Casey Mears Event Preview Bristol Motor Speedway 

No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet Impala SS - Event Preview Fact Sheet - 
Event/Date: Food City 500 – March 22, 2009 - Venue: Bristol Motor Speedway – Bristol, Tenn.

>NOTES

* This Week’s Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet at Bristol Motor Speedway … Casey Mears will pilot Chassis No. 192 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable in this weekend’s Food City 500. The workhorse of the No. 07 fleet, this Jack Daniel’s Chevy saw action five times last season and eight times in 2007. This car has four Bristol races under its hood and boasts a 5.25 finishing average at “Thunder Valley.” 

* Embattled at Bristol … In 12 Sprint Cup Series starts on Bristol’s high banks, Mears has a tenth-place finish to call a career best. The Bakersfield, Calif., native has notched a 21.8 average start to go along with a 29.4 average finish at the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile.” He has completed 4,746 of the 6,010 laps (79.27 percent) over those 12 races and earned just shy of $1.15 million in purse money. 

* On the Flip Side … Since taking over the crew chief duties for the Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet in December 2005, Gil Martin has built an impressive resume at Bristol. With the exception of 29th- and 38th-place finishes in 2006, the veteran NASCAR pit boss has led Mr. Jack’s Crew to a pair of top threes and four top-10 showings in the last four races at BMS. 

* Atlanta Rewind … Mears overcame an uncooperative race car and dumb luck in the early goings of the Kobalt Tools 500 to battle back and notch a respectable 16th-place finish two Sundays ago at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The 31-year-old driver went a lap down early and then lost another lap after a freak caution period for a wayward tire and the crewman who went to retrieve it. Still, Mears stayed in the game and left Atlanta with a solid showing. At the same time, he picked up two positions in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship points, jumping from 27th to 25th in the standings. Mears trails 20th-place A.J. Allmendinger by only 20 points and sits just 40 markers behind Richard Childress Racing teammate Jeff Burton in 15th.

* Tennessee Tradition … Located just over 300 miles from Bristol, the Jack Daniel’s Distillery was officially registered with the U.S. government in 1866. The Jack Daniel Distillery, Lem Motlow, Proprietor, is the oldest registered distillery in the United States and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Jack Daniel’s is sold in over 135 countries, but every drop is distilled, matured and bottled at the Distillery in Lynchburg, (Pop. 361) Tenn., – located in a dry county. 

* Good Old Rocky Top … Martin, 48, is a native of the Volunteer State and hails from Nashville, approximately 290 miles west of Bristol. 

* RCR in Thunder Valley … In 108 Sprint Cup starts at Bristol, RCR boasts nine wins – seven with Dale Earnhardt, one with Kevin Harvick and one with Burton– three poles, 30 top-five and 51 top-10 finishes. Last March, RCR-prepared race cars swept the top three positions in the Food City 500 when Burton drove to Victory Lane, Harvick finished second and Clint Bowyer rounded out the top three. Additionally, in 43 starts, RCR Nationwide Series teams have claimed six wins – four with Harvick, one with Bowyer and one with Jeff Green – four poles, 19 top-five and 24 top -10 finishes. 

* A Little Down Time … Mears celebrated his 31st birthday last Thursday and spent the off weekend skiing in the Rocky Mountains near Aspen, Colo. 

* Big Mike’s Birthday … Mike Scearce, mechanic and brake specialist for the Jack Daniel’s Chevy, celebrated his 46th birthday on Tues., March 17. Scearce is a 14-year veteran of RCR and removes windshield tear-offs on race day. 

* Food City Race Night … As part of Food City Race night, Mears along with Burton and four-time Sprint Cup Champion Jeff Gordon will participate in a fan question-and-answer session on Fri., March 20 from 6- 6:30 p.m. The event is free to the public and will take place at the Food City Stage on the Bristol Motor Speedway property. For more information log on to www.Foodcityracing.com. 

* Are You Experienced … Mears will appear at the Jack Daniel’s Experience (JDX), in the Earhart Campground outside Turn 1, on Sun., March 22 at 10:45 a.m. The JDX is a 53-foot tractor trailer filled with artifacts, state-of-the art video monitors, sound system and graphics to give race fans a taste of Lynchburg and the Distillery. The JDX also features a full service bar and will be open on Friday from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., on Saturday from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m., and on Sunday from 7:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. Autographs may be available on a first come, first served basis but will be limited in number due to time constraints.

* Up to Speed … The Food City 500 from Bristol Motor Speedway will be televised live on FOX Sun., March 22 beginning at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The race will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the fifth points-paying race on the 2009 Sprint Cup Series calendar will be televised live on SPEED Fri., March 20 beginning at 3:30 p.m. EDT.

> CASEY MEARS QUOTES

• Last year was pretty ugly for you at Bristol. What’s it like when something goes wrong early and you just have to ride around with a wrecked race car?

“Unfortunately, I’ve been in that position quite a bit. Bristol is one of those places where it’s so easy to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The years when I haven’t gotten involved in a crash, we’ve been right there in or around the top 10. The other years, we’ve been in crashes, which is what happened last year. It’s frustrating because everything about your race changes. It’s a long race and it’s hard enough trying to go forward at Bristol and trying to pass the guy in front of you, much less worrying about everyone behind you. When you’re off the pace and dealing with a wounded car or you’re a bunch of laps down, your whole goal changes and you try not to affect anyone else’s race but still collect as many points as you can. That’s definitely not the way you want to run that place. I’m looking forward to going back. I know the Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet ran well in both races at Bristol last year, so I’m looking forward to running well this weekend. “

• What’s your opinion of the racing at Bristol since the track has been repaved?

“It’s hard to say. You can definitely run side-by-side easier, it’s just very difficult to pass. The second groove is so good now that you can have a much better race car than somebody else and they can just kind of hang on the outside of you and stay there. That makes it really difficult to get by. From that standpoint, it’s frustrating. The way the track used to be, you could run in there, give someone a little tap, clear them and go on. Now, you can have a car that’s much better than someone else and ride around side-by-side for 15 laps. From the fans’ standpoint, I’m sure it’s much better racing to watch. You just don’t see all the wrecks anymore and I know from the grandstand, that’s what was fun about Bristol. The place is still a lot of fun to drive. Sometimes, I wish it was more like the old way where you could root someone out of the way instead of being stuck beside them for so long. The more we learn about this car and the better we get at figuring out what the car needs, I think the racing will continue to get better.”

• It seems like a lot of the drama that always came along with a race at Bristol has been lost.

“The race used to be more of a brawl and now it’s more of a race. From a driver’s perspective, it’s nice. Obviously, anything can happen but getting caught up in someone else’s mess isn’t as big of a worry anymore. It’s a little more relaxed now because it’s not such a slam fest.”