Mears, Jack Daniel’s Team Finish 11th at Auto Club Speedway

Race/Date: Pepsi 400 – October 11, 2009 - Venue: Auto Club Speedway – Fontana, Calif. - 
Starting Position: 16th  - Finishing Position: 11th - Points Position: 19th (maintained position)

FONTANA, Calif. - Casey Mears and the No. 07 Jack Daniel’s team earned their 11th top-15 finish of the season in Sunday’s Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway.

Following the solid effort, the Richard Childress Racing team remains 19th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings. Mears & Co. sit 12 markers in arrears of their teammate Jeff Burton in 18th, and 81 points ahead of 20th-place point man Joey Logano.

On Friday, the Bakersfield, Calif. native posted the 11th-fastest speed in the weekend’s opening practice session and the 16th-fastest time during qualifying. In Saturday’s duel practice sessions, the Todd Berrier-led team proved they had a strong Impala SS in race trim as Mears was 13th on the charts in the first session, and second fastest in the later session.

Cloudy skies and cool weather greeted the estimated 70,000 fans in the stands to start the 250-lap event on Sunday afternoon. Mears quickly advanced his position after the initial green flag waved as he ran between the 10th and 12th place through the opening 64 laps.

Mears was shuffled back to 15th on a lap-64 restart contending with heavy traffic and changing track conditions. The No. 07 Chevrolet was a mainstay in the top 15 for the remainder of the race. During each pit stop, Berrier called for minor adjustments as the clouds broke and the sun heated the racing surface.

A long-green flag run between laps 121 and 186 had Mears running between the 11th- and ninth-positions, while posting lap times equivalent to competitors running in the top six.

Debris forced NASCAR to display the yellow flag on lap 186, and during the ensuing caution period, the leaders hit pit road. A lighting-fast pit stop by Mr. Jack’s crew netted Mears one spot, moving him to 10th for the lap-189 restart.

The caution was quickly displayed on that lap when leader Denny Hamlin spun on the frontstetch, allowing Mears to move up to ninth. From there, he continued showing consistent speed and began a charge towards the front.

The yellow flag was displayed for debris on lap 236, while Mears was running sixth. Competitors behind the No. 07 pitted for fresh Goodyear tires, while Mears & Co. elected to stay out. On lap 246, the red flag was displayed for 21:45 minutes for an eight-car accident in Turn 1.

This set up a green-flag shootout to the finish with Mears restarting sixth. But, cars with fresh tires were able to get around him in the final two laps, dropping the No. 07 to 11th as the checkered flag waved.

Chevrolets earned the first five spots as Jimmie Johnson won the event, beating his teammate Jeff Gordon to the line by 1.603 seconds. Juan Pablo Montoya, Mark Martin and Tony Stewart rounded out the top-five finishers.

Mears’ RCR teammates Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick finished ninth and 10th, respectively, while Jeff Burton was involved in the lap 246-accident and finished 30th.

Next weekend, NASCAR’s teams and drivers will enjoy a weekend at home as the circuit visits Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

ABC’s live coverage of the NASCAR Banking 500 will begin on Saturday, October 12 at 7 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The race can also be heard coast-to-coast on the Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 31st points paying race of the NSCS season will air live on SPEED on Thursday, October 15 at 7 p.m. EDT.. PRN and Sirius XM Satellite Radio will also provide live updates from time trials.

Casey Mears Quotes: “We had a good Jack Daniel's Chevy. We had good pit stops today and everything was pretty solid. We've had really good cars the last few weekends, and it just seems like we make the wrong decision at the end. Or, if I make the wrong decision. We've always been in that spot whether we should take tires or not. Right there at the end, we didn't finish probably where we should have, but we had a good car all day. I am proud of everybody for working hard."