May 24, 2008
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600
September 14, 2007
Casey James Mears (born March 12, 1978 in
Bakersfield, California) is the driver of the #5
Kellogg's/CARQUEST Chevrolet Impala SS in the NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series for Hendrick Motorsports. He also
drives the #5 National Guard Chevrolet in the NASCAR
Nationwide Series for JR Motorsports. He is the
nephew of four time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick
Mears and the son of Indy and off-road veteran Roger
Mears.
After racing in go-karts for a season in 1991, Mears
began competing in the SuperLites Off-Road Series in
1992 where he posted several top-three finishes.
In 1994, he finished third in the Jim Russell USAC
Triple Crown Championship, with a win at Mesa Marin
Raceway.
In 1995, Mears captured the Jim Russell USAC Triple
Crown Championship.
In 1996 he made his Indy Lights Championship Series
debut at the Cleveland Grand Prix and finished
eighth.
In 1997, Mears competed full-time in the Indy Lights
Championship Series and in 1999 he finished second
in the points championship, losing by just 14
points. He was also just the fourth driver in Indy
Lights Series history to complete every lap in a
single season. Mears continued to compete in the
Indy Lights Series in 2000 and won his first race at
the Grand Prix of Houston in October.
After testing Indy Cars for multiple teams in 2000,
Mears was offered a chance to drive a third entry
for Team Rahal at California Speedway in October.
After qualifying 15th and leading 10 laps, Mears
posted a career-best fourth finish in his CART
Series debut.
Mears ran three IRL events at the start of the 2001
season before eventually finishing up the season by
filling in for injured ChampCar driver Alex Zanardi,
posting one top-10 finish in four starts.
Mears has 5 CART starts, with one top-5 finish. He
has 3 IRL starts, with no top-5 finishes.
Mears made his NASCAR debut in the Busch Series in
2001 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, driving the 66 car
for Cicci-Welliver Racing. He started 21st and
finished 28th.
When the team was sold to Wayne Jesel the next
season, Mears drove for them full-time, finishing
21st in points with two top-ten finishes.
To the surprise of many, he was selected by Chip
Ganassi Racing to drive the #41 Target Dodge in
2003. In his rookie season, he finished 35th after
failing to finish in the top-ten in any race.
He drove the car for two additional seasons, and won
two poles in 2004.
During the 2005 season, it was announced Mears would
move to a separate car for Chip Ganassi with Home123
sponsorship, with the #41 to be piloted by Reed
Sorenson. The Home123 sponsorship fell through and
he instead moved to the #42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge
for Ganassi, replacing the departing Jamie McMurray.
On June 9, 2006 Mears announced that he was leaving
Chip Ganassi Racing at the end of the season to join
Hendrick Motorsports for the 2007 season, to replace
the departing Brian Vickers. On July 8, he finally
won his first NASCAR race, a Busch Series race at
Chicagoland Speedway, coasting to the finish after
running out of fuel.
For the 2007 season, Mears assumed driving duties
for the #25 Hendrick car, with co-primary
sponsorship from the Army National Guard and GMAC.
On May 27 he won the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte for
his first career Nextel Cup victory. Once again,
Mears obtained the win by seizing on a fuel gamble,
taking the lead with five laps remaining when most
other lead lap cars stopped for fuel. Mears
stretched his fuel to the finish, and ran out of
fuel moments after his first checkered flag. With
the #25 team becoming the #88 for Dale Earnhardt,
Jr. for 2008, Mears will move to the Alan
Gustafson-led Kellogg's #5 Chevrolet Impala formerly
driven by Kyle Busch.
Mears added arguably the most impressive win to his
resume on January 29, 2006 when he, Scott Dixon, and
Dan Wheldon teamed up to win the 44th annual Rolex
24 Hours of Daytona for Chip Ganassi racing. They
set a race record for the Daytona Prototype
category, running 723 laps in 24 hours to score the
win. Mears became the first ever full-time NASCAR
driver to win the Rolex 24.
