Casey Mears, #41 Target Dodge, Brickyard 400 Advance

RACE INFORMATION:

EVENT: Brickyard 400 (race 21 of 36)
TRACK: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
QUALIFYING: Saturday, August 2, 10:05 a.m. ET
RACE: Sunday, August 3, 1:30 p.m. ET
BROADCAST: NBC television and IMS radio

TARGET TEAM FACTS:

-Chassis: Team Target will race chassis #201 at Indianapolis this weekend. So far this year the car has placed 36th at Martinsville.

-ARCA: Casey is coming off of two ARCA wins this past weekend at Pocono Raceway

-Raybestos Rookie: Mears is currently third in Raybestos rookie of the year standings.

-Indianapolis Motor Speedway: In one Busch Series start at the Indy Raceway, Mears finished 25th.

-Will he find love? Be sure to check out Casey Mears on LIVE with Regis and Kelly this Thursday. Mears has been participating in "Regis and Kelly's Dream Date Search" and will be going on his date this Thursday.

-Watkins Glen test: Casey Mears tested at Watkins Glen two days this week - Monday and Tuesday.

-Busy Week: Casey is having one busy week - Following Sunday's race at Pocono, Mears flew to directly to Watkins Glen to test on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday Casey will be in New York City for his Dream Date on LIVE with Regis and Kelly. Thursday night he will fly to Indianapolis for his three-day race weekend.

CASEY MEARS QUOTES:
Mears feels at home at Indy

When Casey Mears travels to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400 it won't be like any other race on the schedule. Mears' family history at the legendary speedway will surround him as well as his aspirations to one-day follow the family footsteps and race in the Indianapolis 500.

Casey is the nephew of four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Rick Mears and son of off-road champion Roger Mears. As the youngest member of the Mears Gang, Casey has a lot of support from his family.

"My mom and dad are really involved in my racing career," Casey said. "My dad drives the motor home and my mom takes care of all my business back home including the website and fan mail. On those two ends my mom and dad are really involved. My grandparents obviously follow it very closely; they will probably be there next weekend in their motor home to watch the race. I also keep in touch with my uncle about every other week and keep him informed on what I am doing and what is happening. I have a lot of support from my family. Once or twice a week I talk to my cousins and my brother back home and update them as well. So everybody, even though they are not here, are still really involved with what I do."

Due to his family's vast history at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, any race that Casey enters at the famed track is very significant.

"Just being at Indy is going to be awesome, it always is. The Indianapolis 500 is the greatest race in the world. And the fact that stock cars have been going there now the past few years kind of adds to the mystic, but it's not quite like the Indy 500. If you took Indy cars and go to Daytona it would be nothing like the Daytona 500 is. The significance of the 400 is not as big as the Indy 500 but it is one of the biggest races we will have all year and if I could win the Brickyard 400 that would be huge not only because my uncle won there but also because of the team's history there."

With his association with Chip Ganassi Racing, Casey has more than just a family history behind him at Indianapolis. Ganassi not only raced in the Indy 500 himself, but he has been a two time winner there as an owner.

"Obviously Chip has had so much success there at that place. I think it would mean a lot to the team and a lot to him to win the Brickyard. He's won the 500 and this I'm sure would be one of the next steps he would like to accomplish. I know that we are making an extra effort there just because of how important that race is to him. We got a brand new car, one of our newest and best cars that we have been saving just for the Brickyard. I know we are putting a big emphasis on that race and we should."

With such a rich family and team history at Indianapolis, Casey can't even clearly remember the first time he visited the track.

"I have watched both my uncle and my dad race there. I don't really remember watching dad race, it was early 80's when dad raced there and I was so young that I don't remember it a whole lot but I definitely watched my dad and my uncle race there."

But Casey clearly remembers the first laps he took around the speedway.

"I went there after winning a championship in a Triple Crown event in 1994. I went there for a banquet in the winter and it was snowing. Actually the first laps I ever made around the track were in the snow. I wanted to go around the track so I went around the snow covered track in a Suburban. I look back at the picture from that banquet and it was all the champions that year so it was me, Tony Stewart (midget cars), Jacques Villanueva (IRL) Steve Kenser and some others. It is funny to look at that picture because now everyone has moved on to bigger and better things."

Although he recently made the transition to stock car racing, Casey still has strong aspirations to compete in the Indianapolis 500 one day. He hopes that owner Chip Ganassi might give him that chance in the near future.

"In 2001, I tried to qualify for the Indy 500 but the team I was with was really under funded and all three drivers for the team were slow. So two of us did not qualify and the other one qualified right on the bubble. I ran all month but I did not get a chance to qualify for the race," Casey said. "I would like to return and try again as soon as I can. I have wanted to race in the Indy 500 for a long time and 2001 was really disappointing to be there all month and not qualify for the race. It was one of the biggest downers I will ever have in racing. However, we are so focused this year on the Winston Cup schedule that it is hard to focus on anything else, but at some point when things smooth out a bit I would love to run it."

Whether or not Casey is driving stock cars or open wheel cars, he will continue the Mears legacy that is so prominent at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

TEAM TARGET CREW:

Name Crew position Race shop duty Hometown
Casey Mears Driver Driver Bakersfield, California
Jimmy Elledge Crew Chief Crew Chief Redding, California
Andy Graves Team Manager/Spotter Team Manager Syracuse, New York
Tony Glover Team Manager Team Manager Kingsport, Tennessee
Al Shuford Team Trainer Team Trainer Shelby, North Carolina
Darren Wolfe Front Tire Changer Front Mechanic Fletcher, North Carolina
Marty Forcier Front Tire Carrier Paint Shop Superior, Wisconsin
Randy Cox Rear Tire Changer Car Chief Trinity, North Carolina
Heath Cherry Rear Tire Carrier Race Day Only Belmont, North Carolina
Mark Jacobs Jack Man Race Day Only Ft. Walton Beach, Florida
Les Huntley Gas Man Suspension Specialist Renwick, Iowa
Todd Anderson Catch Can Man Chassis Setup Jewell, Iowa
Doug Spees Windshield Tire Specialist Toledo, Ohio
Russ Bales Engine Specialist Engine Specialist Sandy Springs, Georgia
Tim Smith Engineer Engineer Cope, South Carolina
Paul Clapprood Pit Support Front Mechanic Stafford Springs, Connecticut
Trevor Lynse Pit Support Test Team Fergus Falls, Minneapolis
Dave Shano Pit Support Truck Driver El Cajon, California
Eric Hoyle Pit Support Rear Mechanic Asheville, North Carolina
Roger Parkinson Pit Support Shocks San Diego, California
Melissa Zeno Scorer/Cook Cook Lynchburg, Virginia

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Nealie Hamilton
Media Relations
Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
office: (704) 662-9642 x1130
cell: (704) 500-6068
nhamilton@ganassi.com