Notes: Mears' hard-luck tour continues at Talladega

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Casey Mears continues to be plagued with bad luck and poor finishes. And just when you think things couldn't get worse for the No. 25 team, he gets dumped by his own teammate.

Bringing out the third caution of the Aaron's 499 on Sunday, Jimmie Johnson rammed into the back of Mears sending him into the outside wall, then hard into the inside wall and done for the day.

Mears got on the brakes and slowed to pit and said he signaled to Johnson behind him.

Lap-by-Lap

Jeff Gordon passed Dale Earnhardt on the all-time wins list but it wasn't easy in a race that saw 42 lead changes.

• Complete story, click here

Evidently, Johnson didn't see the gesture.

"I don't know. I thought we had pretty good communication and we were all going to come in that lap. I was waving off down the backstretch and thought it was pretty clear that I was coming in. I know that Jimmie wouldn't mean to do something like that," Mears said.

After the race Sunday, Johnson tried to provide an explanation.

"Mears hit the brakes to slow down and I was all over him and spun him out. I didn't see him wave anything off. I'm so sorry I dumped those guys. It was a major miscommunication."

Mears lamented that he will now have to race on time going into Richmond.

"The bad part about it is we were 35th going into this race," he said. "It's been a frustrating season so far."

Team owner Rick Hendrick agreed and told the crew they needed a good run Sunday.

"I told them you can't have bad luck all of the time. So the big blow was it was our car that took him out," he said. "It was just a mistake but we are going to work on better communication starting in the morning."

Hard licks for young Busch

Fortunately Kyle Busch is young and in shape.

Otherwise, the two rough crashes he endured at Talladega this weekend might have put the driver off his feet for a few days.

In the Busch race on Saturday, the No. 5 was involved in a jaw-dropping crash that sent the 21-year-old into a barrel roll after he was reportedly nudged by Tony Stewart in the No. 33 car.

Busch then bounced off the car of Casey Mears and then turned across the track and into the wall. (Continued)