Casey Mears and No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge
Sony HD 500 – California Speedway Advance
Texaco/Havoline Team Facts:
NEXTEL Cup
Standings: Casey Mears and the Texaco/Havoline team gained another two spots in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup standings following their 17th-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night. Mears and the team now sit 16th in the points with 12 races remaining in the 2006 season.
California: Mears will be making his seventh start at his home-state track of California Speedway. He had his best NEXTEL Cup Series effort at the 2-mile oval in February when he drove the Texaco/Havoline Dodge to a seventh-place finish.
No. 75: Scott Pruett and Luis Diaz’ Rolex Sports Car win at Infineon Raceway last Saturday marked Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, Inc.’s 75th win in motorsports (1990-2006) – a landmark achievement for team owner Chip Ganassi. His teams’ victories by series are: 40 in CART, 13 in Grand American, nine in the IRL, five in the NEXTEL Cup Series, four in the Busch Series and four in the ARCA Series.
A little drifting: Mears will participate in the Mopar NASCAR D1 All-Star Drifting Duel on Thursday, August 31 at Irwindale Speedway. The event is the first ever competition pitting drivers from two of the most popular motorsports disciplines, NASCAR and Drifting, in a head-to-head battle. Mears will sign autographs at 7 p.m. before the competition begins at 7:45 p.m.
Chassis: Crew chief Donnie Wingo and the Texaco/Havoline team are bringing chassis #403 for the Sony HD 500. This chassis recently ran at Michigan, as well as Indianapolis and Darlington Raceway in May.
