Mears, Jack Daniel’s Chevy Come Home 15th in Rain-Shortened Daytona 500

Race/Date: Daytona 500 – Feb. 15, 2009 - Location: Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, Fla. - 
Start Position: 25th - Finish Position: 15th - Points Position: 16th

Daytona Beach, Fla. – Casey Mears and the Jack Daniel’s Racing team overcame an ill-handling race car and missed a pair of multi-car accidents to notch a respectable 15th-place finish in Sunday’s rain-shortened Daytona 500.

The solid effort proved to be a good start for the new driver of the Jack Daniel’s Chevy and his Gil Martin-led team.

Mears started the season opener from the inside of the 13th row after a 14th-place finish in last Thursday’s first Gatorade Duel at Daytona 150-mile qualifying race offered him the 25th starting spot.

Despite the forecast that called for an 80 percent chance of rain, the 43-car field thundered through Daytona’s tri-oval for the first time at 3:40 p.m. local time. Mears maintained his footing in the top 30 over the opening stages before making his first pit stop during the day’s first caution period on lap eight.

With tires being a hot topic throughout Speedweeks, Martin made a point to call his driver to pit road at every opportunity to make sure the Jack Daniel’s Chevy had fresh Goodyears whenever possible.

Mears raced conservatively over the opening quarter of the scheduled 200-lap event and was up to 16th when the third yellow flag waved after Travis Kvapil’s No. 28 machine cut down a tire in Turn 1.

The 30-year-old driver was back on pit road on lap 56 for another fresh set of skins, including an air pressure adjustment to the left-rear tire, and a full load of fuel. Trouble with the exchange in the right-rear cost Mr. Jack’s Crew a handful of spots, and when green-flag racing resumed on lap 59, Mears was 21st in the running order.

Over the next 21 trips around Daytona’s legendary high-banks, the Jack Daniel’s Chevy raced between 21st and 18th.

Caution was on the speedway again on lap 80 and Mears was back in his pit stall two laps later. The Bakersfield, Calif., native informed Martin that while his car was comfortable on fresh tires, it developed a tight-handling condition deep into the green-flag run. The veteran NASCAR pit boss called for fresh tires, fuel and a pair of chassis adjustments during the team’s fourth pit sequence and when NASCAR displayed the green flag on lap 85, Mears was 18th on the scorecard.

Unfortunately, the adjustments didn’t take and Mears free-fell to 32nd over the next 20 laps. Still, he was able to gouge his way back to 20th before pitting again on lap 120 but Martin knew he needed to go back the other way with his changes to make a run at the leaders.

The yellow waved again just three laps later for the first of two multi-car incidents that consumed the final 24 laps. Mears was on pit road twice during the break, once for tires, fuel and to allow his team a chance to clean the grill on the black and white No. 07 machine, and a second time to top off with fuel.

With rain looming, Mears knew it was time to make his run at the leaders. After restarting 27th on lap 132, he made up five spots over the next five circuits and was up to 17th when the second “Big One” occurred on lap 138.

Since the rain was now just a matter of minutes away, Martin kept his driver on the track during the ensuing caution and, when the green flag waved for the final time on lap 142, Mears was up to 13th.

During the next four laps, the Jack Daniel’s Chevy went from 13th to 18th and back to 15th before the weather settled in for good, forcing NASCAR to declare the event official on lap 152.

Matt Kenseth captured his first Daytona 500 victory while Mears’ Richard Childress Racing teammate Kevin Harvick finished second and A.J. Allmendinger was third. Fellow RCR stablemate Clint Bowyer brought home a fourth-place effort and Elliott Sadler rounded out the top-five finishers.

Next weekend, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads west to Fontana, Calif., for the division’s second stop on the 2009 schedule.

The Auto Club 500 from Auto Club Speedway will be televised live on FOX Sun., Feb, 22 beginning at 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The Motor Racing and Sirius/XM Satellite Radio will also provide live lap-by-lap coverage. Qualifying for Round 2 of the 36-race Sprint Cup Series championship will be televised live on SPEED Fri., Feb. 20 at 6:30 p.m. EST.

> CASEY MEARS QUOTES

"I think we had a good day, all in all. We didn't get caught up in anything. We’re fortunate for that. I think the Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet handled really well. We built the car to handle well and I think we might have had just a little too much drag so we have to work on that a little bit. Obviously, when we go to Talladega we won't worry so much about handling. It will be all about speed there. We had a really good car and definitely had something left for the end.

“I really, really enjoyed working with my new team because Gil (Martin) is getting me all the information I need. He is really doing a good job. He’s telling me what is going on coming on to pit road. I really like the communication we have and the things we have going on right now. It wasn’t exactly the finish we wanted, but we learned a lot. I think the guys understand how I am on the radio and what I need."