For Mears, a little stability might go a very long way (cont'd)

Perhaps the most notable exception is his predecessor, Busch, who is tearing it up in his first few months with Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 18 team. But so many of the great drivers in NASCAR have benefited from long-term relationships with crew chiefs -- think Stewart and Greg Zipadelli, Johnson and Chad Knaus, Gordon and Ray Evernham, Matt Kenseth and Robbie Reiser, Mark Martin and Jimmy Fennig. Even Earnhardt Jr. came to Hendrick with Tony Eury Jr., who was on the box for Little E during many seasons at Dale Earnhardt Inc.

"It is helpful," Johnson said. "Before I got to the Cup level, I had driven for a lot of different teams, and it was mainly because I was climbing the ladder trying to get to this level. I was really with only one team for two years at a time. From Year 1 to Year 2, it was such a different feeling inside the race shop -- communication, confidence in myself and the team. I can only hope and wish for Casey that he can have that and have this team stay together.

Just one race

Last season's Coca-Cola 600 had a surprise top-five with Casey Mears winning followed by J.J. Yeley, Kyle Petty, Reed Sorenson and Brian Vickers. David Caraviello looks at where those top-five finishers have gone since -- and it's not pretty.

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"Granted, he stayed at Hendrick from last year to this year, but a complete turnaround in crew and people. I think they've done a good job. They've had some things not work out for them luck-wise and some misfortune, but I really see them gaining the confidence they need and turning the corner and getting things going."

That hasn't happened yet. Mears left Darlington 27th in the standings, a distant 266 points out of the Chase he still believes he can make. He was running in the top 20 there until he lost a tire, and plummeted to a 35th-place finish. That's the way it's gone this season for Mears, who was derailed from the start with a blown tire at Daytona and a weeper-induced spin at California that led to respective finishes of 36th and 42nd. Where would he be without those? "It would give us 200 more points, and we'd be right there at it," he said. "You finish 20th or better, and you get 200 points. Those two DNFs really killed us. I think those two races alone put us right in the hunt, in the mix of things."

He's dealt with another challenge as well, one not found on the racetrack. Statistically, Mears and that No. 25 team seemed to building something late last year, following the Coca-Cola 600 victory with eight more finishes of 15th or better. But the opportunity to land Earnhardt doesn't come along very often. Mears may have not lost his job in the ensuing shuffle, but he did lose a team he felt he was finally bonding with.

"I think sometimes it takes time to get going, and people underestimate that," he said. "I think definitely toward the end of last year, things were feeling a lot more comfortable with the group that I was with, and we were starting to understand and really make some progress. But this 5 team is the best team I've ever been a part of. It just takes time to get everybody on the same page. For sure, at the beginning of the year, it was maybe a little bit of a disadvantage just never having worked together. But at the same time, it's such a good group of guys, and I know in the future we're going to be really good."

But bonding only goes so far. Eventually, a driver has to take advantage of the situation he's in.

"It's tough, but this is a tough sport, and some people get one opportunity," Gordon said. "All I can say is Casey's obviously done something right along the way or he wouldn't still be here and he wouldn't be in the position he's at and have a ride at Hendrick Motorsports. Timing is everything and circumstances, how they fall together, can make or break your career. Unfortunately for Casey, he hasn't been able to get himself into a more stable situation and really build on it. And I hate that for Casey. But it happens to a lot of people.

"I agree that my circumstances worked out very well, and Jimmie's, and other guys' that have had success to that level. That's certainly a common denominator. But I've seen a lot of guys in the garage area fight and claw and do a lot of things to go through those situations, and some of them have to go through that before they get the success. But I think that it's something you hope for a guy."

All Mears can do is plug along, building on his relationship with crew chief Alan Gustafson and the rest of the No. 5 team. The trophy from the Coca-Cola 600 sits in his bedroom, waiting for a more appropriate place in the new home Mears is building. Sure, going back to Charlotte is special. But he'd rather look ahead than behind. He's not worried about Stewart, or any other big name out there. After his dreadful start, he called car owner Rick Hendrick to apologize, and heard nothing but support on the other end.

"I said, 'I'm frustrated with where we're at in the points, I know we're better than this. We want to do well for you,'" Mears said. "He said, 'hey, don't even worry about it, we're in this deal for the long haul.' I guess I feel real good about where we're going for the future and what's going on there. I just hope everybody else can wrap their arms around that, too."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer