Mears Earns a Career-Best Finish in Daytona 500

Casey Mears

Daytona Beach, Fla. (February 16, 2004) --- Casey Mears piloted the No. 41 Target Dodge to his best finish in his young NASCAR NEXTEL Cup career at Daytona International Speedway. After going down a lap early in the race, Mears rallied back to finish 14th in just his second Daytona 500 start. Mears previous career-best finish in the Cup Series was 15th at Las Vegas in 2003.

Mears started the Daytona 500 in 25th, but 20 laps into the race rubbed tires with another car and believed he had a right-front going flat. He brought the Target Dodge down pit road for four tires and fuel. Mears fell one-lap down to the leaders in 39th position due to the unscheduled stop.

The Target Team turned several quick stops during three different cautions to put Mears in position to get his lap back. The fourth and final caution of the day waved on lap 70 when a multi-car wreck brought out the yellow. Mears was the first car a lap down and was able to get back on the lead lap.

“After we got back on the lead lap we just couldn’t draft with the leaders,” said Mears. “We came in for a pit stop and we came back out and lost the lead pack. We were just riding around after that trying to catch up. We didn’t get any cautions so we didn’t have a chance to catch up to that lead pack.”

The Target Dodge was extremely quick all day but couldn’t catch the leaders. The field was strung out by lap 110 due to green-flag pit stops and lack of caution flags. Despite running nose to tail with three other cars, they could not mount a serious charge on lead pack. Crew chief Jimmy Elledge and the team had the car dialed in, and during their final pit stops the crew never had to make a major adjustment on the Target Dodge.

Only 15 cars finished on the lead lap during the 46th running of the Daytona 500 including the No. 41. Aside from capturing his second top-15 finish in his NASCAR NEXTEL Cup career, this race was a huge learning experience for the 25-year old driver.

“We stayed pretty clean all day,” said Mears. “That’s our best finish so far. Last year the best we finished was 15th, so this is a pretty good start for the season.

“I learned a lot getting to run up front with those guys. When we were a lap down and got to start up front on the inside and learned that’s where we need to be. We’re capable of running there. We’ve just got to get qualified and stay up front to run with those guys. We had a car that could have run up there today. I’m not real excited about 14th because 14th is just 14th, but it is our best run in Cup so far. It was a good solid run and we stayed out of trouble.”

The Subway 400 from North Carolina Speedway will be broadcast live on FOX television and MRN radio on February 22 at 1:00 p.m. ET.