2013 Daytona 500: Clay Greenfield would wreck his mother to win Truck Series opener

Clay Greenfield says he would wreck his own mother in order to win tonight’s NextEra Energy Resources 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season opener.

Greenfield, an underfunded driver-owner, has had one of the more hard-fought roads to NASCAR and a victory would mean everything. He has a good shot, turning the fastest time in final drafting practice on Thursday night but he will have to do it from the 19th starting spot.

John King won this race last year after triggering a series of accidents in all three green-white-checkered attempts. Greenfield understands why King was so aggressive and believes he would do the same thing if presented with a chance to win at Daytona on the last lap.

“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to win this race tonight,” Greenfield told SB Nation on Friday. “I will be as aggressive as I can…I would turn my mother. I’ve been trying to get to this level for 12 years and have spent every day working towards this opportunity. I’ve faced a lot of adversity and this is my chance to prove that I belong.”

When Greenfield says “I” he means that literally. He’s the team’s only employer and employee. He says his team operates on a budget of roughly 10 percent of what the top teams are running each weekend. He chose to enter Daytona (one of only two scheduled starts) because he believes the restrictor plate is the equalizer of equipment.

Greenfield will also enter the next race at Martinsville for the same reason. He hopes that equalization will have him near the top of the standings and able to pursue additional funding to chase more trophies but it starts with Daytona. Like most restrictor plate races, Greenfield knows he’s going to have to stay out of trouble to even have a shot at the victory.

“We’ve got to stay out of trouble,” Greenfield said. “This will be a total crapshoot at the end with the cautions and we’re going to have to be a little lucky. But we feel real good about the truck. We knew we weren’t going to be a threat for the pole because we put in our drafting setup. I think we have a real good shot.”

The 28-year-old Greenfield has 22 starts in three seasons with a best finish of 10th in last year's Daytona Truck Series race.