Dickies 500 - Texas Motor Speedway Advance

Texaco/Havoline Team Facts:

NEXTEL Cup Series

• Standings: Casey Mears and the Texaco/Havoline team were poised for a top-15 finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway when an accident on lap 309 dropped them from the lead lap. The No. 42 Dodge Charger suffered extensive damage to the right-front fender that relegated it to a 28th-place finish. Despite the finish, Mears and the team remain 14th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup standings heading into the final three races of the season. Mears was 24th in points last season heading to Texas Motor Speedway (TMS).


• Texas: Texas Motor Speedway has been one of the most successful tracks for Mears on the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup circuit. He has competed in five Cup races at the track and finished in the top 10 in three of them. His average finish at the 1.5-mile track is 11th. He earned fourth-place finishes in both NEXTEL Cup events last year and led for a total of 38 laps. In April, Mears drove the Texaco/Havoline Dodge to a 14th-place finish in the Samsung/Radio Shack 500.


• Meet Mears: Mears and his Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) teammate David Stremme will be making an appearance Thursday evening at Bono’s of Plano in Plano, Tex. The two will sign autographs for fans from 6 to 8 p.m. at the motorsports memorabilia store. The store is located at 4801 West Park Blvd., Suite #435, Plano, TX 75093.


• En Espanol: CGRFS announced earlier this week its official website—www.chipganassiracing.com—has expanded its online arsenal to include a fully-functioning Spanish microsite located at http://espanol.chipganassiracing.com. The initial Spanish site will work to immediately accommodate the outpouring of Juan Pablo Montoya fans and Hispanic media that have spiked the website’s traffic numbers since the Montoya-Ganassi announcement in July. CGRFS plans to incorporate all of its teams in the months to come. Visitors can also access the Spanish site by selecting the “En Espanol” button in the navigation scheme on the team’s homepage.


• Chassis: The No. 42 Texaco/Havoline colors will be carried by chassis #403 this weekend at TMS for the Dickies 500. The chassis most recently ran at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in October where it finished 12th, and also at California Speedway this past September bringing home another top-15 finish. Prior to California, it also ran at Michigan and Indianapolis in August, and Darlington in May.

Casey Mears Quotes:
On Texas… “I’m really looking forward to going back to Texas; it’s been one of the most successful tracks on the circuit for me. I know I’ve said it before, but I love the high speed tracks. And you always like the tracks you tend to run well at too. But Texas seems to keep getting wider every time we race there, so it gives you more options for racing which is better for the driver and the fans.

“Over these final three races, my goal is still to get the Texaco/Havoline Dodge in victory lane and on a pole. We know realistically we can’t get to 11th, but there is still a chance we can get up to 13th in points. We have a heck of a battle going for 14th, but I’d like to get the best finishing position we can. The last three tracks are strong tracks for me and the organization, so hopefully we can win a race and work on that 13th spot.”

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