Casey Mears

Birthday: March 12, 1978
Hometown: Bakersfield, Calif.

YEAR-BY-YEAR NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES RECAP

2007 -- Finished 15th in series points. ... Finished with career-high five top-fives and 10 top-10s. ... Also won first series race in May at Lowe's Motor Speedway. ... Pole came in July at Chicagoland. ... Struggled during first half of season. ... Climbed from low ranking of 35th, in May, to finish inside the top 15.

2006 -- Finished 14th in series points. ... Earned two runner-up finishes, in the Daytona 500 and at Kansas. ... Opened the season with eight consecutive weeks in the NASCAR Sprint Cup top 10. ... 2006 was the final of Mears' three consecutive seasons driving for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. ... He was named the '07 driver of Hendrick Motorsports' No. 25 car on June 14, 2006.

2005 -- Finished 22nd in series points. ... Finished in fourth place at both Texas events. ... Captured two top-five finishes and five top-10 finishes in the final 10 events. ... Led a total of 145 laps.

2004 -- Finished 22nd in series points. .... Had first career pole at Pocono in August and followed up the effort with a pole at Indianapolis. ... Posted career-best finish with a fourth at Watkins Glen, lone top-five effort of the season. ... Only Ganassi driver to win a pole in '04.

2003 -- Finished 35th in points in his rookie season. ... Struggled throughout his rookie season, finishing with 10 DNFs. ... Led nine laps. ... Had 11 top-15 qualifying efforts. ... Ran 14 NASCAR Nationwide Series races and finished with four top-10s.

PREVIOUS RACING HISTORY

Won first career stock-car race in the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) event June 14, 2003 at Michigan. Later that season, won back-to-back ARCA races at Pocono July 25 and 26, 2003. ... Finished 21st in his rookie season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in '02, scoring one top-five, that coming at Talladega. ... Announced in December '02 that he would drive No. 41 Target Dodge for Chip Ganassi Racing in NASCAR Sprint Cup, following his first season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. ... Also had two top-10s in 34 starts with his highest start, an outside pole, coming at Nashville. ... In 2001, scored two top-10 finishes in four starts in CART after replacing Alex Zanardi, who was involved in a serious accident. ... Finished ninth at Talladega in his lone ARCA start in 2001. ... In 2000, finished third in the Indy Lights Series, scoring his first win at the Grand Prix of Houston. ... Also made first career CART start at California Speedway, finishing a career-best fourth. ... Successfully completed rookie test for Indy 500 in 2000. ... In 1999, finished second in Indy Lights Series and became only the fourth driver in series history to complete every lap. ... Won three races.

NOTEWORTHY

Mears is the nephew of four-time Indy 500 winner Rick Mears. ... He is the son of two-time Indy 500 starter and off-road legend Roger Mears. ... Was the second-youngest driver in USAC history to win a feature race (Mesa Marin, 1994) at 16. ... Began racing BMX bicycles at age 4. ... Mears' home was featured on an episode of MTV Cribs.