SCENEDAILY
BY REA WHITE
ASSOCIATE EDITOR

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Casey Mears may be the forgotten man at Hendrick Motorsports.

Throughout the offseason, articles have appeared about the organization's mega lineup, stories filled with statistics and information about two-time champion Jimmie Johnson, four-time champion Jeff Gordon and new addition Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR's five-time reigning fan-voted Most Popular Driver. Mears has often been just an also-mentioned driver in stories about the organization that dominated the NASCAR Cup series in 2007.

Normally, a driver in Mears' position might be gaining a few more headlines on his own. He won for the first time last season, finished 15th in the series standings and has now moved over and joined the No. 5 team. That group, with crew chief Alan Gustafson, has qualified for the championship-determining Chase segment of the season.

So, it looks as if Mears could on the verge of a breakout year, that he could be poised for a potential career season.

Yet he's lost in the shuffle, buried in the publicity surrounding his higher-profile teammates.

"Maybe the fact that we're under the radar a little bit gives us an opportunity to focus on what we need to do and not worry about any outside issues," Mears said during this week's testing at Daytona International Speedway.

The 29-year-old is entering his fifth full season of Cup competition and his second with Hendrick with little fanfare.

It seems that he likes it that way.

"I think with the way my career started, getting involved in NASCAR at this level so early before I was probably prepared to be here, we came in with kind of a splash and then it kind of mellowed out, and I've been under the radar ever since," said Mears, who debuted with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2003 after one season of Busch Series competition.

Instead of worrying about where he rates in terms of his teammates, Mears said his only interest was in having the same tools that the other Hendrick teams do - and that he's certain he does. Team owner Rick Hendrick makes certain, Mears says, that his teams have equal access.

Mears is trying to stay focused on his own effort and not get caught up in all the hoopla concerning just how strong the Hendrick arsenal will be this season.

"With the history that Alan and everybody's had with the 5 car, for me it's a great opportunity this year," he said. "Obviously last year we came in and had a last-minute crew chief change. We did a lot of team building the first part of the season that kind of got us behind, where although we had a couple minor changes with the team, for the most part the 5 team in intact and we got a great group of guys."

Mears admits that it might take some time for him and Gustafson to communicate seamlessly, but that will come with time.

Gustafson takes a simple approach to the lack of attention being paid his team. When comparing the groups, Gustafson is interested in speeds and information sharing, not headline comparisons.

"There's a big demand for Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson and Dale Jr., which is great," he said. "For each separate reasons, that's very deserving on their parts. I completely understand that. But it doesn't change anything that I do.

"I still want to win. I still want to compete. I still want to be the best."

In fact, Gustafson says the team finds the whole thing a little funny. Even his neighbors are asking him about his higher-profile teammates.

His teammates aren't immune to questions about Mears, either. They expect him to step up this year, to perform on par with the other Hendrick teams over the full course of the season.

"I thought they had some real positive moments last year," Gordon said. "I think that Hendrick Motorsports certainly seems to be more together as a whole on all four teams than they ever have before and I think some of the consistency that he had the second half of the season shows the real potential of what that team and what Casey have to bring to the table.

"I just hope he can get things started off right early in the season and not get so far behind. But last season, to me it's always your toughest season, whether you're a rookie or whether you're new with a team,

it always takes time to gel and there's a lot of pressure on a guy like Casey where Jimmie [is] battling for the championship, for the second year, we were battling for the championship and the 5 car was as well.

"I definitely look for them to step up and be much stronger this year. I think Alan's an awesome crew chief. I think that team and Casey should do very well."

Mears and Gustafson may be taking the comparisons to their teammates lightly, but they're serious when it comes to the competition side. Mears says that he's always felt the need to win, but that this year he feels more prepared to be successful from the beginning of the season, something that could add pressure to his effort.

While he downplays any pressure, Mears admits that the team has specific goals in mind.

"I feel like we definitely need to make the Chase, and then we'll go from there," he said.

