Jamie McMurray posted a season-best second-place finish at Texas. Credit: Autostock

Ganassi Racing stable dominates TMS top five

FORT WORTH, Texas -- A win would have been just the tonic for Casey Mears, who hasn't exactly gotten out of the box in his third year on tour.

That is why Mears and crew chief Jimmy Elledge tried to pull off the impossible -- winning Texas with a two-tire pit on the final round of stops.

Casey Mears' weekend began with a crash during practice, forcing him to a backup car for qualifying and the race. Credit: Autostock

SAMSUNG/RADIOSHACK 500 •   Results •   Standings Lone Star WinnerBiffle celebrates his dominating victory in Texas Top finishersMcMurray, Johnson and Mears on their days Closing lapsBiffle cruises to the checkered flag Engine troublesStewart's day ends after his engine expires Down and outRobby gets loose and hits the wall on Lap 241 Rough startGreen goes for a spin and collects several cars Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

Mears was running second when the caution flew on Lap 298, and after taking two tires, he found himself ahead of a dominating Greg Biffle.

Elledge's rationale was simple. Let's see if:
• The car handles better in clean air.
• More lead lap cars take two tires and trap Biffle in the middle of the pack.

It didn't work, but that hardly mattered, because Elledge and Mears were going for the win. They weren't protecting second place. With Mears on the older tires, Biffle swept past, as did Jamie McMurray and Jimmie Johnson.

"Obviously, we would have liked to won or finished second, but we were making the call to win, not finish second or run third," said Mears. "I backed him up on it."

Still, Mears finished fourth, tying his career high. McMurray was second and teammate Sterling Marlin was fifth, putting all three Chip Ganassi cars in the top five.

"I didn't know what to do," Elledge said. "I figured the way track position was all day, some people would try that to get on up there."

The finishes on the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway contrasted greatly with the Dodge Charger's poor performance on the downforce tracks this season.

Even though Mears had to start the race in a backup due to a practice crash on Friday he easily weaved through the field, as did McMurray, who had started 29th.

"We have really complained about the engines last year, and right now we feel like we have some of the best engines the series," McMurray said.

Still, the Ganassi camp conceded that Greg Biffle was just too strong. Mears got a good jump on the restart on Lap 303, but the caution came out again two laps later.

"I didn't think we could beat Greg one-on-one without a long run, and it wasn't going to be long enough," Elledge said.

That caution sealed Mears' fate, but it also allowed McMurray a chance to enter the fray.

"I was hoping that caution wouldn't come out, but it did," Elledge said.

Marlin's fifth-place finish came after rookie crew chief Steve Boyer also employed a two-tire strategy on the final stop.

"We decided to take a gamble there at the end. We took two on the final stop. We went from 15th to fourth," Boyer said.

The fifth-place run pushed Marlin to sixth in the standings. That is the highest Marlin has been since his season-ending injury at Kansas in 2002, when he was threatening to win his first Cup title.