Dover 200 - Casey Mears Notes

PREVIEW: CASEY MEARS (NO. 24 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET)
VENUE: DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY (ONE-MILE OVAL)
CIRCUIT: NASCAR BUSCH SERIES (RACE 14 OF 35)
EVENT: SATURDAY, JUNE 2, 2007 (200 LAPS, 200 MILES)

KEEPING THE STREAK ALIVE: The No. 24 National Guard team and driver Casey Mears have now posted top-10 finishes in eight of their nine NASCAR Busch Series starts this season. Mears' second-place result at Lowe's Motor Speedway last Saturday tied his best finish of the season.

SUCCESS WITH HENDRICK: Mears has posted five top-five finishes in nine Busch Series races with Hendrick Motorsports this season, setting a personal record for the most top-five finishes in a single season. Mears' eight top-10 finishes are also a personal single-season record in his seven years of Busch Series competition.

NO. 24 TEAM AT DOVER: Chad Walter and the No. 24 National Guard team posted two top-10 finishes with driver Kyle Busch last season at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. Busch led 28 laps in the May 2006 race before finishing sixth. He posted a seventh-place finish with the team in September.

CARRYING MOMENTUM: Mears earned his first NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series victory at Lowe's Motor Speedway last Sunday, a very fitting win for the National Guard on Memorial Day weekend. With Mears' victory, all four Hendirck Motorsports drivers have won in NEXTEL Cup competition this season.

MEET THE MONSTER. AGAIN: Mears has not competed in the Busch Series at Dover International Speedway since September 2004 when he finished 19th. Since that time, he has competed in five NEXTEL Cup races at the track, posting a top-10 finish in September 2005.

SUPPORTING THE TROOPS: This weekend, the 58th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, or "Maryland 400," from Pikesville, Md., will be honored on the No. 24 National Guard Chevrolet. The Maryland 400 Infantry Brigade Combat Team fought in the Battle of Long Island during the Revolutionary War in 1776 and was the first to use the bayonet, which is prominently displayed on the unit's logo. More recently, it was deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan to fight the war on terror.

CHASSIS 346: Crew chief Chad Walter has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 346 for Saturday's Busch Series race at Dover International Speedway. The car finished ninth at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway in May.

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CELEBRATE WITH CASEY: Casey Mears will greet fans and sign autographs at 9:30 a.m. local time on Sunday at the No. 25 National Guard/GMAC souvenir hauler outside Dover International Speedway.

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CASEY MEARS, DRIVER OF THE NO. 24 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET: (ON TRANSFERRING CUP SUCCESS TO HIS NATIONAL GUARD BUSCH TEAM.) "The Busch Series team has been knocking on the door all season. I know that win is coming. I said after finishing second last Saturday that I feel like we're always the bridesmaid. We changed that on Sunday with the Cup team and it's time that we change it with the Busch team now, too. Dover could be that place for us."

MEARS: (ON THE CHALLENGES OF PIT ROAD AT DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDAY.) "Dover has a tough pit road. There's a big transition coming off the track to the entrance of pit road. Pit road comes up fairly quickly, too. With the rules that NASCAR has implemented over the last couple of years, that pit road speed line starts sooner and sooner. So, getting slowed up to get down pit road is difficult. And it's a little bit slick. There's usually a lot of debris. It's pretty dirty the first time you come in."