Flat Right-Rear Stalls Mears, Jack Daniel’s Chevy in Las Vegas

Race/Date: Shelby 427 – March 1, 2009 - Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway – 
Las Vegas - Start Position: 41st - Finish Position: 30th - Points Position: 27th (Fell seven spots)

Las Vegas – A flat right-rear tire in the early going of the Shelby 427 left Casey Mears and the Jack Daniel’s Racing team with a 30th-place finish Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The unfortunate circumstance cost Mears and his Gil Martin-led team three laps and, ultimately, dropped them from 20th to 27th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship point standings.

While the end result fell far short of expectations, once the cut tire was replaced, Mears was as fast as the leaders and able to log lap times competitive with those in the top five.

The green flag waved at precisely 1:45 p.m. and, while he started deep in the field, the Bakersfield, Calif., native was able to make a fair amount of progress at the outset of the 285-lap event.

However, it didn’t take long for Mears & Co. to realize something was amiss with their black and white No. 07 Chevrolet. The 30-year-old driver informed Martin that his car was suffering from an extremely loose-handling condition and felt like it wanted to spin out every time he stepped on the throttle.

By lap 30, Mears fell a lap down to then-leader Jimmie Johnson. Shortly thereafter, spotter Jimmie Kitchens came over the radio and informed Mr. Jack’s Crew that it appeared the right-rear tire was low. Director of Competition Will Lind echoed Kitchens’ comments a lap later, leaving the team hoping for a quick caution flag so Mears could come to pit road without losing any more valuable time.

Much to the chagrin of the entire group, the yellow never flew and Mears lost another lap as he struggled to keep the Jack Daniel’s Chevy underneath him.

By now, Martin knew he had to call his driver to pit road, no matter what, to replace all four tires and save from wrecking a race car or going any more laps down. When all was said and done, Mears was three laps down and forced to ride out the rest of the day with no real chance at fighting for the win.

Fortunately, attrition played a key role and the seventh-year Sprint Cup Series veteran was able to take advantage of other driver’s misfortune and work himself into the top 30 by day’s end.

Las Vegas native Kyle Busch recorded his first win of the year with Mears’ Richard Childress Racing teammates Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton in tow. David Reutimann and Bobby Labonte rounded out the top-five finishers. Fellow RCR teammate Kevin Harvick drove his Shell-Pennzoil Chevy Impala SS to 12th-place showing.

Next weekend the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series visits Atlanta Motor Speedway for the fourth race of 2009.

The Kobalt Tools 500 from Atlanta Motor Speedway will be televised live on FOX Sun., March 8 beginning at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM Satellite Radio will also provide live lap-by-lap coverage. Qualifying for Round 4 of the 36-race Sprint Cup Series championship will be televised live on SPEED Fri., March 6 at 6:30 p.m. EST. PRN and Sirius XM Satellite Radio will broadcast qualifying updates live.

> CASEY MEARS QUOTES

“We had a good car but once we were three laps down, all we could do was log laps and make up as many points as we could. I really hate the way it played out because the Jack Daniel’s Chevy was fast and we couldn’t do anything with it. We’ve had a tough couple weeks but everyone is keeping their heads up. We’ll go to Atlanta next weekend and get things headed back in the right direction.”