PREVIEW: CASEY MEARS (NO. 25 NATIONAL GUARD/GMAC IMPALA SS)
VENUE: MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY (.526-MILE OVAL)
CIRCUIT: NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES (RACE 32 OF 36)
EVENT: SUNDAY, OCT. 21, 2007 (500 LAPS, 263 MILES)

TOUGH TRACK: Casey Mears will make his 10th career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series start at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway this Sunday. In his nine previous starts at the track, Mears has posted one top-10 finish -- a sixth-place run last October. Brake issues plagued the National Guard/GMAC team in the April race at Martinsville this year, resulting in a 42nd-place finish.

TOP-FIVE WANTED: In 175 career NEXTEL Cup starts, Mears has earned 11 top-five finishes, but none have come on short tracks. Mears has earned three superspeedway top-fives, seven on intermediate tracks and one on a road course.

REACHING THEIR GOAL: The National Guard/GMAC team advanced one position to 14th in the NEXTEL Cup standings following Saturday night's race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. The team has set a goal to finish the season 13th, the highest position available. Mears trails his future Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. by 122 points.

IF IN THE CHASE: In spite of Mears' 21st-place finish at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Saturday night, he would still be fourth in the title hunt had he qualified for the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup, only 163 points behind teammate and current leader Jeff Gordon.

TOPPING THE CHARTS: Mears first season at Hendrick Motorsports has been a good one. He earned his first career victory at Lowe's Motor Speedway in May, and his five top-five finishes and 10 top-10s are also career bests for the 29-year-old driver.

HOMETOWN CREW CHIEF: Crew chief Darian Grubb was raised in Floyd, Va., only one hour northwest of Martinsville Speedway. The Virginia Tech graduate will make his second start at Martinsville as a crew chief, but is no stranger to success on the half mile. As team engineer, Grubb earned two Martinsville victories with the No. 48 team and driver Jimmie Johnson in October 2004 and October 2006.

GRUBB'S CHOICE: Grubb has chosen Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 462 for this Sunday's race at Martinsville Speedway. Chassis 462 was most recently raced at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway in September, when Mears led six laps before finishing 17th.

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AUTOGRAPHS AVAILABLE: Casey Mears will greet fans and sign autographs at 10 a.m. local time on Sunday at the No. 25 National Guard/GMAC souvenir hauler outside Martinsville Speedway.

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CASEY MEARS, DRIVER OF THE NO. 25 NATIONAL GUARD/GMAC IMPALA SS: (WHAT MAKES MARTINSVILLE SO CHALLENGING?) "Martinsville has been a tough track, and I've had a lot of bad luck there. I feel like over the past couple of years I've finally gotten the hang of that place. This year we had a couple of issues and problems that got us behind in the race, but I think we would have been pretty good. It's a short track, and coming from the open-wheel side of things, I just didn't run a lot of short tracks. It took me a while to figure it out, but now I feel pretty good."

MEARS: (DOES THE ADAGE "YOU HAVE TO SLOW DOWN TO GO FAST" FIT FOR MARTINSVILLE?) "That's the biggest problem with Martinsville: overdriving. You have to go in there, you have to stop, you have to get it turned, and get it pointed and get it off. If you're going to treat it like a track where you're going to carry momentum, it will just never work."

MEARS: (DO YOU THINK ABOUT WHERE YOU WOULD BE IN THE CHASE IF YOU HAD QUALIFIED?) "We're not in it, so there's no reason to dwell on it. But it's nice to know that had we gotten into the Chase, we have a team that could step up to the plate and compete. I think we continue to grow and get better. It's been a lot of fun to see this team go through different stages and see where it is now."

MEARS: (DO YOU EAT MARTINSVILLE HOT DOGS?) "I always eat Martinsville hot dogs. I eat a few of them when we're there. I love them. They're good. I think it's the chili that's on them. It's definitely not the color of them."

MEARS: (WHAT'S YOUR ADVICE TO OTHER OPEN-WHEEL DRIVERS COMING INTO STOCK CAR RACING?) "I think that (Juan) Montoya has come in and done a pretty good job with the amount of experience he's had. But he's been fortunate to compete at the top level in a lot of different series, so he has a lot of experience. For the guys that are coming over here fresh, it just takes time. It's one of those deals where it doesn't happen overnight. You have to learn these cars, the tracks, the way that the tires respond. They have to understand that it is very competitive over here. I think a lot of them don't understand that until they try it. This is the hardest form of motor sports in the United States to run inside the top five and the top 10. You have to set realistic goals and learn as much as you possibly can. Then you take down those goals and make new ones. More of my advice would go to the owners that are hiring them, to just give them time and let them figure it out."

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DARIAN GRUBB, CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 25 NATIONAL GUARD/GMAC IMPALA SS: (HOW HAVE YOU SEEN YOUR TEAM IMPROVE OVER THE SEASON?) "I've witnessed the team just starting to work together -- growing and learning through our mistakes and getting stronger each week. We put ourselves way behind at the beginning of the year with bad finishes, wrecks and just plain bad luck. Fighting back from that has made us stronger as a group, and it lets us know that we can lean on each other in times of need. We didn't get back to where we are now by just letting the chips fall where they may. We have worked many long hours, and we've have had the support of every department within Hendrick Motorsports to make up the ground we have. We have learned more about what Casey likes for a feel in his race cars, and he has learned more about what we need as feedback to make better decisions about changes to the car."

GRUBB: (ON WHAT CREW CHIEFS HAVE TO BE MOST CONCERNED WITH AT MARTINSVILLE.) "Martinsville is all about getting a driver comfortable enough to find his rhythm. It is such a driver's race track, and it is even more so now with the Impala SS. You have to be patient and smooth enough to avoid tearing up your equipment, but aggressive enough to make passes on the tightest circuit in NASCAR. The inputs and car reactions are so violent at Martinsville, that it's a fun challenge to find the balance between great braking, tight and fast cornering, and wide-open throttle acceleration. Imagine the driving control you would have to have to slam on the brakes at the last possible second and still stop before hitting a parked car at a stop light and then floor the gas pedal as soon as the light turns green, all while turning the car a complete 180 degrees in a 400-foot circle on a flat parking lot. Now do that faster than anyone else 1,000 times with no mistakes or breaking any parts and you've figured out Martinsville."