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.

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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.

A repeat performance came Sunday during the Aaron's 499. Busch took a hard lick again when Johnson drifted up the track and pushed Ricky Rudd into the wall. Busch and Joe Nemechek slammed hard into the inside wall. Jeff Burton and Martin Truex Jr. were also caught up in the crash.

A mob of media chased Busch down on the way to his motorhome, but a crew member said Busch was too angry to talk and went around the care center to avoid the media.

The young driver's frustration is mounting, but team owner Rick Hendrick is trying to keep his emotions in check.

"Jeff [Gordon] has talk to him, I've talked to him. He likes to run flat out and he likes to lead and that's part of it and that's his personality. I think he's done well this year and I'm glad he wasn't hurt this weekend. It speaks a lot to the safety."

Debris Caution: Beer cans not the right brand

After Jeff Gordon's 77th win on the late Dale Earnhardt's birthday, a hailstorm of beers cans came flying from the grandstands pelting the No. 24 car.

Kurt Busch on fans littering the track with beer cans aimed at Gordon who surpassed the late Earnhardt's record: "It's very unfortunate to see fans throw Miller Lite beer cans on the track."

Drivers in the top 10 take a hit

Clint Bowyer and David Stremme made contact early in the race sending Bowyer into the wall, damaging the right front fender which later cut the right front tire sending him into the wall for a second time.

Bowyer returned to the track with about 59 laps to go, but his 35th-place finish dropped him two spots in the standings to 11th.

Carl Edwards dropped four places to 12th in the standings after engine failure took the No 99 driver out of the race 85 laps in.

"What happened was in practice we had a little bit of trouble and we thought we got it fixed but then it looks like something else showed up there," Edwards said. "One of the valves is broke. We don't know if the spring broke first or the valve broke first, but it tore up the engine real bad. I tried to shut it off as early as I could, but they say it's junk."

Break-out performance

For the first time since the season opener in Daytona, Kasey Kahne, the driver with the most wins last season, cracked the top 15. Kahne finished 12th and led laps for the first time since Las Vegas in Sunday's Aaron's 499.

Kahne said, "It felt good today. We led some laps. That's the best we've finished in a while and it felt good."