Mears finishes 34th at Darlington Raceway

DARLINGTON, S.C. (March 16, 2003) --- Casey Mears finished 34th in the #41
Target Dodge in Sunday's Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington Raceway.
The Raybestos Rookie of the Year candiate currently sits 30th in NASCAR
Winston Cup championship points standings.

Mears started the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 in 24th position.  He felt
extremely comfortable in his Target Dodge during the first part of the race.
After two cautions and a 14.33-second pit stop by Team Target, Mears was
racing in the top-10.  "The Track Too Tough To Tame" was no match for Mears
early on as he went from 10th on lap 39 to sixth on lap 62.  During the next
caution, Team Target hit a 13.820-second pit stop, putting Mears out in
seventh place on lap 74.

Unfortunately, following this pit stop the car became tight in the center of
the corner and loose off.  Mears began to loose ground on the other
competitors in the center of the corner and slowly dropped back to 19th
position by lap 110.  Halfway through the race, Mears was sitting in 23rd
position with the same car troubles.  

Later, other problems arose.  Team Target got caught in the pits during a
caution on lap 188 and restarted at the tail end of the lapped cars.  Late
in the race on lap 244, Mears radioed in stating that he felt he had a flat
tire.  He rode it out for a while but was forced to pit on lap 277 when he
could not turn the car well.  The toe of the Target Dodge was knocked out
and Mears would have to hold on until the end of the race to finish in 34th
place.

"The Target crew did great today in the pits," Mears said.  "We had a great
run early on running up front with the leaders but after a pit stop there in
the middle of the race the car went away from me in the corners.  We were
loosing a lot of ground there.  Then we got stuck in the pits during a
caution and I got into the fence a little at the end and knocked the toe
out.  Overall, it was disappointing to have a bad finish when we were
running so well at the start of the race.  We'll have to take it and head to
Bristol next weekend."

Ricky Craven was the eventual race winner, beating Kurt Busch to the finish
line by .002 seconds.

Team Target heads to Bristol, Tennessee next weekend for the Food City 500
at the 0.533-mile short track.  The race will be broadcast live on FOX
television and PRN radio on Sunday, March 23.