- CASEY MEARS CAPTURES FIFTH IN SONOMA -
CARQUEST/KELLOGG’S TEAM ADVANCES TWO SPOTS IN STANDINGS

SONOMA, Calif. (June 22, 2008) – Casey Mears drove the CARQUEST/Kellogg’s Chevrolet to its first top-five finish of the season Sunday at Infineon Raceway. The fifth-place finish was a career-best at the road course for Mears as well as the No. 5 team when led by crew chief Alan Gustafson.

“This is exactly what the CARQUEST/Kellogg’s team needed,” Mears said. “Alan (Gustafson) did a great job with strategy today and everything just worked out for us exactly how we needed it to. Racing on road courses requires a lot of patience, and I think we all had that today and just capitalized on the opportunities that were out there.

“The start of this season was so hard for everyone. There is a lot of talent on this No. 5 team and a lot of good people. I really enjoy these guys and everyone at Hendrick. We all needed this and all these guys deserve it.”

Prior to Sunday’s race, Gustafson and Mears spoke in depth about the importance of timing their pit stops perfectly. During road course races, such as Sonoma, full-track caution periods are rare, making pit strategy incredibly important.

“If you make a bad pit call, you’ll fall way behind and that kind of deficit is really hard to overcome,” Gustafson explained. “In the same sense, if you make the right call, you’ll get great track position, and it’s hard for the guys behind you to pass you.”

Gustafson, Mears and the team needed the perfect day. And that’s nearly what they got. Gustafson decided to delay the Chevrolet’s pit stops several laps longer than typical in hopes of extending its fuel mileage.

Two laps after the first round of green-flag pit stops began, Mears drove the CARQUEST/Kellogg’s Chevy down pit road. The team changed four tires, added fuel and made a minor air pressure adjustment. While on pit road, the first caution of the race occurred.

The timing of the caution was perfect, as the remainder of the field would need to pit under yellow. Mears, who already had pitted, inherited the 10th position.

Mears moved to eighth on the restart, but fell to 13th as the Chevrolet grew increasingly tight in Turn 11. On the radio, Gustafson continuously reminded Mears to conserve fuel.

Green flag pit stops began once again on Lap 66. Like last time, Gustafson held off three laps before calling Mears onto pit road. With the Chevrolet now nearly perfect, the team made no adjustments. Again, the caution flag waved as the No. 5 Chevy was exiting pit road, and when the race resumed on Lap 75, Mears was back in 10th place.

The CARQUEST/Kellogg’s Chevy remained 10th until a four-car accident occurred in Turn 11. Mears narrowly avoided the pile-up and took the caution flag in sixth place. Immediately following the restart, the No. 41’s engine failed, trailing fluid on parts of the track. The red flag was waved and extensive clean-up ensued.

NASCAR rules state that each race must attempt to conclude under green flag conditions. The race resumed, for a green-white-checkered finish, on Lap 111. In the final two laps, Mears passed the No. 19 to take over fifth place and earn the team’s first top-five finish of the season.

Mears and the CARQUEST/Kellogg’s Chevrolet are now 25th in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings.

The Kellogg’s/CARQUEST team next will compete at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday. The race will air live on TNT at 12:30 p.m. ET.