Casey Mears reaches 500 Cup starts, finds new appreciation for racing along the way
For Casey Mears, reaching 500 NASCAR Cup Series starts was never part of some elaborate career plan. It became a goal simply because he realized he was close enough that walking away without reaching it would be a missed opportunity.
“I wish I could say it was like some bigger meeting, but honestly, once I found out I was that close, it just seemed a shame to not at least reach that goal,” Mears said. “You know, before the end of me driving in the Cup Series.”
Mears is set to reach the milestone at Homestead-Miami Speedway, bringing his NASCAR career full circle at a track that has been part of his journey for more than two decades. The 48-year-old began making calls to put together a schedule that would get him to 500 starts, and the effort quickly gained momentum.
Bob Germain became one of his biggest supporters, initially offering to help for a race or two before making it clear he wanted to see Mears reach the milestone.
“I thought he'd help me out for like a race or two, and he said, ‘No, I want to help you get all the way. What do we got to do to make it happen?’” Mears said. “Which was just so huge.”
Mears eventually found a home with Beard Motorsports, an organization he believed could give him the best opportunity to be competitive, particularly at superspeedways. Putting together a program was not easy. He said full-time teams often have little incentive to take on the additional work involved in a project like his, making the opportunity with Beard especially important.
His return to the Cup Series has also provided a reminder of how much he missed the day-to-day experience of being a driver. The preparation, working with crew chiefs and engineers, developing a car and interacting with fans have all taken on new meaning.
“Just being in the world again, honestly, being on the starting grid, doing introductions, connecting with the fans, talking to people that I haven't talked to in quite a while,” Mears said. “And going through that exercise of getting the practice, trying to develop the car, talking with a crew chief or an engineer to try to make the car better. I didn't realize how much I just missed all that.”
Mears' path to NASCAR was not a traditional one. He grew up around motorsports through his family's off-road racing background before competing in go-karts, four-wheelers, Formula Mazda and Indy Lights. He was pursuing an open-wheel future when an opportunity to try stock cars changed the direction of his career.
After attempting to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, Mears crossed paths with Dan Lugenbihl, who worked with Roger Penske. Lugenbihl introduced him to an opportunity in a Busch Series program, and Mears headed to North Carolina thinking he might give stock cars a year before returning to open-wheel racing.
“I thought that, you know, I'll go do this for a year. Maybe by then I'll know, you know, whether CART or IRL is going to be the way to go in IndyCar,” Mears said. “And ended up back in North Carolina. You know, I got that opportunity with them, and then got an opportunity with Ganassi. And, you know, 15 years later, I was, you know, here I am.”
Mears went on to compete for some of NASCAR's top organizations, including Chip Ganassi Racing, Hendrick Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing. His career highlights include winning the 2007 Coca-Cola 600, finishing third in the 2006 Daytona 500 and earning the pole for the Indianapolis 500.
The 2007 season remains one of the accomplishments he looks back on with particular pride. After a difficult start, Mears and crew chief Darian Grubb found the speed they needed, but early struggles and bad luck left them with too much ground to make up.
“By the time we really started running well, we were halfway through the season already,” Mears said. “If you take the halfway point of that season and you go on and you look at the points that we accumulated, if we would have been the last guy to make the Chase that season, we probably would have finished third in the championship that year behind Jimmie and Jeff.”
Even with the 500-start milestone in sight, Mears is approaching Homestead with realistic expectations. He acknowledged that having a competitive car at the 1.5-mile track requires the right combination of speed and handling, but reaching the starting grid is meaningful in itself.
Part of him wishes the opportunity did not have to end at Homestead. But after finding his way back into the sport and reconnecting with the people and routines that made racing special, Mears is grateful he made the effort.
“I'm still excited about it,” he said. “I mean, it's the goal at the end of the day.”
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