Casey Mears and No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge
Homestead-Miami Speedway Advance
Texaco/Havoline Team Facts:
Standings: Casey Mears and the Texaco/Havoline team were poised for a top-15 finish at Phoenix International Raceway when fluid on the race track sent the No. 42 car spinning around and into the wall with just seven laps to go on Sunday. The team was able to repair the car and stay on the lead lap, but Mears dropped from running 15th to finishing 26th. Mears also slipped one spot in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup championship standings to 15th following the race in the desert. With 3,847 points, Mears and team are just 19 steps away from 14th and 43 points out of 13th heading into this weekend’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway (HMS).
Mears Non-Stop: Mears, along with fellow NASCAR NEXTEL Cup drivers David Stremme and David Gilliland, will be highlighted in this Sunday’s (November 19) special airing of NASCAR Drivers Non-Stop on ESPN2 at 10 p.m. ET. The episode will travel alongside the drivers throughout their weekend at Talladega Superspeedway and see how they really never slow down, even when it comes to getting a little downtime.
Homestead-Miami: Mears came very close to ending his 2005 season on a very sweet note at Homestead last November, when he had more than a 1-second lead with just 16 laps remaining in the race. Unfortunately, a late-race yellow flag for debris derailed Mears’ momentum and he quickly discovered he had his hands full with a very tight No. 41 Target Dodge (Mears team at the time) on the final restart of the race. Still, he was able to hold on to finish fifth, leading a total of 75 laps.
Testing: Mears and the Texaco/Havoline team tested at HMS just a few weeks ago in preparation for this weekend’s 400-mile race. It was the final test session of the NASCAR determined seven-track assessment schedule for 2006. Mears tested on Monday (Oct. 16) and Tuesday (Oct. 17), leading the second session on Monday with a lap time of 31.200 sec./173.077 mph.
Racing, Inc.: Chip Ganassi Racing is the focus this week in a SPEED TV special called Racing Incorporated which takes viewers inside the business of racing with a close-up look at the motorsports operations of team owner Chip Ganassi. The pair of one-hour specials will air this Wednesday, Nov. 15 and Thursday, Nov. 16, at 8 p.m. ET & PT (re-played at 11 pm ET). Racing Incorporated was given unprecedented access by the team to its race shops in Indianapolis, Ind., and Concord, N.C., over a several weeks this past summer for a behind the scenes look at the inner workings of Ganassi’s IndyCar, NASCAR, and Grand American Sports Car Series operations.
Chassis: Crew chief Donnie Wingo and the Texaco/Havoline team are taking chassis #406 to Florida this weekend. Mears tested this chassis at Homestead-Miami Speedway a couple of weeks ago. The team most recently ran the car at Atlanta Motor Speedway where Mears and team were poised for a top-15 finish but a late-race accident on lap 309 dropped them from the lead lap and eventually to a 28th-place finish. Before that, Mears raced his way to a second-place finish at Kansas Speedway in October. Kansas was the first race for chassis #406 this season which was built specifically for the 1.5-mile tracks on the NEXTEL Cup schedule.
Good luck, Casey: This weekend’s run at HMS is not only the season finale for Mears and the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline team, but it will mark Mears’ last run for CGRFS. The driver and team confirmed earlier in the season they would be parting ways at the end of the year. Mears has spent his entire NEXTEL Cup career driving for Ganassi and Sabates, starting with his rookie season in 2003. Together, they have earned multiple poles, top-five and top-10 finishes throughout the four-year partnership in both the Busch and NEXTEL Cup Series’. Just this past July, Mears and his CGRFS team grabbed his career-first NASCAR victory at Chicagoland Speedway in the NASAR Busch Series USG Durock 300.
Mears Quote:
“I’m excited about going to back to Homestead,” said Mears. “Last year we ran up front and contended for the win, so we now we can run well. The Texaco/Havoline team had a great test at Homestead, and I would love to finish out the year on a high note for the team.
“It has been a great four years working with the team and for Chip and Felix. I’ve learned a lot from everyone and I’m thankful for everything that the team has done for me.”
