NEXTEL Open/All-Star Challenge - Lowe's Motor Speedway Advance

Texaco/Havoline Team Facts:

NEXTEL Cup Series

• Standings:  Casey Mears and the Texaco/Havoline team now sit 11th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup championship standings following their 17th-place finish at Darlington last weekend.  Mears is just 15 points out of 10th place heading into the non-points race this week at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.


• NEXTEL Open:  Mears has competed in three NEXTEL Opens transfer races for the opportunity to compete in the $1 million All-Star Challenge.  His best finish was sixth last year where pit strategy was the deciding factor of the 30-lap event.


• Chassis:  Crew chief Donnie Wingo and the Texaco/Havoline team will compete with chassis #607 this weekend in the NEXTEL Open.  Mears drove this chassis earlier this year at Atlanta where he finished 21st and most recently ran it at the open test session at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.


• Charity Auction:  CGRFS is holding a charity auction to honor the loss of teammate Bill Ellis who passed away last month.  The live and silent auction is set for Thursday, May 25, at the CGRFS Concord, N.C. shop to raise funds Ellis’ wife and three children.  The event will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. ET and will feature over 100 items including a Mears autographed No. 42 Texaco/Havoline hood, Tony Stewart and Sterling Marlin autographed driving shoes, Steve Young autographed jersey and a Dale Earnhardt Jr. autographed jacket.

Casey Mears Quotes:
“I look at this weekend as if it were any other race weekend, I just want to win.  I’m trying to win races no matter what race it is and how many points you can earn.  The good thing about the Open and the All-Star race is that you can take some added chances that you wouldn’t normally take.

“There is strategy involved in the short races this weekend, especially now that we have a new tire.  In the past teams would come down pit road and take four tires, two tires or no tires.  With the tire compound so hard at Charlotte, it will be easier for teams to take two or no tires because you don’t have the same wear issues as you have had in the past.”

Pit Crew Challenge

• The Texaco/Havoline pit crew will be participating in the NASCAR NEXTEL Pit Crew Challenge on Wednesday night at the Charlotte Bobcats Arena.  The No. 42 crew finished second last year in the inaugural event.


• Four members from last year’s crew return to the competition, jackman Mark Jacobs, rear carrier Chip Goode, gasman Mike Boddick and catch can Heath Silver.  The three new members on the Texaco/Havoline crew are front changer Trevor Lysne, front carrier Adam Mosher and rear changer Rich Macco.  Other members of the team participating in the event are second gas man Randy Davis, pit crew coach Phil Horton and Brady Whitcamper who will be driving the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline car.


• The No. 42 crew has four races this season where the average pit stop times were less than 14 seconds, including three of the last four races.  Mears will be on the side lines supporting the crew who has played a large role in his 11th-place standing in the NEXTEL Cup Series.

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