Mears Leaves Battlefield of Richmond 10th in Points
RICHMOND, Va. (May 6, 2006) --- Casey Mears and the Texaco/Havoline team battled back from the 38th position on lap 125 to finish 17th in the Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Raceway. The top-20 finish boosted Mears back into the top 10 in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup standings with 16 races remaining before the “Chase for the Nextel Cup.”Mears started the 400-lap race from the third spot after a career-best qualifying effort at the .756-mile track. After the first two caution flags waved by lap 19, Mears was still running in the top five. He told crew chief Donnie Wingo the Texaco/Havoline Dodge was loose in and off the corners, but tight through the center. Wingo assured Mears the team would adjust on the car during its first pit stop. Mears slipped back to eighth when the yellow flag was displayed on lap 65. He brought the No. 42 Dodge Charger down pit road for an air pressure adjustment, fresh tires and fuel. Despite a quick pit stop by the Texaco/Havoline crew, the No. 1 car blocked Mears into his pit stall. Mears found himself sitting 19th when racing resumed on lap 71. He battled his way up to 15th when the No. 17 car dropped oil on the track on lap 78. The No. 66 car spun in front of Mears, so Mears slowed to avoid the car. Unfortunately, Mears also hit a patch of oil that sent the Texaco/Havoline Dodge spinning. Mears kept the car off the wall and avoided oncoming traffic. He brought the car down pit road for fresh tires and fuel. Racing resumed on lap 91 with the Texaco/Havoline Dodge in the 33rd position. Mears was passed by the leader on lap 135. When the caution waved on lap 185, he told Wingo the car was really loose. The team made a chassis adjustment, changed four tires and packed the car full of fuel. A long green-flag run followed the restart on lap 190 with Mears in 33rd. By lap 255, he was 28th with the leader in his rear-view mirror again. The Texaco/Havoline team finally got a break when the yellow flag waved on lap 260. He told Wingo the car was better on and off the corners. He came down pit road for a routine stop and left the pits three positions better—in 25th. The green flag waved on lap 256 and Mears continued to battle mid-pack and a lap down. After another 75 laps and a pit stop, Mears was running 21st. The No. 7 car spun on lap 345 to bring out the caution. Mears told Wingo the car was much better, but still a little tight in the center. Wingo knew the air pressure adjustments he was making seemed to work best, so he had the team bump up the air in the left-side tires before fitting the car with a fresh set.
Racing resumed on lap 352 with just 19 cars on the lead lap and Mears in 19th. He passed the No. 18 car on lap 356 and the No. 43 car on lap 376 to move up to the 17th spot. A two-car incident brought out another caution on lap 385. With just 15 laps remaining in the race, Wingo told Mears to remain on the track. Mears did hold on to the Texaco/Havoline Dodge to finish 17th and move back into the top 10 in points. He now sits 353 points behind the leader. “We were better than where we finished,” said Mears. “We came in for the first stop and we were eighth. We got blocked in the pits by another car. He short pitted bad and it blocked us in our pit. It put us in the junk back there. Something happened to the No. 17 and he put down a bunch of oil. I spun out in that and that put us way back. The Texaco/Havoline Dodge was a little bit tight and we made some adjustments to free it up and that made it way too loose. It just so happened that was a long-green run, and that put us a lap down. There at the end we almost got our lap back, but we were one lap shy of getting it. I guess after everything that happened 17th is not a bad finish, but we had a better car than that. I think we could have been right in the top 10.” Mears’ Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates teammates Reed Sorenson and David Stremme finished 24th and 29th respectively. The Texaco/Havoline team head to the famed Darlington Raceway next weekend for the Dodge Charger 400.
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