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release

MEARS AT FONTANA:

Casey Mears will make his 10th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at California Speedway on Sunday. In his nine previous starts at the track, he has earned two top-10 finishes. His most recent top-10 finish was in 2006. Last year, in his first season with Hendrick Motorsports, Mears led a lap for the first time at the Fontana, Calif., track.

HOMETOWN BOY:

Mears is a native of Bakersfield, Calif., which is roughly 155 miles northwest of the California Speedway. He started his career racing BMX bicycles and all-terrain vehicles before transitioning to go-karts. The son of off-road racing legend Roger Mears and nephew of four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears, Casey Mears progressed through open-wheel racing before moving to NASCAR in 2002. Now in his sixth season, he has won once and recorded 11 top-five finishes and 36 top-10s. He has won three pole positions.

FAMILY AFFAIR:

The Mears family has raced in California for decades. It started with Mears' father, Roger, who competed in Indy Cars at the old Ontario Motor Speedway twice before the California track closed in 1980. Roger Mears' brother, Rick, also raced open-wheel cars at Ontario. Clint Mears, Rick's son, won an Indy Lights Series race from the pole position in 1997 at California Speedway. Prior to starting his NASCAR career, Casey Mears also competed at California Speedway four times in the Indy Lights Series, posting one top-five finish in 2000.

NO. 5 AT CALIFORNIA:

The No. 5 CARQUEST/Kellogg's team won at California Speedway in September 2005. The win was the first for Alan Gustafson as crew chief of the team. The No. 5 team also earned the California pole, its first ever at the track, in February that year. In the past six races at the Fontana venue, the No. 5 Chevy has recorded two top-five finishes and five top-10s.

CALIFORNIA CHASSIS:

Gustafson chose Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 479 for Sunday's race. The chassis was used during testing at the speedway on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, but this will be the first time it is used during a race.

HENDRICK AT CALIFORNIA:

Team owner Rick Hendrick has recorded six Sprint Cup race wins at California Speedway -- more than any other owner. Hendrick's last win was by Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet, on Sept. 2, 2007. The track has hosted 15 Sprint Cup events since its inaugural race in 1997.

QUICK TURNAROUND:

After Sunday's race at California Speedway, transporter drivers Dean Mozingo and Jimmy Parrott will leave the Fontana track and head to Las Vegas to meet Mike Belden. Belden will drive his transporter roughly 5,000 miles to move the No. 5 and No. 88 primary cars from Charlotte, N.C., to Las Vegas for the March 2 race. This is the first time that the Sprint Cup Series is holding back-to-back races on the West Coast.

AUTOGRAPHS:

Casey Mears will greet fans and sign autographs at the Kellogg's/CARQUEST souvenir trailer on Sunday at 9:40 a.m. PT.
CASEY MEARS, DRIVER, NO. 5 CARQUEST/KELLOGG'S CHEVROLET

(ON GOING BACK HOME TO CALIFORNIA.):

"I love going back to California. Actually, I love getting back to the West Coast as much as possible. A lot of my family lives out there, so it's a good time for me to see everyone and just kind of chill out. They all go out to my motorcoach in the evenings, and we just hang out like it's a normal night."

(ON THE INFLUENCE HIS FAMILY HAS HAD ON HIS RACING DECISIONS.):

"My dad is really so important to me. He's been there through all of my racing, since I was a kid. When I moved to NASCAR, he became my motorcoach driver. So I'm really used to seeing my dad on race days and as soon as I get out of that race car. It's a little different this year, because he's not coming every weekend, but we still talk on the phone all the time. I try to make it like he's here. My Uncle Rick is really who I look up to and want to be like. He was just always thought of as a good guy (when he was racing). He didn't act like someone he wasn't. He didn't need to be in the spotlight all the time. He just raced hard and treated everyone with respect."

(ON HIS WEST COAST HOBBIES.):

"I love the sand dunes. I know I talk about it all the time, but really that's where I want to be during any time off that we have. I got a new sand car last winter, and I've really been working on that. We take a motorcoach out there and just ride all day. There's no one telling you where to go, or to stop here, or go here, or slow down, or whatever. There's no road signs, no street lights. You really can do whatever you want. I guess I kind of recharge out there. Next week, I'm taking a couple of rookies, including my crew chief Alan (Gustafson), out there with me. We'll see how they do."

