| | | | | | | 5 - Casey Mears | Bakersfield, CA |
| | Primary Sponsor: Kellogg's/CARQUEST
Manufacturer: Chevrolet
Car Owner: Mary Hendrick
Team: Hendrick Motorsports In just five years of racing on the NASCAR circuit, Casey Mears is showing his potential behind the wheel of a stock car. In 2002, the California native faced a tough decision – he had the chance to drive in both stock and open wheel cars. Mears sought the opinions of his father, off-road legend Roger Mears and his uncle, four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears. Mears and his family decided that it was NASCAR in the younger Mears’ future.
Mears had started his racing career in 1982 when he was just four years old, racing BMX bicycles and then ATVs in his hometown of Bakersfield. He would go on to race go-karts in 1991, then the SuperLites Off-Road Series in 1992, eventually moving up to the Jim Russell USAC Triple Crown Championship, where he eventually saw a third-place finish in the series.
In 1995 he won the Jim Russell USAC Triple Crown Championship and made his Indy Lights debut in 1996. In the 1999 Indy Lights Series, he scored 11 top-10s, eight top-fives and had four podium finishes, ending the season second overall, just 14 points away from the championship.
After making his NASCAR debut in a 2001 Busch Series race, Mears began racing in the Busch Series full-time the next year, driving the No. 66 Dodge. During that first season driving a stock car, he earned seven top-15 finishes.
His NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series rookie season would come in 2003, when he competed for Chip Ganassi Racing in all 36 races. Mears closed out the season with five top-20 finishes and was 35th in overall point standings. Mears ran 13 races in the Busch Series also, scoring one pole and three top-10 finishes. He also saw his first win in a stock car that year.
In 2004, Mears earned one top-five and nine top-10 finishes in the NEXTEL Cup Series, still competing in 17 Busch Series events as well. He posted his first top-five Cup Series finish at Watkins Glen International, and following in the footsteps of his uncle Rick Mears, he captured the pole in track-record time at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in August. Since Mears had already won the pole the week before at Pocono Raceway, his Indianapolis pole-position made him the first driver since 1964 to win his first two career NEXTEL Cup poles in consecutive races.
After coming close to a couple of wins in 2005, Mears finished the NEXTEL Cup season with three top-five and nine top-10 finishes. He also had five top-10s in the last nine races.
In 2006, Mears finished second to his current teammate Jimmie Johnson in the Daytona 500, and ended the NEXTEL Cup season 14th in final points standings – a career best – with two top-five and eight top-10 finishes. He also won his first career NASCAR race at Chicagoland Speedway in the Busch Series.
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