Mears, Jack Daniel’s Chevy 33rd in Coca-Cola 600

Race/Date: Coca-Cola 600 – May 25, 2009- Location: Lowe’s Motor Speedway – Concord, N.C. - 
Start Position: 36th - Finish Position: 33rd - Points Position: 22nd (maintained position)

CONCORD, N.C. – Casey Mears and the Jack Daniel’s Racing team struggled over the course of the rain-shortened, 24-plus hour Coca-Cola 600, but despite finishing 33rd, Mears & Co. maintained the 22nd spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship point standings.

Dark skies and persistent showers veiled Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Sunday, forcing NASCAR to postpone the Sprint Cup Series annual 600-miler until noon on Memorial Day.

On-again and off-again rain showers that finally settled in for good late Monday afternoon, forced NASCAR to declare what was scheduled to be a 400-lap affair, official after 227 laps. The abbreviated event left Mr. Jack’s Crew outside of the top 30 when the premiere division in American motorsports finally called it a weekend.

Mears struggled in time trails, posting just the 36th-best time of Thursday night’s session, but bounced back nicely in race trim. The Bakersfield, Calif., native was third-quick in Saturday’s first practice before rain washed out the weekend’s final warm up later that afternoon.

After the event was officially postponed just before 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, teams returned to the track Monday morning for a noon start. The green flag waved at 12:11 p.m., but the opening sequence was short-lived when a brief shower slowed the 43-car field just seven laps in.

Mears was able to pick up a pair of spots before the yellow was displayed and informed crew chief Todd Berrier that his Jack Daniel’s entry felt good through the center of the corners and shaping up to be decent over the long run.

The Bakersfield, Calif., native was up to 30th for the lap-11 restart after a handful of drivers in front of him opted to pit during the caution.

The Jack Daniel’s Chevy held its own for the next 21 circuits, but began to fade by lap 32 when drivers on fresher tires began making up ground. Mears slipped to 34th before NASCAR displayed a “competition” yellow flag on lap 40, as a result of the previous day’s inclement weather, allowing teams an opportunity to service their machines and asses tire wear.

With the handle on the black and white No. 07 machine beginning to fade in the latter stages of the previous run, Berrier called for fresh tires, including air pressure and chassis adjustments, and fuel during the team’s first pit stop. Quick work on the service lane netted Mears a handsome eight positions and the Jack Daniel’s Chevy Impala SS was 28th when the field went back to green.

Unfortunately, the adjustments didn’t take, but Mears was still able to maintain is footing inside the top 30 over the next 26 laps.

The skies opened up on lap 70 and NASCAR was forced to red flag the race for just under an hour to let the system pass and for safety workers to dry the mile-and-a-half surface.

Once the track was close to raceable, the red flag was lifted and replaced with the yellow until green-flag racing resumed on lap 79.

Mears struggled over the next 50 laps and eventually lost a lap to the leader before pitting under green. Despite wholesale changes on pit road, the Jack Daniel’s Chevy was loose on entry and tight in the center and exiting the corners.

NASCAR halted the action on the front straightaway at 3 p.m. in honor of America’s service men and women, but rain forced the sanctioning body to stop the race again 20 minutes later for another brief shower.

Racing resumed for the final time at 3:45 p.m. but lasted just 47 more laps before the weather rolled back in and stayed for good. The event was declared official at 6:26 p.m., leaving Mears 33rd in the final rundown.

David Reutimann was credited with the win after his team opted not to pit during the final caution, catapulting him from 14th to the Winner’s Circle when the race was over. Ryan Newman finished second. Robby Gordon, Carl Edwards and Brian Vickers rounded out the top five.

Mears’ Richard Childress Racing teammates Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick were scored 25th, 36th and 41st, respectively.

Next weekend, NASCAR’s senior circuit heads north up the eastern seaboard for the first of two stops on the 2009 schedule at Dover, Delaware’s “Monster Mile.”

Flag-to-flag coverage of the Autism Speaks 400 presented by Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips & Cheese from Dover International Speedway will take the green flag Sunday, May 31 beginning at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The race will be televised live on FOX and broadcast on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 13th points-paying race on the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule will be telecast live on SPEED Friday, May 29 beginning at 3 p.m. EDT.

CASEY MEARS QUOTES

“It was a long weekend. We just couldn’t get a good handle on our Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet. We were pretty good early, but then it just started to go away. Todd and the guys worked hard on pit road and we were on the right path later in the race, but the rain came and stayed for good. I really wanted to keep racing because I think we were headed in the right direction.”