Mears Earns Personal Best at Bristol Motor Speedway
BRISTOL, Tenn. (August 26, 2006) --- Casey Mears piloted the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge to a 17th-place finish, a personal best, at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night. Mears and the team gained two spots in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup standings and now sit 16th with 12 races remaining in the 2006 season.
“We had a pretty good car tonight,” said Mears. “I think we could have had a better finish, but we got blocked into our pits by a car several laps down. We came in 18th and came out 29th. That put us in the back of the pack and we had to battle our way back up. The Texaco/Havoline Dodge is leaving Bristol in one piece, it was by far the cleanest race I’ve had at Bristol.”
Mears started the 500-lap event from the 11th spot, also a career best at a half-mile track. He was sitting 10th by lap 49 and was already maneuvering through lapped traffic. The caution flag waved on lap 60 and Mears told crew chief Donnie Wingo the car needed to roll through the center better, it was too tight. Mears brought the No. 42 Dodge down pit road on lap 61 for fresh tires, an air pressure adjustment in the left rear and fuel.
Racing resumed on lap 67 with the Texaco/Havoline Dodge in 10th. The No. 16 car got underneath Mears and he ended up trapped in the outside lane. By the time spotter Tab Boyd was able to get Mears back down to the bottom, the preferred groove, he had fallen back to 17th. The yellow flag waved on lap 87 when the No. 45 spun. Wingo told Mears to remain on the track and keep his current track position. He remained in 17th when the green flag dropped on lap 93.
Mears did pit for adjustments on lap 116 after the No. 38 car hit the wall and brought out the caution. He was still battling a tight condition, so the team made another air pressure adjustment, added fuel and put on fresh tires. The No. 45 car that was involved in an earlier incident blocked Mears in his pits. When he returned to the track, Mears was now 29th.
Mears was able to drive the Texaco/Havoline Dodge back up to 20th position on lap 177. He passed the No. 16 and No. 01 car over the next 10 laps before the caution waved. Mears told Wingo the car was much better on the longer runs. When Mears came down pit road, the team performed a routine stop with an air pressure adjustment in the right-rear tire.
Mears was back in the top 15 at the midpoint of the race. He was running in the 17th position for 50 laps before the caution waved on lap 323 when his teammate David Stremme had a tire go down. The team continued to make air pressure adjustments to try to improve the car’s handling from the center of the corner. The green flag waved again on lap 331 with the Texaco/Havoline Dodge in 17th.
Mears got stuck in the outside groove again on lap 335 and slipped back to 21st. The leader was in his rear-view mirror on lap 358. He was able to fend him off for six laps before falling one lap down on lap 364. When the caution waved on lap 379, there were only 18 cars remaining on the lead lap. Mears told Wingo the car was still too tight, so the Texaco/Havoline crew added a track bar adjustment to its routine service on the car. When racing resumed on lap 386, Mears was 21st and the third car one-lap down.
Mears would continue to ride 21st, but by lap 440 there were still just 18 cars on the lead lap. The caution waved on lap 444 and Mears came down pit road for service. The quick stop by the Texaco/Havoline crew boosted Mears up to 18th, the second car one-lap down. He dove passed the No. 16 car on lap 473 to put him in position to earn NASCAR’s free pass onto the lead lap, but the caution flag never waved before the end of the race. Mears would finish the Sharpie 500 in the 17th position.
Mears’ Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates teammates David Stremme and Reed Sorenson finished 35th and 36th respectively.
The Texaco/Havoline team heads to California Speedway next weekend for the Labor Day events. Mears will be running in both the NASCAR Busch Series and NEXTEL Cup Series races.
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