Mears gets keyed up

Casey Mears came to Daytona the past several years with a team capable of winning the Daytona 500.

Now, he's walking around with no sponsor patches on his uniform, hoping his 2-year-old car will get him into the Feb. 14 race.

"I haven't been in this position, not having points coming into Daytona, since the first time I came here with (Chip Ganassi Racing), and we raced our way in," Mears said. "

"Obviously, the stuff was right and working real good, and I didn't know what I was doing. Now I know what I'm doing, and it's going to be curious to see whether we can get the car handling properly."

After spending his first four seasons in NASCAR with Ganassi's so-so operation, Mears got to drive for powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports in 2007 and 2008 and Richard Childress Racing last year.

Childress lost one of his sponsorships for 2010, though, and Mears wound up as the odd man out on a team with Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer.

With no other offers, Mears signed with newly created Keyed-Up Motorsports. He's one of 20 drivers vying for the seven spots that aren't guaranteed to drivers who finished in the top 35 of last year's owners standings or are a former champion.

Harvick and Burton said they were sorry to see Mears leave.

"Everybody that comes away from knowing Casey and getting to work with him is like, 'Man, that's the best guy in the world,'" Harvick said.

Rain halts practice

Sprint Cup teams didn't get much time Friday to dial in their cars for today's Daytona 500 qualifying or tonight's Bud Shootout.

The second of two practice sessions was rained out, leaving eight teams with no practice time. NASCAR granted those teams a supplemental 30-minute practice session this morning.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had the fastest practice speed, edging Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin with a fast lap of 188.616 mph.

Patrick 12th

Danica Patrick qualified 12th for today's Lucas Oil 200 ARCA race, which is about where she ranked in practice. She'll start next to nine-time ARCA champion Frank Kimmel.

Patrick isn't the only interesting newcomer in the field. Former Formula One driver Nelson Piquet Jr., the son of three-time F1 world champion Nelson Piquet Sr., makes his ARCA debut and starts seventh.

Odds and ends

Tampa's Aric Almirola will try to qualify James Finch's No. 09 Chevrolet for the 500. It's the car that won the fall race at Talladega with Brad Keselowski. Almirola started 11th and finished 30th in last year's 500 for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. ... Zephyrhills' David Reutimann is assured of starting his fourth Daytona 500 by virtue of his 16th-place finish in the points last year. His best Daytona 500 finish was 12th, in 2009. ... Harry Connick Jr. will sing the national anthem at the 500, and former race winner Junior Johnson will serve as grand marshal. Singer Tim McGraw is the prerace performer.

Tony Fabrizio