Casey Mears and No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge Pocono 500 - Pocono Raceway Advance

Texaco/Havoline Team Facts:

NEXTEL Cup Series

• Standings:  Casey Mears and the Texaco/Havoline team slipped two spots to 13th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup standings after finishing 21st at Dover last weekend.  Mears now sits 98 points out of 10th place.  Mears is the only driver in the top 15 that does not have a finish of 30th or worse this season.


• First Pole:  Pocono Raceway is the site of Mears’ first NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series pole position.  He earned the pole on July 30, 2004 by turning a lap time of 52.411 seconds around the track at an average speed of 171.720 mph.  He went on to earn his second career pole the following week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.


• Pocono stats:  Mears has six NEXTEL Cup starts and two ARCA starts at Pocono Raceway.   His best finish at the 2.5-mile track is 10th.  He also visited victory lane in the two ARCA races he ran at the 2.5-mile track in 2003.


• Chassis:  Crew chief Donnie Wingo and the Texaco/Havoline team will compete with chassis #610 at Pocono Raceway.  This is the chassis that Mears drove in the 600-mile race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway two weeks ago.  Mears was running in the top five when the car snapped loose with less than 100 miles remaining in the event.


• Local to Penn.:  Team engineer Billy Curwood grew up just 45 minutes east of Pocono Raceway in Shickshinny.  Curwood got involved in racing during a senior design project at Drexel College outside of Philadelphia.  He moved home following college and began working on Eddie Spencer’s, Jimmy’s nephew, modified car.  Soon, Jimmy hired Curwood to work on his newly formed Busch Series team in Charlotte.  Curwood was hired by Chip Ganassi Racing in 2002 to work on the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline team for its inaugural season.


• Help us Celebrate:  The 2007 season will mark Texaco/Havoline’s 20th year as a sponsor in NASCAR.  From Davey Allison to Mears, Texaco/Havoline has a rich history in the sport.  To commemorate its history, Texaco/Havoline is printing a one-of-a-kind book filled with photos and stories submitted by fans, drivers, crew members and media.  Fans can submit their favorite story, interesting tale or special moment in their life involving the Texaco/Havoline race team at www.texacohavoline42.com or by calling 800-518-0028 through the end of July.

Casey Mears Quotes:
On Pocono…
“I really like Pocono, but not as much as I used to when we shifted.  It’s still one of the most unique tracks on the circuit.  We’re running the same car we ran with in the 600 and trying a similar set up, so we should be pretty good this weekend.  We always run pretty well at Pocono, but last year I spun out in qualifying and NASCAR wouldn’t let us change the motor.  That hurt us a little.

“The last few months have been frustrating because we know we can run better than we have been.  I have some of my strongest tracks on the schedule coming up in the summer months, so hopefully we can get ourselves turned around and back in the top 10.  I don’t want to be sitting 10th heading to Richmond and go through what the Texaco/Havoline team has the last two years. Realistically I’d like to be sitting about seventh and not have to worry about it.”

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