Sam’s Town 300 - Casey Mears Notes

PREVIEW: CASEY MEARS (NO. 24 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET)
VENUE: LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY (1.5-MILE TRI-OVAL)
CIRCUIT: NASCAR BUSCH SERIES (RACE FOUR OF 35)
EVENT: SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 2007 (200 LAPS, 300 MILES)

HITTING THE DUNES: Casey Mears, driver of the No. 24 National Guard Chevrolet, spent his "off-weekend" on the sand dunes near Las Vegas to work out the kinks in the new dune buggy he bought over the off-season. Mears spent part of his winter break driving the car on the dunes of Mexico.

BETTER THAN AVERAGE: Mears has competed in one NASCAR Busch Series race and four NEXTEL Cup races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. His lone Busch start resulted in an 18th-place finish while he has posted three top-10 efforts in the Cup Series. Mears averages a finish of 11.2 at Vegas in his combined five starts.

GUARD SALUTES ITS 'JUNGLEERS': This weekend, Mears' No. 24 National Guard Chevrolet will honor the 41st Infantry Division based in Tigard, Ore. The 41st Infantry Division was nicknamed the "Jungleers" after being the first division trained in jungle warfare and serving 45 months overseas following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Members of the Jungleers are currently deployed in Kabul, Afghanistan.

VEGAS BIRTHDAY: Mears is hoping to celebrate his 29th birthday Monday after strong Busch Series and NEXTEL Cup Series performances in Las Vegas. If he were to win both races, he would become be the third driver to "sweep" in as many Cup-Busch combo weekends this season.

RUNNER-UP CHASSIS: Crew chief Chad Walter has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 405 as the primary option for Saturday's Busch Series event at Las Vegas. This is the same car that finished second at California Speedway last month.

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AUTOGRAPH SESSION: Casey Mears will greet fans and sign autographs at the No. 25 National Guard/GMAC souvenir trailer at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this Sunday at 9:30 a.m. local time.

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CHAD WALTER, CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 24 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET: (ON BOUNCING BACK FROM DAYTONA WITH A RUNNER-UP FINISH AT CALIFORNIA.) "The team we had in Daytona is no different than the team we had in California the next week. I guess we just suffered from Murphy's Law in Daytona. Everything that could go wrong, did. We had two really fast race cars and, unfortunately, both of them were destroyed. When you're in the position we're in, as far as point standings and guaranteed starting spots, weekends like that hurt. We know, as a team, that we're capable of winning races. Running second in California proved that to us, and, hopefully, to Casey. We may not win every race, but when you're a team that can be in the position to win every race, that's a good thing. I think that California proved that about this team. When you're in the position to win every weekend, eventually you are going to win."

WALTER: (YOU'RE TAKING THE SAME CHASSIS THAT FINISHED SECOND AT CALIFORNIA. WAS THAT DECIDED AFTER THE RUNNER-UP FINISH?) "No, actually, that wasn't the original car for California. We decided at the last minute to take it out there. Once we did, and we got all of the kinks worked out, it worked out pretty well. So, it was natural to take that to Vegas, too. Plus, this chassis was tested in Vegas and was really good. Casey was happy with it -- even more so after California. So, it was an easy choice."