FANTASY NASCAR Racin

an American profession stock car racer. Mears is the nephew of four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears and the son of Indy Car and off-road veteran Roger Mears. In 1996, Mears made his Dayton Indy Lights debut at the Cleveland Grand Prix and finished eighth. The following year, he competed full-time in the Indy Lights championship and in 1999 finished second, losing by 14 points. Mears continued to compete in the Indy Lights in 2000 and won his first race at the Grand Prix of Houston meeting in October. After testing Indy Cars for multiple teams in 2000, Mears was offered a chance to drive a third entry for Team Rahal at California Speedway in October. After qualifying 15th and leading 10 laps, he posted a career-best fourth finish in his CART Series debut. He ran three IRL events

Mears drove for them full-time, finishing 21st in points with two top-ten finishes. To the surprise of many, he was selected by Chip Ganassi Racing to drive the No. 41 Target Dodge in 2003. In his rookie season, he finished 35th after failing to finish in the top-ten in any race. Throughout 2003, Mears drove a number of ARCA races for Ganassi, winning three times, once at Michigan, and sweeping both Pocono races. He drove the No. 41 Cup car for two additional seasons, and won two poles in 2004. Mears came close to quite a lot of victories during this period. He led late in the 2004 Sirius at the Glen but got passed with 12 laps to go and finished 4th. At Homestead in 2005, Mears controlled the final 100 laps of the Ford 400, but after a yellow flag (with 19 laps to go) erased his 28-second lead, Mears had to make a pit stop thus forfeiting the lead and with it, the win. During the 2005 season, it was announced Mears would move to a separate car for

Ganassi with Home123 sponsorship, with the #41 to be piloted by Reed Sorenson. The Home123 sponsorship fell through and he instead moved to the #42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge for Ganassi, replacing the departing Jamie McMurray. Mears started off 2006 with a then-best career finish of second, holding off Ryan Newman as Mears' future teammate Jimmie Johnson won the 2006 Daytona 500. On June 6, 2006, Mears announced that he was leaving Chip Ganassi Racing at the end of the season to join Hendrick Motorsports for the 2007 season, to replace the departing Brian Vickers. On July 8, he finally won his first NASCAR

race, a Xfinity Series race at Chicagoland Speedway, coasting to the finish after running out of fuel. For the 2007 season, Mears assumed driving duties for the #25 Hendrick Chevrolet, with co-primary sponsorship from the National Guard of the United States and GMAC. On May 27, he won the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte for his first career Cup victory, behind the wheel of the #25 Chevy owned by Rick Hendrick. Once again, Mears secured the win with a fuel gamble, taking the lead with five laps remaining when most of the other lead lap cars stopped for fuel. Mears stretched his fuel to the finish, running out moments after his first checkered flag. In 2008 Mears moved to the Alan Gustafson-led #5 Kellogg's/Carquest

Chevrolet Impala formerly driven by Kyle Busch. After going winless, Mears was released by Hendrick and replaced by veteran Mark Martin. On August 23, 2008, Mears was announced as the driver of Richard Childress Racing's #07 Jack Daniel's Chevrolet Impala SS. The previous driver of the car, Clint Bowyer, would drive the team's new #33 General Mills Chevrolet Impala SS. In his first season at RCR, Mears notched 2 top ten finishes. After Mears struggled during the first seven races of the year, Richard Childress switched the crew chiefs for Harvick and Mears' cars, hoping for a better performance from the two drivers. The switch seemed to work for both parties. On October 21, 2009, it was announced Mears would be getting his 3rd crew chief of the season starting at Talladega. Todd Berrier would be moving to the #31 team

in place of Scott Miller. Doug Randolph took over as the crew chief on the #07. This move was made primarily because the future of the 07 was uncertain and Childress wanted to keep Berrier in the family. After the switch, Mears struggled with his new crew chief and had a best finish of 19th at Homestead. Mears was released by Richard Childress Racing following the 2009 season. It was announced on January 20, 2010 that Mears would drive the #90 Key Motorsports Chevy. Mears failed to qualify for the
2010 Daytona 500, ending a starting streak of 252 consecutive races; this was Mears' first DNQ of his career. Mears also failed to qualify for Fontana, Las Vegas, and

