Last week's victory doesn't give Mears speed at Dover

DOVER, Del. -- It'll take more than glacial-pace practice speeds and a miserable qualifying position to rattle Casey Mears' cage.

Coming off a tearful Victory Lane celebration last weekend in Charlotte, N.C. -- his first career Cup win -- the driver struggled Saturday throughout practice at Dover International Speedway, continuing a trend that began when he arrived Friday.

Mears reached a low point in qualifying when he ran at least 2 mph slower than the Cup cars that failed to make the Sunday show.

Autism Speaks 400

Lineup

Pos.	Driver	Speed
1.	Ryan Newman	152.925
2.	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	152.387
3.	Bobby Labonte	152.304
4.	Kasey Kahne	152.040
5.	Carl Edwards	151.835
6.	Jeff Gordon	151.553
7.	Elliott Sadler	151.471
8.	Jamie McMurray	151.305
9.	Jeff Burton	151.203
10.	Greg Biffle	151.127

• Complete Lineup: click here
• Bud Pole Winners: click here

"We got better toward the end, we just had a hard time turning no matter what we tried," said Mears, who will start 41st in the Autism Speaks 400. "But we'll be fine, this is racing."

In the morning Cup practice session, Mears was at least 6 mph slower than his teammate Jimmie Johnson, who was the fastest in both sessions. Johnson's fast lap during the morning session was 149.309 mph, while his Happy Hour speed was at 149.241 mph.

By the end of final practice, Darian Grubb -- Mears' crew chief -- made adjustments to the rear of the car elevating the No. 25 to 26th quickest.

Once again the inability to turn in the corners was an issue for several drivers this weekend in Dover -- a concrete mile-long oval which is seeing the Car of Tomorrow for the first time.

Kyle Busch is a vocal opponent of the COT, although the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet was third-fastest in final practice and winner of the inaugural COT race at Bristol.

"The car is better than when we unloaded it, and I think we will contend for a win," Busch said of his Dover machine. "Alan [Gustafson, crew chief] made some significant adjustments. But we are still fighting the same issues, ours are just better than others."

With about 20 minutes to spare in the final practice session, pole-sitter Ryan Newman feared his No. 12 Dodge would be forced to start in the back when the driver reported engines problems.

Fortunately for Newman, who was seventh-fastest in final practice, the noise he reported was a hose inside his helmet air conditioning system malfunctioning, not his engine.

Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Ford, was second-fastest in both sessions and will start fifth in Sunday's race, while Jeff Gordon's crew wrestled with an extremely tight No. 24 Chevrolet in both sessions.

Gordon ended the final session 18th quickest.