PREVIEW: CASEY MEARS (NO. 25 NATIONAL GUARD/GMAC IMPALA SS)
VENUE: RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY (.75-MILE D-SHAPED OVAL)
CIRCUIT: NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES (RACE 26 OF 36)
EVENT: SATURDAY, SEPT. 8, 2007 (400 LAPS, 300 MILES)

STEADY AT RICHMOND: In nine career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series starts at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, Casey Mears has posted five top-15 qualifying efforts. His best Cup Series result at the .75-mile oval came one year ago when he finished 11th in the 2006 Chevy Rock & Roll 400.

BREAKING THROUGH: Mears isn't scheduled to compete in this weekend's NASCAR Busch Series event at Richmond, but when he pulled double-duty at the track in May, the 29-year-old driver recorded a seventh-place finish in the companion race. It was Mears' first top-10 finish at Richmond in any of NASCAR's three series.

BRAND-NEW CAR: Crew chief Darian Grubb has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 462 for this weekend's NEXTEL Cup event at Richmond. The brand-new car has yet to see race action, but logged test laps with Mears and the No. 25 National Guard/GMAC Chevrolet team at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Va., last week.

IMPOUND EVENT: This weekend's race at Richmond marks the fourth of five impound races during the 2007 NEXTEL Cup Series season and the second featuring the Impala SS. The first took place at Richmond in May, when Mears finished 18th after 400 laps.

TALLADEGA TEST: Next week, Mears and the No. 25 National Guard/GMAC Chevrolet team will participate in NASCAR's two-day Car of Tomorrow test with the Impala SS at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in preparation for October's NEXTEL Cup event at the 2.66-mile tri-oval.

CONGRATULATIONS, CRAIG AND LISA: Congratulations to Lisa Smokstad, tire specialist for the No. 25 National Guard/GMAC Chevrolet team, and husband Craig on the birth of their first child. RaElla Michelle Smokstad entered the world on Aug. 30 and weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces.

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NATIONAL GUARD PROUD: On Thursday afternoon, Casey Mears will make a pit stop on his way to Richmond to visit the Army National Guard Readiness Center in Arlington, Va., and sign autographs for Guard members there.

AUTOGRAPH SESSION: Mears will greet fans and sign autographs at 3:15 p.m. local time on Saturday at the No. 25 National Guard/GMAC souvenir hauler outside Richmond International Raceway.

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CASEY MEARS, DRIVER OF THE NO. 25 NATIONAL GUARD/GMAC IMPALA SS: (ON TAKING A NEW IMPALA SS TO RICHMOND THIS WEEKEND.) "Everybody at Hendrick Motorsports has been working really hard on this new Impala SS program. We're going back to Richmond with a new short-track car. The first car we raced there this year was just whatever we could build in time to make it work, so we're excited to come back with a car we've had more time to tweak."

MEARS: (ON HIS SHORT-TRACK LEARNING CURVE.) "The shorter tracks are always a little more difficult for me. I've been in NASCAR for five years now, and I've had the last five years to get experience on short tracks, but growing up, I didn't race on them. And out of all the places we go, they are probably still the most unnatural for me. But we've had some solid runs at Richmond, and I think it's just a matter of getting everything right. We're more than capable of running well there."