ALAN GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF, NO. 5 CARQUEST/KELLOGG'S CHEVROLET

(ON HAVING DIFFICULTY TURNING DURING TESTING AT CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY.):

"California Speedway doesn't have much banking at all so that makes it even harder to figure out the handling and get these new cars to turn than it is at tracks like Las Vegas or Atlanta. With less banking, the cars seem to handle worse. The tight handling is a tough issue to overcome on non-banked tracks."

(ON HOW THE TEAM WILL COMBAT THE TIGHT HANDLING THIS WEEKEND.):

"Well, when we tested out there, we learned a lot. We came back to the shop and kept working on it. The engineers got on it. We went to the seven-post with it. It's an issue that we'll have to try to overcome in different ways than aerodynamically."

(ON IF THIS IS AN ISSUE AFFECTING ALL TEAMS.):

"This is inherent to the new car. Certain teams will do a better job of dealing with it and getting the car to handle better. But we've been told from day one, when the first COT (Car of Tomorrow) was tested, that they just don't want to turn."

DEAN MOZINGO, TRANSPORTER DRIVER, NO. 5 CARQUEST/KELLOGG'S CHEVROLET

(ON THE TURNAROUND FOLLOWING THE RACE AT CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY.):

"Working at Hendrick Motorsports, we have good resources and good people that make a turnaround like this easy. It's really hard on the single-car teams and even multiple-car teams that don't have the resources that we do. We worked hard to get everything in order. It's not too bad of a deal, really. I just hate being gone from home that long."


This Press Release and any images that are used,
are used with permission. Do not duplicate or
redistribute in any form without permission or credit.

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release

MEARS AT VEGAS:

Casey Mears will make his sixth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday. In his five previous starts at the track, he has earned three top-10 finishes, most recently finishing ninth in 2006.

POP-TARTS MILESTONE:

This weekend, Pop-Tarts, Kellogg's most popular morning food product, will adorn the hood of the No. 5 Chevrolet for the first time. The Pop-Tarts brand, created in the early 1960s, is more than 40 years old, putting the product in the same age bracket as just six members of the No. 5 team, which averages a very young 34 years old.

DUNES DAY:

On Thursday, Mears is taking a group of friends, including teammate Jimmie Johnson, on a day-long trip of off-roading in the Dumont Dunes, which are located about 100 miles southwest of Las Vegas near Baker, Calif. Mears recently purchased a new off-road sand car, similar to a dune buggy, that he spent much of the off-season driving around the sand dunes. (Photos of this trip or previous outings available upon request.)

NO. 5 AT VEGAS:

The No. 5 team has posted two top-five finishes and three straight top-10s at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The No. 5 Chevrolet's best finish was in March 2005 when it took second behind the No. 48 of teammate Jimmie Johnson.

JUST A BABY:

Mears started attending motor sports events at a young age. When he was 2 weeks old, he attended a sprint car race at Ascot Park, a dirt race track near Los Angeles. At 6 weeks old, he attended his first off-road racing event -- the once-famous Mint 400 in Las Vegas. Mears' father, off-road racing legend Roger Mears, was competing in that race, which promised a $100,000 purse. (A photo of Mears and his father at the race is available upon request.)

RALLY CAPS:

Lead mechanic Mike Senyitko was tired of the No. 5 crew's somber attitude Sunday evening. Mears' fiery crash on Lap 20 at California Speedway had been disappointing for the No. 5 Chevy team, which dropped to 42nd in the Sprint Cup driver standings. As the team boarded the plane for Concord, N.C., Senyitko shouted, "Rally caps!" That one little baseball axiom changed the mood, as each team member with a hat flipped it inside out and upside down. The No. 5 crew clapped and cheered prior to takeoff, leaving California behind and setting their sights on Las Vegas.

HAULER PARADE:

No. 5 transporter drivers Dean Mozingo and Jimmy Parrott will participate in a "Hauler Parade" down the Las Vegas Strip at 2:30 p.m. PT on Thursday. Mozingo has been at Hendrick Motorsports for seven years, while Parrott came on board last year.