Atlanta. After qualifying for Martinsville was rained out and the team did not qualify, Mears was released by the team. Following his release from Key Motorsports, Joe Gibbs announced that Mears would be on standby status while JGR driver, Denny Hamlin, recovered from ACL surgery; however, Hamlin did not require a replacement and therefore Mears did not drive in either of the two races. Beginning on April 27, 2010, Mears briefly became the driver for Tommy Baldwin's No. 36 team. On May 13, Mears was announced as the temporary replacement driver for the #83 Red Bull Racing Team at Dover, replacing a sick Brian Vickers. During the June race at Michigan International Speedway, while racing near the back of the field, Mears wrecked his Red Bull Racing teammate, Scott Speed. Speed went on to finish 28th and Mears finished 36th. Following the race, Speed was critical of the

incident, and Mears was soon replaced by Reed Sorenson. Mears returned to TBR beginning with the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on June 27, 2010, where he finished 29th, two laps down. Mears stepped into his fourth car of the season at Atlanta in September, driving the #13 GEICO Toyota for Germain Racing. It was also announced in August 2010 that Mears would continue to drive this car for the remainder of the 2010 season and all of the 2011 season. Mears attempted to qualify for his initial Cup appearance with the team at

Atlanta Motor Speedway for the September 5th, Emory Healthcare 500. The 2011 season started off with his 2nd DNQ at the Daytona 500. Due to 2 engines failing him during Speedweeks, Mears was unable to secure a position on the starting grid. Germain Racing secured sponsorship from GEICO and Hard Rock Vodka for a combined 29 races. Mears finished 31st in driver points. GEICO announced on January 6, 2012 that they signed a two-year deal with Mears and Germain. Germain also announced that the team was switching to Ford from Toyota for the 2012 season, gaining technical support from Roush Fenway Racing and engines from Roush-Yates. On August 24,

Mears won the pole for the Irwin Tools Night Race due to the Friday qualifying session being rained out. Mears finished 30th in the final point standings. On February 21, 2013, GEICO announced that they were sponsoring Mears and Germain full-time for the 2013 and 2014 seasons. Valvoline Next-Gen also sponsored Mears for two races. In the 2013 Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, Mears recorded the team's best finish at an oval track, 9th. Mears finished 24th in points, his best since driving for RCR in 2009. For 2014, Germain Racing partnered with Richard Childress Racing to field Chevrolets. Mears began the season on a high note with a tenth-place finish at the Daytona 500. At Richmond, Mears ran in the top ten for part of the race, but got into a fist-fight with

Marcos Ambrose who was furious over a late racing incident. Two days later, Mears was fined $15,000 and put on probation for one month. During the 2014 season, Mears recorded fourteen top-20 finishes, including three top-10s and a top-5. He finished 26th in points. For 2015, Mears returned to Germain for what was to be the final year of both his and GEICO's contracts with the team. Mears finished sixth at Daytona and fifteenth at Atlanta to open the season. On July 14, 2015, it was announced that Mears had signed a contract extension with Germain and GEICO for 2016. On November 12, 2015, GEICO announced that it had extended its partnership with Mears and Germain Racing through the 2018 season. Team owner Bob Germain confirmed that Mears had extended his contract with the team through 2018 as well. Mears had a rough 2016 season, finishing 32nd at Daytona after caught speeding in the late of the race. Mears would finish better next week at Atlanta, finishing 14th. He was unlucky after being involved in a small accident which ended Mears contention for the win at Talladega. On November 28, Germain announced Ty Dillon would replace Mears in the #13 starting in 2017. Mears was unable to find a ride in the Cup series for 2017 and made occasional starts in the Xfinity Series driving for owner Fred Biagi wheeling the #98 Geico Military in 14 events. He had a best finish of ninth on two occasions and had fix finishes in the top 15. He sat on the side lines all of 2018 and never sat in a race car in any of NASCAR's three premier series. In 2019 Germain Racing called upon Mears to drive a second team car in the Daytona 500. He wheeled the #27 Rim Ryderz car but got caught up in a big wreck just past half way and finished last. To date, Mears has only the one win in 489 career starts. He also has 13 top 5 finishes and a best finish of 14th in the points. Some info from Wikipedia.

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

CASEY JAMES MEARS - 03/12/1978