Ford 300 - Casey Mears Notes

PREVIEW: CASEY MEARS (NO. 24 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET)
VENUE: HOMESTEAD-MIAMI SPEEDWAY (1.5-MILE OVAL)
CIRCUIT: NASCAR BUSCH SERIES (RACE 35 OF 35)
EVENT: SATURDAY, NOV. 17, 2007 (200 LAPS, 300 MILES)

LOOKING TO 2008: Casey Mears and his 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crew chief, Alan Gustafson, will work together for the first time under race conditions in Saturday's NASCAR Busch Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Gustafson will call the shots as race strategist throughout the 200-lap event.

MEARS AT HOMESTEAD: Mears has not competed in a Busch Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway since November 2004, when he earned the pole position and led 11 laps before finishing 26th. He has earned one top-10 finish at the track -- an eighth-place result in 2003.

LOOKING BACK: Saturday's season finale at Homestead will mark Mears' 19th Busch Series race of the 2007 campaign. In 18 starts this season, he has earned seven top-five finishes and 14 top-10s.

REPRESENT: On Saturday, the hood of Mears' No. 24 National Guard Chevrolet will honor the 34th Infantry Division. The 34th Infantry Division covers seven states -- Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Illinois, Colorado and Michigan -- and has a required strength of more than 18,000 soldiers. Every weekend, a different Army National Guard division or brigade is honored on the No. 24 Chevy.

CHASSIS INFO: Crew chief Mike Bumgarner has selected Chassis No. 403 for Saturday's race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Kyle Busch drove Chassis 403 to a second-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March and earned another runner-up finish at Lowe's Motor Speedway last month.

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AUTOGRAPHS AVAILABLE: Casey Mears will greet fans and sign autographs at 11:30 a.m. local time on Sunday at the No. 25 National Guard/GMAC souvenir hauler outside Homestead-Miami Speedway.

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CASEY MEARS, DRIVER OF THE NO. 24 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET: (ON WORKING WITH HIS FUTURE SPRINT CUP CREW CHIEF, ALAN GUSTAFSON, FOR THE FIRST TIME.) "This is an opportunity for us to get up to speed and get into a race scenario so that we have something to chew on over the off-season. I may say, 'I need you to do this for me,' and he might say, 'I need you to tell me this better.' It's just a matter of learning communication. So when we're working on a scale of one to 10 and I say the car is an eight, he's not thinking it's a six. That's the type of stuff we have to weed out early so that we can hit the ground running next year."

MEARS: (ON SPENDING TIME WITH GUSTAFSON.) "We've actually spent a good amount of time on flights together recently. We've had some quality time just talking. I really like him. I think he's a quality guy and has a great attitude about the sport. I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish together next year. It's definitely going to be different and we've got some things to learn. At the same time, with the experience that team has and how well they've done over the last few years, obviously he's a smart guy. If we can just work on getting our communication right, we'll be ready to go."

MEARS: (ON WORKING WITH GUSTAFSTON FOR THE FIRST TIME DURING A RACE.) "We noticed in our test at Atlanta that things went well and we communicated well, but there's all the time in the world during a test. I think he understood what I wanted out of a car. All of that went really well there, but I think that until you get into a race scenario you're not going to find out what you need. You're not going to be able to work with the pit crew as well and find out what those guys need either."

MEARS: (ON HIS EXPECTATIONS FOR THE 2008 SEASON.) "We expect to win races, win poles and get into the Chase. That's the whole goal. If you're in the Chase, then you have an opportunity to win the championship. The capabilities are definitely there with the team. We just need to go out and have a good first part of the season and not get down as bad as we did this year."

MEARS: (ON CUP DRIVERS DOMINATING THE NASCAR BUSCH SERIES.) "The Busch Series is still an area that people really look at for new talent. But it's so saturated with Cup drivers right now that the guys that would be getting noticed are not. That makes it difficult. Going into the 2008 season, with the way the rules are, I don't think it's going to be as big of a help to run the Nationwide car at some of these races, especially at 1.5-mile tracks where we're running the Impala SS (Car of Tomorrow). It's definitely going to be an issue going back and forth (between Cup and Busch). It's not going to be the same. I think a lot less Cup drivers will run the Nationwide races next year."

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ALAN GUSTAFSON, RACE STRATEGIST, NO. 24 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET: (ON THE IMPORTANCE OF WORKING WITH MEARS.) "This race will be important for us in getting some direction as we go into the off-season. I'll get to know his tendencies as a driver and he'll be able to get a grip on my tendencies as a crew chief. From an engineering standpoint, we'll learn how to accomplish certain things on the car. What positives and negatives there are and how we can accomplish things according to Casey's driving style."

GUSTAFSON: (ON WHAT HE EXPECTS TO LEARN FROM THE RACE.) "The biggest thing that I need to learn is Casey's sensitivity to adjustments. It will also be a learning experience to find out what he needs to hear over the radio and what he doesn't -- the information he needs to know and doesn't need from me. I hope to get some feedback on how I operate and how my style works with his. Those are the things that we'll learn during the race."

GUSTAFSON: (ON TESTING WITH MEARS IN ATLANTA.) "Our test session went really smoothly. We got along and communicated well. I didn't feel like, as a team, it was at all a setback. It all felt very normal for us, and I was happy with the feedback that Casey provided. Changing drivers is not going to be tough. To do that and continue to race at a top-five level is what will be tough. It's a transition, but performance is the key for us, and we'll get that with Casey."

GUSTAFSON: (ON HIS OFF-SEASON PREPARATIONS FOR 2008.) "January is going to have a pretty tough testing schedule. It could be a blessing for us that we haven't worked with the Impala SS (Car of Tomorrow) at many of these tracks. There will be no preconceived notions of what Casey is expecting or what the car can do. On the flip side, it's also two new variables that this team will be working with at the same time. It could be tough, but I think it'll all go very smoothly."