PREVIEW: CASEY MEARS (NO. 25 NATIONAL GUARD/GMAC IMPALA SS)
VENUE: BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY (.533-MILE OVAL)
CIRCUIT: NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES (RACE 24 OF 36)
EVENT: SATURDAY, AUG. 25, 2007 (500 LAPS, 266.5 MILES)

AFTER MICHIGAN: Casey Mears, driver of the No. 25 National Guard/GMAC Chevrolet, remained 16th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series point standings after a marathon race weekend at Michigan International Speedway. Mears finished 11th in Tuesday's rain-postponed event, notching his fourth top-15 result in the past five races.

GETTING THE HANG OF BRISTOL: The NEXTEL Cup Series will make its second trip of the season to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway this weekend. In March, Mears recorded a career-best Bristol finish when he turned a 16th-place qualifying effort into a 10th-place result at the half-mile track.

THE RETURN OF CHASSIS 408: Crew chief Darian Grubb has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 408 for this weekend's Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway. The No. 25 National Guard/GMAC Chevrolet team fielded the same car at Bristol when the Impala SS made its competition debut there earlier this year.

HONORARY PIT CREW MEMBER: This weekend, Don Huskey of Greensboro, N.C., will serve as an honorary pit crew member with Mears and the No. 25 National Guard/GMAC Chevrolet team. Huskey, 62, recently retired after working 25 years at Terry Labonte Chevrolet in Greensboro. He also has been a member of the North Carolina National Guard since 1981 and was activated after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. After serving in both Afghanistan and Iraq, Huskey retired from active duty in 2004.

TIRE TEST POSTPONED: Mears and the No. 25 National Guard/GMAC Chevrolet team were scheduled to participate in a Goodyear tire test at Atlanta Motor Speedway this week, but due to the rain-postponed race at Michigan International Speedway, the session has been shifted to Aug. 28-29.

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COME MEET CASEY: Casey Mears will greet fans and sign autographs at 3:45 p.m. local time on Saturday at the No. 25 National Guard/GMAC souvenir hauler outside Bristol Motor Speedway.

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CASEY MEARS, DRIVER OF THE NO. 25 NATIONAL GUARD/GMAC IMPALA SS: (ON THE LONG MICHIGAN RACE WEEKEND.) "It was definitely a marathon weekend at Michigan -- it started to feel like Groundhog Day after awhile. One of the longer and stranger weekends I've experienced in NASCAR, for sure. I'm glad we all stuck it out, though. It was good to get the race in and keep the schedule on track."

MEARS: (ON THE NEW SURFACE AT BRISTOL.) "Honestly, I'm not quite sure what to expect this weekend. The track sounds like it is a good bit different in the way that it drives. You can run around the bottom like you did before, but it also sounds like some guys are running just off the bottom now as well. Also, the lap times in general seem a little bit slower, but I don't know if that's because of the harder tire or because of the track itself not having as much grip. So, there are a number of unknowns, but I'm looking forward to getting on track and trying it out for myself."

MEARS: (ON STAYING OUT OF TROUBLE AT BRISTOL.) "Staying up front is definitely key at Bristol because trouble tends to brew in the back. The best thing you can do as a driver and as a team is to qualify well and hopefully hold that position when things start to get wild behind you during the race."