Team Target EA Sports 500 Race Advance
RACE INFORMATION: EVENT: EA Sports 500 (race 29 of 36) TRACK: Talladega Superspeedway QUALIFYING: Friday, September 26, 3:00 p.m. ET RACE: Sunday, September 28, 1:00 p.m. ET BROADCAST: NBC television and MRN radio TARGET TEAM FACTS: -Spring Talladega Race: In his first Winston Cup race at Talladega, rookie Casey Mears was caught in "the big one," which was started by a flat tire on Ryan Newman's car, and included approximately 27 cars. Although Mears escaped injury, his Target Dodges' motor was locked up and unable to be repaired. He was left with a 40th place finish. -Car: Team Target is taking chassis # 003 at Talladega this weekend. This is the same car that finished 25th in the Pepsi 400 and -Target House: Casey will be visiting the Target House in Memphis, Tennessee on Wednesday. Target House is a home-away-from-home for families with children receiving life-saving treatment at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Richard Petty and Christian Fittipaldi will join Casey in visiting with the children. The event is a precursor to the Target House 200 Busch Series race in Rockingham, N.C. At the visit on Wednesday, children will enter a helmet coloring contest. Casey will wear the winning helmet in the Winston Cup and Busch Series races at Rockingham later this season. -2nd Annual Race for Charity Event: Casey will also spend his Thursday afternoon in Tennessee helping out teammate Sterling Marlin with his annual charity event benefiting The Hope House of Columbia, Tenn. -EA Sports "NASCAR Thunder 2004" video game: Casey Mears will help EA Sports launch their new video game, NASCAR Thunder 2004. Mears will compete in the driver challenge at the EA Sports tent on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Talladega Superspeedway. What games (other than NASCAR) are you playing on your Xbox right now? "RalliSport Challenge, Tony Hawk, and Crash Bandicoot. I play RalliSport Challenge almost every time I play Xbox. That's my favorite game by far." How realistic do you find EA's NASCAR Thunder 2004? "The graphics are really realistic and the tracks are really close in how they look in real life. It's practically just like driving in the races; the only think you lose is the G forces and feeling of going 190 mph. This is the first time that I've been in a video game, so that was a really cool experience to play myself and drive my car in the game." -Raybestos Rookie Teammates: Casey Mears and Jamie McMurray are the first teammate rookies to compete for Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors. Mears currently sits in third place in rookie points while McMurray leads the points. -Leader: Mears became the first 2003 rookie to lead a lap and the only rookie to lead a lap in the Daytona 500. TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY STATS: Busch Series DATE RACE LOCATION START FINISH STATUS 4/20/02 Aaron's 312 Talladega Superspeedway 25 5 Running Winston Cup Series DATE RACE LOCATION START FINISH STATUS 4/6/2003 Aaron's 499 Talladega Superspeedway 10 40 Accident 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 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