LEADING LAS VEGAS:

Rick Hendrick's teams have fared well recently at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet, has won the last three races at the track, while the other three Hendrick teams have combined for an additional five top-five finishes and six top-10s during those events.

VEGAS CHASSIS:

Crew chief Alan Gustafson has chosen Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 418 for Sunday's race. This particular chassis last was used at Dover (Del.) International Speedway on Sept. 23, 2007, when the No. 5 team finished fifth.

TESTING PLANNED:

After Sunday's race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the No. 5 Chevrolet team will travel to Phoenix International Raceway for the third of five open Sprint Cup Series test sessions. A separate fleet of Hendrick Motorsports transporters will await the team in Phoenix with the necessary testing equipment.

AUTOGRAPHS:

Casey Mears will greet fans and sign autographs at the Kellogg's/CARQUEST souvenir trailer at 9:45 a.m. PT on Sunday.

CASEY MEARS, DRIVER, NO. 5 POP-TARTS/CARQUEST CHEVROLET

(ON HEADING TO THE SAND DUNES.):

"Other than racing, this is it. The sand dunes are such a huge part of my life, and it's just so much fun that I want everyone to experience it. I just know that there's no way anyone could go out there and not have fun. I want everyone to catch the bug like I have."

(ON HIS FIRST TRIP TO THE DUMONT DUNES.):

"My first trip to the dunes, I was a baby. My Mom was holding me in the passenger seat of a dune buggy. My Dad hit a bump and knocked me out of my Mom's arms. I fell on the floorboard and clear down to the nose of the car. They hit the brakes, and when Mom finally got to me I was just waking up. So that was my first experience with the dunes. And it didn't have a negative effect because I still love going.
"
(ON BUYING THE NEW SAND CAR.):

"When I used to go out, I would play around on quads. I used to race quads as a kid, so that was just what we did when we went out there. We didn't think of anything else. Plus, back then, sand buggies were just OK. They didn't have the technology that they do now. Today, they're more like off-road cars. I saw one at California Speedway a few years ago and just knew that I had to have one. I contacted Tatum Motorsports and had them custom build one for me about a year ago. It has a lot of little things that I added to it. It has an air compressor on it in case we get a flat out there; a light rack on top; a second battery. It's pretty cool. I've had a blast in it."

(ON GROWING UP THE SON OF A FAMOUS OFF-ROAD RACER.):

"My Dad was always just my Dad. I know now that other people look at him differently, but to me he was just my Dad. He was normal. I thought every kid's dad was like that. We went to the races all the time, which I loved. Looking back, my childhood was really cool. But at the time, it was just normal life. Again, I thought everyone went to the races. His success has really shaped my career choices, too. I'm sure that if he or my grandfather, Bill, didn't race, the chances of me being a race car driver would have greatly decreased. But he raised me to be super competitive and to enjoy racing. Now I'm grown up, and it's still just what I do. It's normal life."

ALAN GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF, NO. 5 POP-TARTS/CARQUEST CHEVROLET

(ON THE TEAM'S RENEWED ENTHUSIASM.):

"The rally caps on Sunday night were a great way to break the tension that you could feel throughout the team. We are in a tough situation, so it's easy to get mad and focus on the negative and what could have been. Pumping the team up like that and getting out the rally caps reminded us of what we can and cannot control. So we forget about California and turn our focus to Las Vegas."

(ON HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS' STRENGTH AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY.):

"The team has gotten stronger in general, not just at Las Vegas. Hendrick Motorsports has consistently improved over the past few years, and I think our performance at tracks like Las Vegas, with Jimmie (Johnson) winning the last three races there, is just what puts our strengths, as a team, on display. It's not just this track or that track. It's this team in general."

