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Casey Mears Biography
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Casey Mears (born March 12, 1978 in Bakersfield, California) is the driver of the #25 National Guard Chevrolet in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series for Hendrick Motorsports. He is the nephew of four time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears and the son of Indy and off-road veteran Roger Mears, and he competed in 3 ChampCar races in 2001 after Alex Zanardi was injured in a race in Germany.
Mears added arguably the most impressive win to his resume on January 29, 2006 when he, Scott Dixon, and Dan Wheldon teamed up to win the 44th annual Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona for Chip Ganassi racing. They set a race record for the Daytona Prototype category, running 723 laps in 24 hours to score the win. Mears became the first ever full-time NASCAR driver to win the Rolex 24.
Mears made his NASCAR debut in the Busch Series in 2001 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, driving the 66 car for Cicci-Welliver Racing. He started 21st and finished 28th. When the team was sold to Wayne Jesel the next season, 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 #41 Target Dodge in 2003. In his rookie season, he finished 35th after failing to finish in the top-ten. He drove the car for two additional seasons, and won two poles in 2004. During the 2005 season, it was announced Mears would move to a separate car for Chip Ganassi with Home123 sponsorship, as he would be replaced in the 41 by Reed Sorenson. The Home123 deal fell through and he instead moved to the #42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge for Ganassi.
On Friday June 9, 2006 it was confirmed that Casey Mears will leave Chip Ganassi Racing in 2007 and join Hendrick Motorsports to replace the departing Brian Vickers. On July 8, he finally won his first NASCAR race, a Busch Series race at Chicagoland Speedway, coasting to the finish after running out of fuel. He will drive the #25 car with sponsorship from the United States National Guard.
Personal
-Mears is neighbors with NASCAR crew chief Michael McSwain.
-Mears won the pole at Indianapolis Motor Speedway where his uncle Rick had success.
-Throughout his Nextel Cup career Mears has improved his final points position every year from 2003 from 35th, to 22nd in 2004 and 2005 and to 14th in 2006.
-Mears is from a very successful crop of drivers hailing from California including fellow Bakersfield native Kevin Harvick, Robby Gordon from Cerritos, Jeff Gordon from Vallejo and Jimmie Johnson from El Cajon, California.
source: wikipedia.org
GNU Free Documentation License
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