NASCAR Cup
Bristol II: Casey Mears preview
Casey Mears and No. 41 Target Dodge Target Team Facts: * Bristol: Casey Mears and the Target Team are looking for their first top-10 finish at the .533-mile oval in Bristol. Mears' best finish at the short track in five ...
Published: Aug 26, 2005, 5:25 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Casey Mears and No. 41 Target Dodge
Target Team Facts:
* Bristol: Casey Mears and the Target Team are looking for their first top-10 finish at the .533-mile oval in Bristol. Mears' best finish at the short track in five starts is 21st, while his best qualifying effort is 22nd.
* Calling the shots: Crew chief Jimmy Elledge has visited victory lane three times at Bristol Motor Speedway in his NASCAR career -- twice with Dale Earnhardt and once with Mark Martin.
* Chassis: Elledge and the Target Team are taking chassis #302 this weekend to BMS. Mears has driven this chassis twice this season. He drove chassis #302 at Martinsville in April to a career-best finish at the track of 17th and at the June Pocono event where he took the checkered flag in 18th.
* Iron Chef: One of the most recognizable chefs in the country, Mario Batali, will be sitting atop the Target pit box at Bristol on Saturday night. Batali owns and operates several New York City restaurants, appears regularly on the Food Network and is an avid NASCAR fan. Batali is currently working on a cookbook called "Mario Tailgates NASCAR Style" in conjunction with The Sporting News.
* Standings: Mears and the Target team remain 23rd in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup championship standings after finishing 14th at Michigan International Speedway last weekend.
Casey Mears Quote:
On Bristol... "Bristol is a great track, but it hasn't been a good track for me," said Mears. "We had a really good car last year, but I got caught up in a wreck. We need to focus on qualifying this year. The best starting spot I've had at Bristol is 22nd, and if you are in the middle or back of the pack, there is a very good chance you will be involved in an accident.
"One of the keys to Bristol is just staying out of trouble, but trouble seems to find the Target Dodge. We need to keep our nose clean and just run laps. I think we only made it about 20 laps in April before the car was totaled.
"The last month has been encouraging for this team. If we can leave Bristol with a top-15 finish, it will give us the momentum we need going to California, which is one of our strongest tracks. We've got a good handle on the 1.5-mile and 2-mile tracks, it's getting through the short tracks that are tough."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Bristol II: Bobby Labonte preview
Next article Kyle Busch looking strong at Bristol
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Casey Mears
41 NASCAR Cup cars on Daytona entry list with five open teams
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
New Hampshire
41 NASCAR Cup cars on Daytona entry list with five open teams
Casey Mears to reach 500th career NASCAR Cup start in new deal with Beard Motorsports
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Martinsville
Casey Mears to reach 500th career NASCAR Cup start in new deal with Beard Motorsports
Joey Logano wins Duel #1 as Mears full-throttles into wreck to make the Daytona 500
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Daytona 500
Joey Logano wins Duel #1 as Mears full-throttles into wreck to make the Daytona 500
Latest news
Carson Hocevar posts 18-minute apology video: "I'm the bad guy"
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
6 h
Carson Hocevar posts 18-minute apology video: "I'm the bad guy"
Timmy Hill secures full-time NASCAR Truck ride for 2027
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Homestead
8 h
Timmy Hill secures full-time NASCAR Truck ride for 2027
Kimi Antonelli admits he questioned himself throughout his rookie campaign
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
9 h
Kimi Antonelli admits he questioned himself throughout his rookie campaign
F1 Brazil GP: Friday schedule, weather forecast and how to watch
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
9 h
F1 Brazil GP: Friday schedule, weather forecast and how to watch
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe