Mears excited about quick bond with new No. 5 team

FONTANA, Calif. -- Casey Mears is at times the overlooked Hendrick Motorsports driver. Unlike his counterparts, media doesn't swarm Mears in the NASCAR garage; his face isn't plastered on billboards and your rarely see him on covers of magazines.

But he doesn't mind; Mears is never envious of the attention, however, their success is what he is desperately trying to obtain.

"I think that those guys obviously have a lot of media attention surrounding them which is well deserved in a lot of aspects," Mears said. "I respect the fact that they get that attention. I'm striving not to get that attention but to get that success that breeds the attention."

A Bakersfield, Calif., native, Mears is confident in his own backyard -- his family is with him this weekend and he loves West Coast racing.

On Sunday, this SoCal son wants to shine.

In his sixth season, Mears has just one victory -- last season's Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. In nine previous Cup starts at the Auto Club Speedway, he has earned two top-10 finishes.

"I'm excited ... I think the equipment is there," he said. The No. 5 [Mears] and No. 88 [Dale Earnhardt Jr.] side has definitely stepped up and matched that of the No. 24 [Jeff Gordon] and No. 48 [Jimmie Johnson]."

Mears is acclimating to yet another new crew chief, Alan Gustafson, and a new team just as he did at the beginning of last season with the No. 25 crew. But things are different, he said, because the No. 5 team is established and has a successful resume.

Mears is stepping into the same team that led Kyle Busch to a victory, multiple top-10s and a spot in last season's Chase for the Nextel Cup.

"I'm in a very good position as opposed to last year," Mears said. "It was a great team, a great group of guys that I had last year but we came in last minute and changed the crew chief the week before Daytona. There was just a lot of un-organization, we were building a team."

Most times, driver-crew chief relationships can take an entire season to build as the chemistry is often not instant. However, Gustafson has given Mears a feeling of continuity and stability almost immediately.

"I feel like he really understands what I'm needing and what I'm wanting," Mears said. "We didn't have the Daytona finish that we wanted, obviously, we made a move there that didn't work out for us. But I'd been second there, I've been in the top five, I'm not there to finish second anymore, we're there to make a move to win."

With six laps to go, Mears was running third before he made contact with Tony Stewart last weekend during the 50th running of the Daytona 500.

Encouraged by his team's communication, Mears said he feels far ahead of where he started last year partly because of the new chemistry Earnhardt Jr. has brought to the team and of course the continual support from Johnson and Gordon.

"To see all four drivers really interacting and working well together, we didn't have that before. It was the same idea, but it didn't seem like it went as smooth," Mears said. "I just feel fortunate to have three guys that I can really pull good information from and we can work really well together as a team."

Each Hendrick driver will check on each other's machines throughout practice, gleaning and exchanging information about handling. On the pit box, all four crew chiefs exchange information on tire pressure changes and adjustments. On the track, the four drivers form alliances the put them in positions to win.

"You give your teammates that extra inch that you wouldn't give another competitor," Mears said.

But when it comes down to winning the race, Mears said you treat them like anyone else on the track.

Nevertheless, he characterizes the competition between his teammates as healthy and likened it to a sibling rivalry.

"Obviously we all want to see each other succeed, but at the same time I kind of view it as anybody whose got brothers and sisters," Mears said. "You know you love your brother or sister and you don't want to see them get hurt and you don't want to damage them in anyway. But if you're going to go race against them in a go kart at a local park or something like that, you definitely don't want to be the one that comes home in second because then you have to deal with them all day long."

Mears said it is one of the sports best teams and will be known historically for its camaraderie.

"It's just a lot of fun," he said. "I look at Jimmie Johnson and I've known him since I was 12 years old. I consider him one of my best friends in the world if racing wasn't there so to have him as a teammate. Through him I met Jeff and became great friends. I met Junior as soon as I moved back to North Carolina about seven years ago. We're not real close but very friendly obviously. We've been buddies for a long time. We've got a very unique situation over at Hendrick Motorsports right now and it's a lot of fun."