MIKE SENYITKO, LEAD MECHANIC, NO. 5 POP-TARTS/CARQUEST CHEVROLET

(ON HIS RALLY CRY.):

"Everyone knows what this team has been through in the past two races. Daytona went well until the very end. Then at Fontana, well, that ended pretty badly, too. So, I'm sitting on the airplane and I look over at Sunshine (lead engineer Chris Heroy). He had his hat on backwards, and I just thought, 'Rally caps!' He and I both flipped our hats inside out and turned up the bill and just started running through the plane, shouting it out. I really wanted to do it for the guys. I'm one of the older ones on the team, and I know how easy it is to dwell on the negative. I either want these guys to be celebrating or getting over it."


This Press Release and any images that are used,
are used with permission. Do not duplicate or
redistribute in any form without permission or credit.

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release

MEARS AT ATLANTA:

Casey Mears will make his 11th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday. Mears posted his career-best finish -- 12th -- at the track on Oct. 28.

NO. 5 CHEVY AT ATLANTA:

When under the direction of crew chief Alan Gustafson, the No. 5 team has a career-best 12th-place finish, which it notched in three straight Sprint Cup races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The most recent 12th-place finish was March 19, 2006. Last fall, the No. 5 team led 77 laps before finishing 20th after an issue during a late-race pit stop.

ATLANTA STRENGTH:

Car owner Rick Hendrick has 10 victories, two pole positions, 42 top-five finishes and 65 top-10s in Sprint Cup competition at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It is one of eight race tracks where Hendrick has accumulated double-digit wins.

16 RACES. AND COUNTING:

You have to go back to last century to find the last time Hendrick Motorsports failed to record a top-10 finish at Atlanta. It was Nov. 21, 1999, and Hendrick was then a three-car team with drivers Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte and Wally Dallenbach Jr. That's a streak of 16 consecutive races with a top-10 result at the Hampton, Ga., track.
TOP-10 STREAK:

Hendrick Motorsports teams have posted at least one top-10 finish in 68 consecutive Sprint Cup Series races dating back to April 9, 2006. Finishing 11th, Jimmie Johnson was Hendrick's top performer that day at Texas Motor Speedway.

5 TEAM DUE AT ATLANTA:

The No. 5 is the oldest number in the Hendrick Motorsports stable, dating back to the inception of All-Star Racing in 1984. In those 23 years, the No. 5 has competed at Atlanta Motor Speedway 49 times with four different drivers, but never has visited Victory Lane. The No. 5 team has been the runner-up four times, though, with Geoff Bodine (2), Ricky Rudd (1) and Terry Labonte (1). Prior to 1984, the number visited Atlanta's Victory Lane just once, and that was in 1960 with driver Bobby Johns and owner Cotton Owens.

MEMORABLE ATLANTA DAY:

The Kellogg's/CARQUEST Chevrolet has yet to win at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but the team did celebrate there on Nov. 10, 1996. Labonte used a fifth-place finish to secure the Sprint Cup Series championship that day, edging teammate Jeff Gordon and his No. 24 Chevrolet team, which finished third. The title was the second for Labonte and Hendrick Motorsports. Mike Bumgarner, still a No. 5 crew member, was the tire specialist and rear-tire changer in 1996. He is the team's car chief today.

ATLANTA CHASSIS:

Crew chief Alan Gustafson has chosen Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 468, which will make its debut in Sunday's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
AUTOGRAPHS:

Casey Mears will greet fans and sign autographs at the Kellogg's/CARQUEST souvenir trailer at 10:30 a.m. ET on Sunday.

CASEY MEARS, DRIVER, NO. 5 KELLOGG'S/CARQUEST CHEVROLET

(ON RACING SUPERSTITIONS.):
"I used to have a lot of them. Like not to wear green to the race track. And don't hang your helmet upside down because that means you'll get upside down in your race car. I always put my left glove on before my right. I believed that peanuts were bad luck, too. One time during an off-road race that my Dad was in, a friend and I were out on the track to help if needed, and he started throwing peanut shells out onto the course. My Dad was running second, and my friend thought that the shells might give the guy winning some bad luck. When the leader drove by nothing happened at first, then a couple hundred feet away he wrecked. Our eyes got huge, and we ran out on the course and picked up every shell we could find before my Dad got to us."

