CIA Stock Photo, Inc.
Casey Mears confirmed the rumors that began circulating last week, saying he won’t be back with Hendrick Motorsports next season.
Neither came as a surprise, although Mears said the timing with 20 of this season’s 36 races still to be run left him feeling a bit ambushed.
Mears is in just his second year at Hendrick Motorsports after spending his first four Cup seasons at Ganassi Racing. Hendrick praised Mears’ effort but said “the results just haven’t come.”
“It’s been a total team effort, and Casey has worked as hard as anyone to help us improve,” Hendrick owner Rick Hendrick said in a statement. “None of us, Casey included, have been satisfied with the situation this season.”
“It’s unfortunate that things have come out the way that they have, but at the same time, things happen for a reason,” Mears said at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, site of race.
“We’re just going to try to finish off the rest of this year as strong as we possibly can,” he said. “At the end of the day, this is a performance-based sport.”
“It’s frustrating to go through these scenarios, but, beyond this right here, we’re still at the racetrack,” Mears said. “We’re trying to make the best racecar we possibly can. That team’s got a lot of pride. We’re just going to continue to work hard. There are no hard feelings anywhere.”
Mears, 30, in his second season with Hendrick, spent his first season in the underachieving No. 25 car that had long been the team’s weak link—although he did get his only Cup victory last May at Charlotte.
There have been unconfirmed reports that longtime NASCAR star Mark Martin, currently running a part-time schedule with Dale Earnhardt, Inc., will replace Mears in the No. 5 and take one last shot at a Cup title in 2009.
Mears had his best finish of 2008 last weekend at Sonoma, coming home fifth on the road course. It is his lone top-five finish, and one of only three top-10s.
It’s not an unusual position for Mears to be in. Next year will be his fifth new team in as many years. In 2005, he drove the No. 41 for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates before moving to the 42 the following year. Last year, he joined Hendrick and drove the No. 25, then moved to the No. 5 this year.
Soon he will start all over again, but he still has half a season left to work on what he’s got now.
“The best thing that I want to do is get this No. 5 car back up as high as we can in the points and get some good finishes for myself and hopefully get a good opportunity for next season,” Mears said.
Biffle, meanwhile, ended speculation about his future by re-signing with Roush Fenway, where he has 12 career wins. Biffle, 38, is seventh in points this year and appears set to be among the 12 drivers who qualify for NASCAR’s Chase for the Cup title playoff.
“I weighed certainly all of my options out and it felt like the 16 car is where I really wanted to spend my next three years driving,” he said.
