Notebook: Mears breaks through with top-five

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- The continuing maturation of Casey Mears reached a new level Sunday at Watkins Glen International.

The top five.

Casey Mears finished fourth at Watkins Glen. Credit: Autostock

The second-year driver has improved a lot this season, winning two poles and posting the first seven top-10 finishes of his career.

But the best he could do before the Sirius at the Glen was seventh. And he did that four times in 2004, the last on the road course at Infineon Raceway.

Mears led eight laps at Watkins Glen and was winning the fuel-mileage game when a caution came out with 18 laps to go. Mears had a comfortable lead at that point, even if fuel was a question.

As it was, he was quickly passed by Tony Stewart and Ron Fellows after the restart but held down third until running out of fuel coming to the checkered flag. Mark Martin slipped past, but Mears hung on for a career-best fourth.

"Jimmy Elledge really did a good job today," Mears said of his crew chief. "That's what got us the top-five. We thought we had a shot to win. We had a couple of close calls. The 8 car spun me out once and I did a complete 360 and stood on the gas and keep going. He didn't mean to get into me, but it was a great day.

SIRIUS AT THE GLEN •   Results •   Standings

"It would have been nice to have another caution, but we didn't. I cut the motor off a couple of times trying to save fuel under caution. We almost saved enough to make it home. I've always liked road racing. I grew up road racing."

Mears remained in 16th in the points, which is a big improvement over last year, when he was 34th. But even though he's 214 points out of the top 10, Mears isn't giving up on getting into the Chase for the Nextel Cup. "I think if we can put together a streak of top fives and maybe a win at Michigan, we've still got a shot at the top 10," Mears said. "It felt great running up front today. That's my first top-five finish and my best Cup finish, so we're just going to keep working hard and do the best we can and see where we end up."

'Bug-eyed dummy' strikes Marlin

Sterling Marlin had an interesting explanation for his accident with Greg Biffle.

Sterling Marlin wound up 36th. Credit: Autostock

"I got run over by a bug-eyed dummy," Marlin said.

Marlin was leading Biffle as the two raced into the right-hand Turn 1. Marlin gave Biffle room on the inside, but the two got together. Biffle touched Marlin's car at least three times, the last one sending Marlin spinning into the tire barrier.

"Biffle drove in there like an idiot and turned us around," Marlin said. "It hurt the lower control arm and mounts and steering box and it sheered off some stuff. I was helping the guys work on it to try to get back out. I didn't have anything else to do."

Biffle blew an engine with 19 laps to go and left the track without comment.

Rudd gets first top-10 of season

Ricky Rudd

Ricky Rudd played the fuel-mileage game like Mears and ended up with an eighth-place finish. That was the first top-10 of the season for Rudd and his Wood Brothers Racing team and the first since Rudd was 10th last year at Kansas Speedway.

"Long overdue," co-owner Len Wood said. "It was a gamble on fuel mileage. I felt we needed five cautions, and we got three, so Ricky made up the difference. He ran out after he went by the start-finish line. It's been a long time coming. It shouldn't have been this big of a struggle, but it has been." Rudd started 29th but moved slowly through the field. With 40 laps to go, he was 28th, but that's when he started saving fuel.

"About the first 20 laps of that I just had to go real easy on gas, had to short-shift the transmission, had to do a lot of things to save fuel," Rudd said. "We barely made it to the end. We ran out of gas at the finish line and coasted down to Turn 1, so we didn't have another corner left on it. It couldn't have turned out any better, really."

Burton finishes up at Roush Racing

Jeff Burton ended his nine-year run with Roush Racing with a hard-fought 12th-place finish. Burton's car wasn't getting the gas mileage as some cars, so he had to make sure he had enough fuel. Still, he ran out of gas on the last lap.

Jeff Burton (left) and Mark Martin Credit: Autostock

"We fought real hard and never gave up," Burton said. "Ran out of fuel on the last lap. Ran out of fuel, actually, on the last three laps going up the esses. It wouldn't run again until it got on the back straightaway, and when it got on the back straightaway it took off, and Bobby Labonte got by me.

"Good day, all in all. It's a decent way to leave the team. ... This has been home for a long time."

Burton moves to Richard Childress Racing's No. 30 Chevrolet next weekend at Michigan. Leaving Roush Racing was a tough decision, one with which Martin seems to be struggling.

"I thought I was partners with Jeff Burton in careers," Martin said. "Now that this has happened, I realize that I was friends with Jeff Burton, it didn't have anything to do with careers. That won't change."

Long day for Wimmer

Scott Wimmer, by some small miracle, finished 19th on Sunday. Wimmer went off the track at least three times, including spinning in Turn 1 while racing with the leaders.

"It was a tough day," said Wimmer, who was making his first start at Watkins Glen. "We had track position that one time, and I went down in Turn 1 and spun the car out, and I spun out through the Inner Loop in the back. It was a tough day."

Wimmer was also tough on the transmission, missing a shift a time or two (or three). But the engine held together.

"I couldn't get the car through the gears real good," Wimmer said. "I thought I overrevved it a couple times, but I was fortunate enough that I didn't blow it up. We put a pretty low rev chip in it. I was real fortunate because there were a lot of times that I buzzed the motor up. I'm pretty sure I did the same thing that Jimmie (Johnson) did. I just got lucky and it didn't blow."