Casey Mears, No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet Make 
Points with Top-10 Finish at Michigan

Race: CARFAX 400 - Venue: Michigan International Speedway - 
Start: 42nd - Finish: 6th - Points: 20th (Gained one position)

BROOKLYN, Mich. – Casey Mears and the No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet Impala SS team of Richard Childress Racing had a great race day at Michigan International Speedway, earning their third top-10 finish of the season. Making it even more special was the fact they did it coming all the way from their 42nd-place qualifying position.

For the first practice on Friday afternoon, Mears and Co. were 13th-fastest on the speed chart. However, when it came time to qualify on Friday afternoon, the car didn’t handle nearly as well while coursing the two-mile oval of MIS and, thus, produced the final-row starting position. For the practice sessions on Saturday, they posted the 15th- and 34th-fastest times, respectively, on the speed charts.

It might have left them dumbfounded, but it didn’t daunt their determination.

Right from the start, Mears showed he was going to move up the scoring pylon in a hurry. By lap six, the Bakersfield, Calif. native was in 34th. Then, Mother Nature showed up to rain down on the race action for a few minutes, bringing out the red flag for 18:35 minutes.

When sunny skies returned and the track was dry, Mears climbed back in the Impala SS and hit pit road where the Todd Berrier-led crew topped off the fuel, changed four tires and put a spring rubber in the right rear. Restarting 37th on lap 11, Mears was up to 27th place by lap 18.

From there, Mears did his part to conserve fuel consumption as the crew made good pit stops and key adjustments. As a result, Mears was running in the top-20 by lap 86.

A lap-145 caution changed the fate of the race for Mears and the Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet team. After pitting for tires and fuel on lap 149, Berrier called Mears back down pit road just before the lap-152 restart for a splash of fuel as extra insurance, in case they needed it later in the race.

Mears lined up 28th for the lap 152 restart and quickly motored through the field in three-wide battles moving up to 23rd by a lap 157 caution. While leaders who chose to stay out on the previous caution hit pit road, Mears was able to remain on the racing surface because he made the previous stop.

For the lap-162 restart, Mears was lined up 12th with his sights set higher up the scoring pylon. By lap 170, he was a fixture in the top 10, running ninth before moving to eighth by lap 179.

Because he was minimizing his fuel consumption and had that extra splash of fuel back on lap 151, he was able to battle for more positions. Two of the leaders ahead of Mears ran out of fuel with 10 to go, forcing them to pit road.

When the white flag flew, Mears and Sam Hornish, Jr. were side-by-side batting for fifth place. When the checkered flag flew, the combination of hard driving and Berrier’s pit calls enabled them to earn sixth place; and third top-10 finish for Mears in 2009.

Because of his great finish, Mears and the No. 07 Jack Daniel’s team moved up from 21st to 20th in the points; where they now trail 19th by just 76 markers.

His fellow RCR teammates of Clint Bowyer finished eighth, Kevin Harvick 12th and Jeff Burton 18th.

Brian Vickers won his first race of the season, making him the 13th different winner in 2009. In 2008, there were 12 different winners during the entire season. Following Vickers to the checkered flag was Jeff Gordon in second, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in third, Carl Edwards was fourth and Hornish in fifth place.

Mears and team will fight it out under the lights of Bristol Motor Speedway next Saturday, August 22. Pre-race coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) on ESPN with 500 laps of slam bang boom beginning at 7:30 p.m. Radio coverage for the race will be carried by Performance Radio Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Ch. 128. Qualifying at the World’s Fastest Half Mile takes place at 5:30 p.m. Friday, August 21 on SPEED TV with radio coverage on PRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Ch. 128.

Casey Mears quotes – “I should have tried to pass the 77 car (Sam Hornish) one lap earlier than the last one. But, I wasn’t sure where we were on fuel and I didn’t want to push it and run out. We were one of the teams saving the whole time. We thought we were about a lap and a half short, but obviously we made it. I felt like we had the 77 there at the end, but we just couldn’t risk running too hard. It was a good day for the No. 07 Jack Daniel’s team. Compared to where we qualified (42nd) and how we raced, this was good. We were good on pit road all day, too. We’re getting closer and closer to where we want to be; we just need to find that little bit more to make it all happen. It was kind of fitting to run well here in Detroit. I just appreciate everything that anyone in the auto industry is doing today to try and keep things going."