems on short stints so I was grateful we didn’t get a caution at the end, but it was amazing.”

Green says his next Xfinity Series start is currently scheduled for the Chicago Street Course in less than a month, on Independence Day weekend. Having grown up around the sport, the rising driver clearly aspires to one day run the series full-time.

Even though Green is a relative newcomer to the second division, he has contributed a lot to the team in his short time with Jordan Anderson Racing, as team owner Jordan Anderson explained after the race.

“Austin (green) brought a lot to the table. His road course experience has really helped improve our road course program,” Anderson said. “We have worked really hard on our sim program and we are truly grateful to Chevrolet for all their support. We’ve had him in the simulator for a long time and it’s really helped Jeb (Burton) and Parker (Retzlaff)’s programs.

In three road courses this year, Retzlaff, who Anderson points out has no road course experience, finished 11th (COTA), ninth (Portland) and 11th (Sonoma) for the organization.

The fourth-place finish marks Jordan Anderson Racing’s ninth top-five result and third on the non-draft track – with the team previously posting a fifth-place finish at Charlotte in 2021 and a second-place finish at Portland in 2022.

“I’m very proud of Austin, he did a phenomenal job on the race track. He doesn’t have a lot of time to sit, but he shows a lot of maturity in the race car, and he’s come home clean two weeks in a row and he’s seeing how well he’s doing,” Anderson added. “I’m happy for him and the guys at Peterson Racing and our work together has helped strengthen both programs and we’re working hard to just improve in every way.”

With his breakout performance last weekend at Sonoma, Green likely won’t go unnoticed when the series heads to the Chicago Street Race. That, combined with a limited end-of-season schedule — which could include several ovals — could turn some heads and earn Green a spot in the Xfinity Series standings in 2025.