Casey Mears

Casey James Mears

Born:	March 12 1978 (1978--) (age 29)
Birthplace:	Bakersfield, California
Awards:	2006 24 Hours of Daytona overall co-winner 2007 Coca-Cola 600 winner
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Statistics
Car #, Team	25 - Hendrick Motorsports
2006 NEXTEL Cup Position:	14th
Best Cup Position:	14th - 2006 (NEXTEL Cup)
First Race:	2003 Daytona 500 (Daytona)
First Win:	2007 Coca-Cola 600 (Lowe's)
Last Win:	2007 Coca-Cola 600 (Lowe's)
Wins	Top Tens	Poles
1	35	3
NASCAR Busch Series Statistics
Car #, Team	#24 - Hendrick Motorsports
2006 NBS Position:	38th
Best NBS Position:	21st - 2002 (Busch Series)
First Race:	2001 GNC Live Well 300 (Homestead)
First Win:	2006 USG Durock 300 (Chicagoland)
Last Win:	2006 USG Durock 300 (Chicagoland)
Wins	Top Tens	Poles
1	28	4
All stats current as of October 7, 2007.

Casey James Mears (born March 12, 1978 in Bakersfield, California) is the driver of the #25 National Guard/GMAC Chevrolet in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series for Hendrick Motorsports. He also drives the #24 National Guard Chevrolet in the NASCAR/Busch Series for Hendrick Motorsports. In 2008 Casey Mears will be moved to the long running #5 car for Hendrick Motorsports which has won a championship in 1996 with driver Terry Labonte and in the Busch Series, will be moved to the #5 for Dale Earnhardt, Jr's JR Motorsports.

He is the nephew of four time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears and the son of Indy and off-road veteran Roger Mears.

Open wheel racing

After racing in go-karts for a season in 1991, Mears began competing in the SuperLites Off-Road Series in 1992 where he posted several top-three finishes.

In 1994, he finished third in the Jim Russell USAC Triple Crown Championship, with a win at Mesa Marin Raceway.

In 1995, Mears captured the Jim Russell USAC Triple Crown Championship.

In 1996 he made his Indy Lights Championship Series debut at the Cleveland Grand Prix and finished eighth.

In 1997, Mears competed full-time in the Indy Lights Championship Series and in 1999 he finished second in the points championship, losing by just 14 points. He was also just the fourth driver in Indy Lights Series history to complete every lap in a single season. Mears continued to compete in the Indy Lights Series in 2000 and won his first race at the Grand Prix of Houston in October.

After testing Indy Cars for multiple teams in 2000, Mears was offered a chance to drive a third entry for Team Rahal at California Speedway in October. After qualifying 15th and leading 10 laps, Mears posted a career-best fourth finish in his CART Series debut.

Mears ran three IRL events at the start of the 2001 season before eventually finishing up the season by filling in for injured ChampCar driver Alex Zanardi, posting one top-10 finish in four starts.

Mears has 5 CART starts, with one top-5 finishe. He has 3 IRL starts, with no top-5 finishes.

NASCAR

Mears made his NASCAR debut in the Busch Series in 2001 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, driving the 66 car for Cicci-Welliver Racing. He started 21st and finished 28th.

When the team was sold to Wayne Jesel the next season, Mears drove for them full-time, finishing 21st in points with two top-ten finishes.

To the surprise of many, he was selected by Chip Ganassi Racing to drive the #41 Target Dodge in 2003. In his rookie season, he finished 35th after failing to finish in the top-ten in any race.

He drove the car for two additional seasons, and won two poles in 2004.

During the 2005 season, it was announced Mears would move to a separate car for Chip Ganassi with Home123 sponsorship, with the #41 to be piloted by Reed Sorenson. The Home123 sponsorship fell through and he instead moved to the #42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge for Ganassi, replacing the departing Jamie McMurray.

On June 9, 2006 Mears announced that he was leaving Chip Ganassi Racing at the end of the season to join Hendrick Motorsports for the 2007 season, to replace the departing Brian Vickers. On July 8, he finally won his first NASCAR race, a Busch Series race at Chicagoland Speedway, coasting to the finish after running out of fuel.

For the 2007 season, Mears assumed driving duties for the #25 Hendrick car, with co-primary sponsorship from the Army National Guard and GMAC. On May 27 he won the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte for his first career Nextel Cup victory. Once again, Mears obtained the win by seizing on a fuel gamble, taking the lead with five laps remaining when most other lead lap cars stopped for fuel. Mears stretched his fuel to the finish, and ran out of fuel moments after his first checkered flag. ^[1] With the #25 team becoming the #88 for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. for 2008, Mears will move to the Alan Gustafson-led Kellogg's #5 Chevrolet Impala formerly driven by Kyle Busch. ^{[citation needed]}

GrandAm

Mears added arguably the most impressive win to his resume on January 29, 2006 when he, Scott Dixon, and Dan Wheldon teamed up to win the 44th annual Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona for Chip Ganassi racing. They set a race record for the Daytona Prototype category, running 723 laps in 24 hours to score the win. Mears became the first ever full-time NASCAR driver to win the Rolex 24.

Personal

• Throughout his Nextel Cup career Mears has improved his final points position every year from 2003 from 35th, to 22nd in 2004 and 2005 and to 14th in 2006.

• Mears is from a very successful crop of drivers hailing from California including fellow Bakersfield native Kevin Harvick, Robby Gordon from Cerritos, David Gilliland from Riverside, Jeff Gordon from Vallejo and Jimmie Johnson from El Cajon.

• Was former Houston Texans and currently Carolina Panthers quarterback David Carr's high school teammate on the football team. Mears played running back at Stockdale High School.

NEXTEL Cup Statistics

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

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