Mears Thankful For Opportunity After First Cup Start in Six Years

A week before NASCAR's throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway, Casey Mears got the NASCAR industry into the spirit a little early as he took the green flag in a NASCAR Cup Series race for the first time in more than six years.

Mears, driving the No. 66 Garage 66 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, one of the two "Open" entries in Sunday's Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway, didn't set the world on fire in his return. But the veteran racer competed well for the majority of the race until some setbacks late in the event led to a 35th-place finish, 11 laps off the pace.

"I really couldn't use the brakes because when I get to the brake is when I'd lock up the left-front. So, from there on out, I was just kind of nursing it home," Mears explained of his late-race issues.

While Mears had a hard time getting his No. 66 machine to turn, mechanically, he also suffered another major issue around the race's mid-way point. Mears' cool suit, a special undershirt that pumps cool water through tubing embedded in the shirt to cool drivers off during races, failed. When the cool suit stopped working, Mears endured incredible heat from behind the wheel.

"You know, muscle and everything-wise, I just got hot. A lot of guys have air going to the seat, we didn't have that. I had a cool shirt, and it stopped working about halfway through, and when those stop working they're actually hotter than if you didn't have it," Mears said. "So, I just got hot, but outside of that, I felt physically pretty good in the car."

Despite the issues plaguing his car as well as his body, at the end of the race, Mears came away from Sunday's event at the 0.526-mile short track thankful for many reasons.

"But I'm happy. I appreciate the opportunity to get to 490 starts," Mears stated. "Just happy I was able to come back and do this, and my kids seeing me race. I wish we had better performance, but now that we have a little more warning, probably, for the next one, hopefully, we'll be more prepared and do it right."

Mears says his transition to the Next Gen car wasn't ultra-complex, but the driver felt that had more to do with the start coming at the low-speed Martinsville Speedway short track, where aerodynamics aren't much of a factor.

"Martinsville is Martinsville. Other than shifting, the way the car handled and responds isn't a whole lot different," Mears noted.

The driver feels if he were to attempt a 1.5-mile intermediate speedway, it would be a different story. The 47-year-old is on a quest to try to reach 500 career starts in the NASCAR Cup Series. After Sunday at Martinsville, he has 10 starts remaining to reach that milestone.

Mears says where he may run next will all depend on what team he is driving for, and what type of equipment they have for him to get behind the wheel of.

"Just depends on the program. You know, obviously, with where I'm at the superspeedways and the road courses, things like that is probably where we can get the most out of it. Anywhere where you need all of the platform, all of the downforce, everything right. You know, it might have to be something different. But I just really appreciate getting the opportunity here, and getting in front of everybody and telling everybody my story and telling them what I want to do. And hopefully, I can get 10 more, and get to 500 [starts]."

It sounds very likely that we'll see Mears return for additional starts down the road. Just imagine how cool it would be to see him return for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The driver's lone NASCAR Cup Series win came in the crown jewel event in 2007.

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