Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 - Casey Mears Notes

Casey Mears and No. 41 Target Dodge
Dodge Dealers 400 – Darlington Raceway Advance

Target Team Facts:

· Laps Led: Casey Mears and the Target Team were poised for their second top -10 finish this season at Atlanta Motor Speedway before engine failure forced them to the garage with 23 laps remaining. Mears led a career-high 37 laps during the event after passing Tony Stewart on lap 178.

· Target Team: Mears is averaging a 15th-place starting spot over the first four races this season. His best start was ninth last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. His worst starting position was 25th for the Daytona 500 however, he qualified ninth for the Twin 125.

· Championship Standings: The Target Team currently sits 19th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup standings with a total of 433 points. They sit just 36 points out of the NASCAR Top 10. The team acquired 372 points after the first four races of 2003 and sat 27th in points.

· Darlington Facts: Mears ran in the top 10 for the first 100 laps of the Dodge Dealers 400 last year at Darlington before he was caught in the pits and went a lap down. Later in the race, the toe was knocked out of the No. 41 Dodge and he had to settle for a 34th-place finish.

· Chassis: Crew chief Jimmy Elledge and the Target Team are bringing chassis #308 to Atlanta Motor Speedway. The team previously ran this car in 2003 at the Charlotte, Michigan, Pocono and Kansas races. Mears qualified the car 10th at Pocono and piloted it to a 20th-place finish at Michigan.

Casey Mears Quotes:

Mears on Darlington… “I am so proud of everything the Target Team has accomplished already this season,” said Mears. “We’ve proved that we can run up front and be competitive. Last week was disappointing in regards to the finish, but I couldn’t be happier with the way we performed during the race. Everyone affiliated with the Target Dodge has really stepped it up this year.

“I’m looking forward to going to Darlington, especially given the way we have been running lately. We started in the middle of the pack last spring and worked our way up to sixth on the first tire run. We got out of sequence with the leaders after a green-flag stop and that set us back. The important thing is that we know we can run well at Darlington and we know what the team is capable of this year.”