(ON DEVELOPING SUPERSTITIONS AFTER THE EVENTS AT DAYTONA AND CALIFORNIA.):

"Well, I just had this conversation at Daytona and said that I don't really believe in superstitions or jinxes or anything like that anymore. But after the luck, or lack of luck we've had so far this year, something needed to change. I've been wearing these super-cool black Alpine Stars racing shoes so far this season. But there has always been a blue pair just sitting in my drawer in the truck. So when practice started at Vegas, I instantly reached for the blue ones. Time for a change I guess."

ALAN GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF, NO. 5 KELLOGG'S/CARQUEST CHEVROLET

(ON IF HE IS SUPERSTITIOUS.):
"No. I eat peanuts at the race track. I wear green. None of that stuff gets to me at all. When I was a kid and played soccer, my number was 13. I don't believe in any of that stuff."

(ON WHY ATLANTA HAS BEEN SUCH A TOUGH TRACK FOR THIS RACE TEAM.):

"Last fall at Atlanta we led 77 laps, but had an issue on pit road that pretty much cost us the race. So it's not that we don't run well there, we just haven't been able to post the finishes that go with that. We've had fast cars there, and there are about two or three races there I could say we probably should have won. But it all comes down to doing everything right. And we just haven't been able to do that yet at Atlanta."

(ON KEEPING HIS TEAM MOTIVATED AFTER TWO TOUGH RACES.):

"I just have to keep the team positive and keep all of my own emotions in check. We just go into every week continuously doing our jobs the best that we can. It's tough, though. Nothing about having a rough start to the season is easy."

This Press Release and any images that are used,
are used with permission. Do not duplicate or
redistribute in any form without permission or credit.

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release

DEFENDING CHAMPIONS:

The CARQUEST/Kellogg's Chevrolet team returns to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway this Sunday as the reigning winners of the Food City 500. Last March, the No. 5 Chevy started 20th and led 29 laps before scoring its sole victory of the 2007 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. It was the 200th NASCAR victory for team owner Rick Hendrick and the 600th Cup win for manufacturer Chevrolet. It also was the first win for the new Impala SS race car.

TOP-10 TEAM:

Last March's victory at Bristol marked the team's third straight top-10 finish at the short track. The team continued the trend when it finished ninth there in August. In six previous Bristol races, the No. 5 has recorded two top-five finishes and four top-10s.
MEARS AT BRISTOL:

Casey Mears earned his first career top-10 finish at Bristol Motor Speedway last March with Hendrick Motorsports. It was also his first top-10 result of the 2007 Sprint Cup campaign and helped him climb to 15th in the standings by season's end.

HENDRICK AT BRISTOL:

The last time a Hendrick Motorsports car failed to produce a top-10 result at Bristol happened on Aug. 26, 2000. At the time, the organization was a three-car team with Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte and Jerry Nadeau. That is a streak of 15 races with a Hendrick car in the top 10. Since 1986, when Hendrick became a multi-car team, the organization has recorded a top-10 finish in all but five of 44 Bristol races.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CASEY:

Mears will celebrate his 30th birthday on Wednesday. One of his family's favorite stories happened on March 12, 1994, when Mears celebrated his 16th birthday. He won an Off-Road Super Lites race in Seattle, and his parents panicked slightly when the cake announcing his age was brought into Victory Lane. The Mears had fudged their son's age to make him eligible for the race, and they didn't want the officials to know.

ANOTHER BIRTHDAY:

Brad Pickens, the CARQUEST/Kellogg's Chevy's lead mechanic and gasman, also will celebrate his birthday on Wednesday. Pickens will be 34 years old. He joined the No. 5 team in 2000 and has held several jobs ranging from general mechanic to setup director during that time.

VETERAN SPOTTER:

Spotting isn't an easy job, and it can be particularly tricky at a short track like Bristol. That's why the No. 5 Chevrolet team is glad to have veteran spotter Eddie Masencup on the team. Masencup spotted for Dale Earnhardt Jr. when he won the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship in 1998, and he earned the Sprint Cup title with Bobby Labonte in 2000. After that, Masencup settled in with the No. 5 team and driver Terry Labonte. He still works as a pilot for Terry Labonte.

