Casey Mears is a native of Bakersfield, California. He began racing in go-karts in 1991, followed by the SuperLites Off-Road Series in 1992, where he achieved several top-three finishes.
Mears transitioned to sprint cars in 1994, finishing third in the Jim Russell USAC Triple Crown Championship with a win at Mesa Marin Raceway. He won the USAC series championship the following year. In 1996, he debuted in the Dayton Indy Lights series at the Cleveland Grand Prix, finishing eighth. He competed full-time in Indy Lights in 1997 and finished second in 1999, losing the championship by fourteen points. He completed every lap in a single season, becoming just the fourth driver in Indy Lights history to do so.
Mears won his first Indy Lights race at the Grand Prix of Houston in October 2000. After testing Indy Cars for multiple teams, he debuted in the CART Series for Team Rahal at California Speedway in October 2000, qualifying fifteenth and finishing fourth. He ran three IRL events at the start of 2001, but did not qualify for the Indianapolis 500. He filled in for injured Champ Car driver Alex Zanardi later that year, achieving one top-ten finish in four starts.
Mears transitioned to NASCAR, debuting in the Busch Series in 2001 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He drove full-time for Cicci-Welliver Racing in 2002, finishing 21st in points with two top-ten finishes. In 2003, Chip Ganassi Racing selected him to drive the No. 41 Target Dodge. He won three ARCA races for Ganassi that year, once at Michigan, and sweeping both Pocono races. He continued to drive the No. 41 Cup car for two additional seasons, earning two poles in 2004.
In 2006, Mears started off with a second-place finish at Daytona, passing Ryan Newman at the line as Jimmie Johnson won the race. He won a Busch Series race at Chicagoland Speedway in July 2006, coasting to the finish after running out of fuel.
On May 27, 2007, Mears won the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, his first (and only to date) career Nextel Cup victory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Coca-Cola_600). He secured the win with a fuel gamble, taking the lead with five laps remaining and stretching his fuel to the finish. At Homestead in 2005, Mears led late in the Ford 400, but a late yellow flag and subsequent pit stop impacted his chances of winning.
In 2014, at Richmond, Mears was involved in an incident with Marcos Ambrose following a late-race incident, resulting in a fine and probation.
In 2005, Mears teamed with Scott Dixon and Darren Manning in the Chip Ganassi Lexus Riley, finishing sixth at the 24 Hours of Daytona. The following year, he won the race alongside Dixon and Dan Wheldon, setting a race record for the Daytona Prototype category with 723 laps. He became the first full-time NASCAR driver to win the Rolex 24 overall (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danica_Patrick). In 2019, Mears debuted in SCORE International's Baja 1000, finishing 28th overall and twelfth in the Trophy Truck class.
Mears also competed in Stadium Super Trucks, testing a truck in 2017 and making his debut at Lake Elsinore. He later raced at Road America, Glen Helen, and the Race of Champions.
Mears won the USAC series championship in 1995. He won the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2006. In 2015, he signed a contract extension with Germain and GEICO through 2018.
Source: Information is based on the Wikipedia article "Casey Mears" and related pages accessed during research. No primary archives, autobiographies, period programmes, or specialist publications were consulted.
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