Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release

MEARS AT MARTINSVILLE:

In 10 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Casey Mears has one top-10 finish. On Oct. 22, 2006, Mears turned a 19th-place starting position into a sixth-place result.

KELLOGG'S/CARQUEST TEAM AT MARTINSVILLE:

In 2007, the No. 5 Chevrolet recorded back-to-back fourth-place finishes on the circuit's shortest track. Since Alan Gustafson became the team's crew chief in 2005, it has posted three top-five finishes and four top-10s at Martinsville.

POINTS ARE DECEIVING:

Mears has an average running position of 23rd in the season's first five races, despite being ranked 33rd in points. That run includes a high finish of 13th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 2. He also is ranked 23rd in NASCAR's loop data driver rankings for the year.

HENDRICK DOMINANCE:

Dating back to April 13, 2003, Hendrick Motorsports has won eight of the last 10 Sprint Cup Series races at Martinsville Speedway. In those 10 races, Hendrick teams claimed the pole position five times and recorded 19 top-five finishes. Overall, Hendrick drivers have recorded 16 wins, 46 top-five finishes, 74 top-10s and led more laps at Martinsville than at any other track (5,367 laps). In 24 years of running at Martinsville, Hendrick has posted a top-five finish in all but five of 48 races.

LOCAL CONNECTION:

Jackman Jason Hunt was raised in Greensboro, N.C., and graduated from Southeast Guilford High School in 2001. Spotter Eddie Masencup, who resides in Winston-Salem, N.C., earned Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series championships as a spotter with Bobby Labonte (2000) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (1998), respectively.

MARTINSVILLE CHASSIS:

Gustafson has chosen Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 423 for Sunday's race at Martinsville. The car most recently was used at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway last May when it was involved in a late-race accident.

STILL STREAKING:

Hendrick Motorsports' streak of top-10 finishes improved to 70 races after last week's event at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway when Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 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.

LEADER OF THE PACK:

In the first five races of the season, Hendrick Motorsports has posted more top-three finishes (four) than any other race team and just as many top-five finishes (five) as Joe Gibbs Racing, Roush Fenway Racing and Richard Childress Racing.
MEARS IN OHIO:

Casey Mears will hold an autograph session at the Chevrolet exhibit at the Dayton (Ohio) Auto Show on Thursday, March 27 from 4 to 6 p.m. ET.
CASEY MEARS, DRIVER, NO. 5 KELLOGG'S/CARQUEST CHEVROLET

(ON HIS OUTLOOK FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON.):

"My goals haven't changed, and I don't think the team's have either. We're going to do all we can to make the Chase. This team is ready to rally. We've definitely got to be conservative in ways because we need valuable points. Hendrick Motorsports has had a lot of success at Martinsville in the past, so maybe this will be the week we turn it around. Our goals haven't changed. They're just going to be a little harder to achieve now than they were six weeks ago."

(ON APPROACHING MARTINSVILLE DIFFERENTLY THAN OTHER TRACKS.):

"Martinsville has the tightest corners that we encounter all season long. So I'm constantly telling myself during the race to not overdrive the center. I also have to remind myself to be patient and not get too excited. You always want to keep a fast pace, stay up front and lead laps. But the new cars are also heavier and, in turn, harder on brakes. You have to be careful not to wear yourself and your equipment out. All the while, staying patient, but not falling so far back that you go a lap down."

(ON RELYING ON PAST MARTINSVILLE WINNERS JEFF GORDON AND JIMMIE JOHNSON FOR ADVICE.):

"We, as teammates, always talk. We have meetings every weekend after practice to discuss how track performance has been up to that point. We talk about how they (teammates Gordon, Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr.) drive their cars versus how I drive mine. As well as what they like to do as far as setup versus what we have in the Kellogg's/CARQUEST Chevy. Hendrick Motorsports is really big on open communication. And I think it's obvious that it works. All of us as drivers enjoy it. And I think it really helps."

(ON HIS OFF WEEKEND.):

"I hate having a bad run right before an off weekend. Absolutely hate it. All I've thought about is what we need to do to be better; what we could've done in past races. It haunts me. I've managed to get past it a little bit by going to Colorado to celebrate my dad's birthday with him. I am anxious to get back to the track, though. I want to rattle off some good finishes and work our way through the points."

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

(ON IF THE TEAM'S GOALS HAVE CHANGED FIVE RACES INTO THE SEASON.):

"Our goals haven't changed at all. We can't let going through a rough patch affect what we are trying to accomplish. Everyone is going to have a hard time at some point or go through a bad streak. Unfortunately we hit our bad streak at the beginning of the season, which makes everything look a little bleaker. But you can't let that change the team or what we, as a team, are trying to do."

(ON IF HE WOULD HAVE PREFERRED TO KEEP RACING OR TAKE THE WEEKEND OFF.):

"When you haven't had the finishes you wanted or you've had a few bad races, you definitely don't want to have an off weekend. So yeah, the timing of last weekend was pretty bad for us. You want to have an off weekend where you can enjoy yourself and forget about the job a little bit. If you've ended on a bad race, however, that's all you think about. So instead of waiting one week to redeem yourself, you get to mull it over for two weeks (LAUGHTER). I'd rather have gone straight to Martinsville, had a good run and then had the weekend off."

(ON IF THE TEAM HAS CHANGED ITS STRATEGY.):

"A lot changes when your team is down in the point standings. It's definitely a disadvantage. Tech procedures alone put you behind the eight ball. The order that we normally go through is altered, and we end up having to duplicate work a little bit. Plus, the time spent in the tech line increases, so you're missing time when you could be making adjustments. Also, the first practice on Saturday rolls out in order of points. Only 25 cars are allowed on the track at a time, so instantly we're losing track time, too.
"Strategy-wise, we just have to be more conservative now. Points are at a premium. We can't go into every race being super aggressive. We still go there with the will to win and the want to win, but we have to carefully measure risk versus reward. If we're running 10th, and I'm thinking about a pit decision that has a 20-percent success rate, I'm not going to do it now. Now I look carefully at race history, fuel mileage and how good our car is handling. If I can measure out the risk, and I can find an 80-percent success rate in it, I'm probably going to go for it."


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