ATLANTA CHASSIS:

Crew chief Alan Gustafson has chosen Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 414 for Sunday's race at Bristol. Mears raced this particular car at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway last year. The team also tested the chassis at Atlanta Motor Speedway and The Milwaukee Mile last season.

STILL STREAKING:

Hendrick Motorsports' streak of top-10 finishes improved to 69 races after last week's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway when Dale Earnhardt Jr. took third and Jeff Gordon was fifth. The last time a Hendrick driver wasn't in the top 10 was April 9, 2006. Finishing 11th, Jimmie Johnson was Hendrick's top performer that day at Texas Motor Speedway.

AUTOGRAPHS:

Casey Mears will greet fans and sign autographs at the Kellogg's/CARQUEST souvenir trailer at 10:20 a.m. ET on Sunday.

CASEY MEARS, DRIVER, NO. 5 CARQUEST/KELLOGG'S CHEVROLET

(ON TURNING 30.):
"I don't really think about it much. I just don't worry about things I can't control, like age. I mean, I know I'm going to turn 30. I know I'm going to get old. If anything, I'm more like 'Wow! I made it to 30. That's pretty cool!' You know?"

(ON HIS BIRTHDAY PLANS.)

"Birthdays have never been a big deal to me. I feel guilty if people celebrate my birthday. It's almost more stress to know people are making a big deal over you. Now if it's someone else's birthday, I like to go all out. But a nice quiet dinner with the family is all I want to do for my own. I like it pretty low key."

ALAN GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF, NO. 5 CARQUEST/KELLOGG'S CHEVROLET

(ON DEFENDING LAST YEAR'S WIN.):

"Last year we had a very good race car at Bristol. But the win didn't come easy. We had to battle it out all day. (Tony) Stewart and (Denny) Hamlin were both really good but had issues. Then it came down to the very end with us and (Jeff) Burton. It was an exciting race.

"The coolest part of it all, though, was that it was the first Impala SS victory, the 200th NASCAR win for Hendrick and the 600th Sprint Cup win for Chevrolet. All of those things are a pretty big deal. It's nice that the (No.) 5 team was the one to earn that for everyone."

(ON THE NO. 5 TEAM'S SUCCESS AT BRISTOL.):

"We've had drivers in this car that are just really good at Bristol. When you have a driver who knows the race track, they can come into the garage and educate the team on what it needs to do to the car. The more they can communicate back to us about the track, the better we can set up the car for them."

GUSTAFSON (ON KEEPING YOUR DRIVER PATIENT AT BRISTOL.):

"To keep my driver calm and patient, I first have to remain calm. I remind myself to not get too excited, even though with short track racing, excitement just comes naturally. If something goes wrong, I have to be able to minimize the effects of that as much as I can. There's a lot going on up in that spotter's stand too, but Eddie (Masencup) will play a big role as well, during the race, to keep Casey focused."

(ON THE IMPORTANCE OF PIT STALL SELECTION AT BRISTOL.):

"Back when pit road was split, it absolutely killed a team to have a pit stall on the backstretch. Qualifying well was so important then. Now that everyone enters pit road off of Turn 2, it really doesn't make that much of a difference anymore. If you're not in the top four and can't get an opening, then it doesn't really matter what side of the track you pit on. Qualifying well still helps, however, as track position is extremely important. If you start in the back at Bristol, you could go a lap down early, and there's nothing good that comes from that."

EDDIE MASENCUP, SPOTTER, NO. 5 CARQUEST/KELLOGG'S CHEVROLET

(ON SPOTTING AT BRISTOL.):
"I don't think it's hard to spot at Bristol. I don't say that too much around the other spotters because they think I'm crazy. But I actually enjoy spotting at short tracks like Bristol and Martinsville more than I do restrictor-plate races. There's just so much going on, so much excitement. The race goes by really fast for us up on the spotters' stand. I'm looking forward to it."


This Press Release and any images that are used,
are used with permission. Do not duplicate or
redistribute in any form without permission or credit.

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.