Casey Mears and No. 41 Target Dodge
Coca-Cola 600 – Lowe’s Motor Speedway Advance
Target Team Facts:
Racing for Sarah: Casey Mears will be wearing a very special helmet this weekend for the Coca-Cola 600. The helmet was designed by Sarah Novak, the 8-year-old sister of a patient at Target House in Memphis, Tenn. In fact, Mears’ IRL counterparts Scott Dixon, Darren Manning and Ryan Briscoe will also be wearing helmets they chose out of designs by the children of Target House this weekend in the Indianapolis 500. The winning designs were unveiled by each driver at Target House on Monday before an emotionally charged and excited group of children, along with their families and members of the media.
Standings: Mears and the Target team held onto their 25th-place standing in the NEXTEL Cup championship chase after finishing 28th in Richmond last weekend. Mears now sits 307 points out of the top 10, and 525 points behind the leader.
Charlotte: Mears finished sixth in the NEXTEL Open last weekend at LMS. He qualified third, his best start at the track, for the fall event in 2004 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, and his best finish at the 1.5-mile track is seventh in last year’s Coca-Cola 600.
Chassis: Crew chief Jimmy Elledge and the Target Team will be taking chassis #206 to Lowe’s Motor Speedway this weekend. This chassis is making its 2005 race debut. The Target Team tested this car at Charlotte the first week of May in preparation for the 600-mile event.
Casey Mears Quote:
On His Special Helmet… “The special helmets designed by the children of Target House are extremely special to me. A lot of people are aware of Target House and what they do for St. Jude Children’s Hospital. Every year we’ve done a special paint scheme for one of my helmets. This year the kids did a bunch of designs in advance, and we each chose the helmet we liked the best. I chose a helmet that was designed by a special young lady by the name of Sarah Novak. Sarah’s older brother is a patient at St. Jude and I hope this brings awareness to the fact that these situations affect the entire family. This will definitely add to the race this weekend because it really pushes you that much harder when you’re driving for these children, and a special initiative like this. It’s an awesome place. If you haven’t been to a place like Target House it’s pretty amazing just to see what they do to provide for those kids and their families. I’m just proud to be a part of that.”
Career-Best Start: First, twice: Pocono Raceway (July 30, 2004) and Indianapolis (August 7, 2004).
Career-Best Finish: Fourth, twice: Watkins Glen International (August 15, 2004) and Texas Motor Speedway (April 17, 2005).
