Casey Mears
| status | active | ||||||||
| NASCAR Cup Series statistics | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best placement | 14th - (2006) | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
| NASCAR Xfinity Series Statistics | |||||||||
| Best placement | 20th - (2007) | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
| Data status: December 6, 2011 | |||||||||
Casey James Mears (born March 12, 1978 in Bakersfield , California ) is an American NASCAR racing driver. Casey Mears is the nephew of four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears and son of ChampCar and off-road veteran Roger Mears .
Career
In addition to his career in NASCAR, he started three ChampCar races in 2001 as a replacement for Alex Zanardi after he was injured at the American Memorial 500 at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz . His most important victory scored Mears on January 29, 2006 at the 24 Hours of Daytona together with Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon for Chip Ganassi Racing . They achieved a record for the fastest race in the Daytona prototype class with 723 laps. Mears is the first full-time NASCAR driver to win this race.
In NASCAR
Mears made his NASCAR debut in the Busch Grand National Series in 2001 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the number 66 car for Cicci-Welliver Racing . From 21st place on the grid he finished the race in 28th. After the team was sold to Wayne Jesel at the end of the year, Mears drove for the team for the entire next season. With two results in the top 10, he was 21st in the championship at the end of the season. From the 2003 season he drove the Dodge with the starting number 41 for Chip Ganassi Racing in the Nextel Cup . He finished his rookie season in 35th place after not finishing in the top 10 in any race. In the 2004 season he achieved two pole positions with the car. During the 2005 season it was announced that Mears would switch to another Chip Ganassi car with Home123 as the main sponsor and that Reed Sorensen would take over the number 41 car at the same time. After the sponsorship deal with Home123 failed, Mears switched to Chip Ganassi's car with starting number 42 and replaced Jamie McMurray .
On June 9, 2006, it was announced that Mears would be leaving Chip Ganassi Racing at the end of the 2006 season and joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2007 to replace Brian Vickers . About a month later, on July 8th, he won his first race in the Busch Series at Chicagoland Speedway , crossing the finish line while coasting after running out of gas.
Mears has been driving the number 25 car for Hendrick Motorsports with the Army National Guard and GMAC as main sponsors since the 2007 season . With this car he scored his first victory in the Nextel Cup on May 27, 2007 at the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway . Mears took the lead with five laps to go when most of the other drivers drove back into the pits to refuel. Just a few meters after crossing the finish line, he ran out of gas in this race too. He achieved his first pole position for Hendrick Motorsports on July 13, 2007 at Chicagoland Speedway. At the end of the season he finished 15th in the championship.
The 2008 season was not very successful for Mears. After two top 5 results in the first five races, it was only enough for one result in the top 20 in the following races. On July 4, 2008 it was officially announced that the car with starting number 5 will no longer be driven by Mears from the 2009 season. Instead, Mark Martin will take over the car. He finished the 2008 season in 20th place. In the 2009 season , Mears drove a Chevrolet in the service of Richard Childress Racing . The season was not much better than last year. In the end, Mears was only 21st overall.
Mears started the 2010 season at Keyed-Up Motorsports, but he only managed to qualify for a race once with this team. Since the Autism Speaks 400 at Dover International Speedway , he has represented Brian Vickers in the number 83 of Team Red Bull because Vickers will be out until the end of the season due to illness. However, Mears fell short of expectations and was replaced by Reed Sorenson after a few races .
Web links
- Official website
- Casey Mears on NASCAR.com
- Driver statistics on racing-reference.info
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mears, Casey |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mears, Casey James |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American NASCAR racing driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 12, 1978 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bakersfield , California |