Mears Earns Third Straight Top-10 Finish on 28th Birthday
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (March 12, 2006)
--- With 27 laps to go and sitting 17th, Casey Mears and the Texaco/Havoline team rallied to finish ninth at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the UAW DaimlerChrysler 400. It was the team’s third top-10 finish of the season and it now sits fourth in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup standings, 86 points behind the leader.
"It was a hard-fought top-10 finish," said Mears. "That was one of the hardest ones I’ve had in awhile. We made some good decisions in the pits there at the end. Donnie (crew chief Wingo) made a good call taking one tank of gas and pulling a round of wedge out. We were fighting loose in, tight in the center and loose off all day long. That call at the end really brought the car to life. The sun went down and the track got a little bit of grip. I think that helped our car a little bit. The combination of all that happening helped us bring home another top 10."
Mears started the 267-lap race from the 38th position on the same day he celebrated his 28th birthday. By lap seven, he was already reporting the car was loose in and tight through the center. Wingo assured Mears the Texaco/Havoline crew would adjust on the car during its first pit stop. Mears maneuvered his way up to 24th when the first caution waved on lap 40 for his teammate Reed Sorenson's blown right-front tire. Mears brought the No. 42 Dodge down pit road for an air pressure adjustment, four tires and fuel.
Racing resumed on lap 46 with the red and black Dodge in 21st. Mears moved into the top 20 on lap 48, and continued his charge over the next 25 laps and was up to 15th on lap 75. The second caution flag waved on lap 90 when the No. 12 Dodge also lost a right-front tire and hit the wall. Mears was still struggling with the handling of the car and came down pit road for another air pressure adjustment, four fresh Goodyear tires and fuel.
The green flag waved on lap 96 with Mears holding on to the 15th spot. After just nine laps of green-flag racing, the yellow flag was displayed again. Wingo called Mears down pit road so the Texaco/Havoline team could continue to adjust on the car. The seven team members jumped the wall to change the four tires and pack the No. 42 Dodge Charger full of fuel.
Mears dropped back to 20th for the restart on lap 110 when seven cars elected to take just two tires during their stops. With only 30 cars on the lead lap, he found himself marred in slow traffic while trying to gain positions on the track, but carefully worked his way back up to 15th by lap 144. The caution waved again on lap 155. He told Wingo the car was still tough to drive, so the team made another air pressure adjustment before fitting the car with fresh tires and adding fuel.
When Mears took the green flag, he wasted no time reporting the car felt like an entirely different machine. Not only was he battling the earlier loose in, tight off condition, but the Texaco/Havoline dodge was virtually too loose to drive. Lap-by-lap Mears lost positions and found himself 24th on lap 186 when the caution fell. Wingo didn't want to make any drastic changes to the car, fearing the team may have received a bad set of tires.
He called Mears down pit road for an air pressure adjustment in the left front tire, fresh tires and fuel. He remained 24th for the restart on lap 191. After 25 laps of green-flag racing, the Texaco/Havoline Dodge was running 20th again. NASCAR displayed the yellow flag for debris on lap 232 and Wingo was prepared to adjust further on the car to keep up with the changed weather and track conditions, as well as the short run to the finish.
Since the car was still loose in and tight through the center of the corner, Wingo told Mears the team would make a wedge adjustment, change four tires and add just one can of fuel for the dash to the finish. The green flag dropped on lap 237 with Mears in 20th, and once he was able to drive by the lapped traffic, he mounted his charge into the top 10.
Mears picked off his competitors one at a time. He passed the first five in front of him in just seven laps and set his sights on a spot in the top 10. With just three laps remaining in the race, the caution flag waved and the Texaco/Havoline Dodge was up to 10th. Wingo told Mears to remain on the track with the leaders to maintain the valuable track position. That caution flag set up a green-white-checkered finish and Mears was able to set up and pass the No. 29 car to take the checkered flag in the ninth position.
"The big thing that's happening here is that we are having no major issues," said Mears. "We're not necessarily doing every little thing right, but we're not making any major mistakes and that keeps us in the game all day long. We feel like we got a bad set of tires at one point because we were able to move forward except on that one run. All of a sudden we dropped back to 25th and I could barely hang on to the car. We got another set of tires and the car was better and we came through the field."
"Donnie made the call to make a chassis adjustment on that last stop and just one can of gas. That's when the car really came to life. We got to race them to the end. It gave me something I could fight those guys with while everybody was slipping and sliding. The key to gaining spots at the end of the race was just not over driving. On a green-white-checkered everybody is going to run off in there and go for broke. You just can't do that with old tires, and that's how I got a couple of guys when they drove in there a little too hard."
Mears remains solidly in the top 10 in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup points after the third race of the season. He sits fourth, one point behind third-place driver Kasey Kahne and 86 points behind leader Johnson. His Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates teammates David Stremme and Reed Sorenson finished 33rd and 40th respectively.
The Texaco/Havoline team heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway next weekend for the Golden Corral 500 as one of the hottest teams on the NEXTEL Cup circuit.
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