Mears Finishes 15th in the Busch Series at Lowe's Motor Speedway

CONCORD, N.C. (May 24, 2003) --- Casey Mears drove the No. 19 Microsoft Dodge to a solid 15th place finish in the CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.  Mears participated in the NASCAR Busch Series race with Braun Racing to gain more experience and seat time in stock cars.

Mears started in eighth position and dropped five positions during the first five laps.  Mears radioed in early stating that the car was real tight in the corners.  Mears continued to steadily drop positions for the next 50 laps.  
  
By lap 60 Mears dropped to 21st position.   A pit stop on lap 64 allowed the Microsoft team to take four tires and make the necessary adjustments to the car.  The pit stop put Mears back in 28th position, but he drove his No. 19 Microsoft Dodge back to 21st position by lap 76.    

A caution on lap 135 allowed the No.19 Microsoft Dodge to come in for a pit stop.  Following the stop, crew chief Patrick Donahue, radioed to Mears that he was missing a lugnut off the left rear tire.

Mears came back in for an unscheduled pit stop to get the missing lugnut, which put him in 24th position.  Mears climbed to 15th position by lap 187.  A caution on lap 196 caused the race to end under the yellow flag as the No. 19 Microsoft Dodge took the checkered flag in 15th place.

"We had a good car today and could have had a better finish if we didn't have to pit again but we did have a solid run," Mears said.  "I really enjoyed being able to run this Busch race here this weekend and the ARCA race yesterday.  The more time I get in these cars the better.  We've learned a lot between all three teams and hopefully this will lead to a great finish tomorrow night in the Winston Cup race."

Casey Mears will race in his No. 41 Target Dodge in Sunday's Winston Cup event - the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.