Race/Date: Budweiser Shootout – Feb. 7, 2009 - Location: Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, Fla. - Start Position: 24th - Finish Position: 15th

Daytona Beach, Fla. – While the end result might not show it, Saturday was a good night for Casey Mears and the Jack Daniel’s Racing team.

Mears moved over to Richard Childress Racing for 2009 and the Budweiser Shootout was an ideal proving ground for the new driver of RCR’s No. 07 machine and his Gil Martin-lead team to get to know one another. No one came away disillusioned.

The seventh-year Sprint Cup Series veteran ran a smart, cautious 78-lap race that was marred by eight caution flags but, when the money was on the line, Mears was mixing it up at the front of the field and in contention for the win.

The Bud Shootout is a tradition at Daytona each February dating back to 1979, and unofficially kicks off the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. The non-points event launches more than a week of racing for NASCAR’s top three touring divisions, culminating with the 51st running of the Daytona 500 next Sunday.

The race had a new look this season with the starting lineup consisting of the top six cars in the final 2008 owner’s point standings from each of the division’s four manufacturers, plus an additional wild card entry from Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford and Toyota. In years past, the starting grid was made up of pole sitters from the previous season and past winners of the event.

Mears was guaranteed a spot in this year’s Bud Shootout as a result of the Jack Daniel’s team’s fifth-place points finish last season.

The Bakersfield, Calif., native’s starting position on the outside of the 12th row was determined by random draw at Thursday night’s traditional Draw Party, setting the field for first of two traditional non-points races on the Sprint Cup schedule.

The green flag was unfurled on 2009 at 8:30 p.m. sharp and it only took four laps for the first caution flag to fly. Mears got a small piece of the incident involving David Ragan and rookie Joey Logano but, after a quick trip to pit road a lap later, the Jack Daniel’s Chevy was none the worse for the wear.

Mears was content to ride near the back of the 20-plus car pack during the opening 25-lap segment, but still made a conscious effort to hold on to the draft and keep the leaders in sight.

A 10-minute intermission at lap 25 allowed Martin to call for calculated adjustments based on the initial run and, when racing resumed, Mears informed the veteran pit boss that his black and white machine felt good.

The third caution flag waved six laps after the field went back to green for a multi-car pileup coming off Turn 2 and, for the second time, the Jack Daniel’s Chevy was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But, for the second time, a quick trip to pit road remedied the situation and Mears was back after it for the lap-35 restart.

Three more yellows were displayed over the next 19 circuits affording Mr. Jack’s Crew another pair of opportunities to hit the service lane and fine-tune their Chevy Impala SS. By now, Mears decided to take his chances with the leaders and was firmly entrenched with the lead group over the closing third of the race.

He spent the next 19 trips around Daytona’s storied high banks feeling out the Jack Daniel’s Chevy in traffic.

A lap-73 caution set up a green/white/checkered flag finish and also offered Mears a final opportunity to hit pit road for one last fresh set of Goodyear tires.

As the field came back up to full song, Mears sliced his way through the pack and was in position to make a bid for the win coming to the white flag.

He was fifth in the running order as the leaders thundered into Turn 3, but the unpredictable nature of restrictor-plate racing took over and Mears was collected in the final multi-car incident of the night, leaving him 15th in the final scorecard.

The eighth and final caution left Kevin Harvick in the catbird seat, affording RCR its sixth victory in the annual season-opening non-points paying race. Harvick’s win erased a 13-year drought for the Welcome, N.C.-based operation in Bud Shootout competition. The last time team owner Richard Childress and one of his drivers donned the celebratory customized winners’ leather jackets followed Dale Earnhardt’s 1995 win.

Fellow RCR stablemate Jeff Burton was scored 24th in the final rundown after the Caterpillar Chevrolet was collected in a lap-33 incident off Turn 2.

Next weekend, points racing officially kicks off the 2009 season with the 51st running of the “Great American Race.”

The Daytona 500 will be televised live on FOX Sun., Feb. 15, beginning at 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The first of 36 points-paying races on the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule can also be heard live on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius/XM Satellite Radio. The Gatorade Duel at Daytona 150-mile qualifying races will take the green flag Thurs., Feb. 13 at 2 p.m. EST, and will be broadcast live on SPEED, MRN and Sirius/XM Satellite Radio. The Twin 150s will re-air on SPEED the same night at 9 p.m. EST.

CASEY MEARS QUOTES

“That was wild. I think that was the most out of control I’ve ever seen these cars at Daytona. We had a new right-side tire and with no testing over the off-season, no one was able to get a feel for how the cars were going to react. I hung around the back most of the night because I wanted to be there (in the running) at the end. Unfortunately, we were four-wide down the back stretch and I didn’t have any where to go when everybody wrecked. The good thing is that we know that when it’s time to go, we can go. The Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet ran good in the pack and handled really well in the center of the corner. It was the perfect opportunity for me to work with Gil (Martin) and the guys for the first time in race conditions. Everything went according to plan until we got to Turn 3.”