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Move Puts Mears Under The Gun

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By TONY FABRIZIO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 14, 2008

Updated: 01/13/2008 11:56 pm

DAYTONA BEACH - He has the experience, the team, the cars and the crew chief.

About the only thing Casey Mears won't have this year if he falls short of NASCAR's Chase is an excuse.

The expectations are substantial, but Mears, the nephew of four-time Indy 500 winner Rick Mears and new driver of Hendrick Motorsports' No. 5 Chevy, points out they've been there for years.

"I've always felt like I needed to win, from the time I started in racing," he said after being the first driver on the track last week at Daytona testing. "With anything I ran before I came to this level, we won races or did well in. It's been frustrating the first few years I've had in this sport."

Because of his bloodlines - besides Rick, Casey's father, Roger, was a respected off-road and Indy-style racer - and perceived upside potential, Mears has been given some golden opportunities in NASCAR.
Chip Ganassi plucked a then 24-year-old Mears for a ride in Winston Cup in 2003 despite the fact he'd made only a handful of starts in major open-wheel racing (though he finished fourth in his CART debut at California in 2000) and had run only one season in the Busch Series for an underfunded team.

Even when Mears struggled, Ganassi stayed with him and eventually moved him up to his flagship No. 42 car in 2006.

Powerful Hendrick Motorsports came calling after Mears finished 14th in the points in 2006, and Mears drove that team's No. 25 car last season.

All the while, Mears managed only one victory in 180 Cup-level starts - that coming in last year's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, an odd race decided by fuel mileage and attrition.

Nevertheless, after Busch left for Joe Gibbs Racing to create a slot for Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick assigned Mears to the proven No. 5 team (Earnhardt will drive the No. 25 car, although it has been renumbered 88 and Tony Eury Jr. has replaced Darian Grubb as crew chief).

So Mears is not only driving for the organization that has captured the last two championships and won half of last year's races, but he also is driving for a team that made the Chase the last two seasons and would have been among the title favorites this year with its former driver.

That No. 5 team, led by up-and-coming crew chief Alan Gustafson, returns all of its key people after registering a win, 11 top-five finishes and a fifth-place finish in the points in '07. Gustafson, a native of Ormond Beach, has even upgraded in a couple of spots by cherry picking from Hendrick's disbanded No. 5 Busch team.

The team is built to win, meaning it's up to 29-year-old Mears to get it done.

"I wouldn't say this is a make or break year for Mears," teammate Jeff Gordon said, choosing his words. "I think some of the consistency he showed the second half of last year shows what ... Casey has to bring to the table.

"I just hope he can get things started off right early in the season."

Mears might benefit from having three high-profile teammates in Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Earnhardt.

That could allow the No. 5 team to fly under the radar for awhile as Mears and Gustafson get to know each other.

But because Johnson, Gordon and Earnhardt will have the same resources Mears and the No. 5 team will get, Mears will be expected to get similar results.

"Last year we came in and had a last-minute crew chief change Grubb for Lance McGrew," Mears said. "We did a lot of team building the first part of the season and that got us behind.

"The biggest thing now is Alan and I have to work on is getting our communication down. That might take a little bit of time. But for the most part, things are going well."

Daytona testing resumes today with teams that were ranked in the even-numbered positions in the owners standings at midseason last year taking the track. Among the drivers expected are Earnhardt, Tony Stewart and defending Daytona 500 champion Kevin Harvick.

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