Charlotte Motor Speedway - Coca-Cola 600
RACE WINNER: CASEY MEARS!!!!!
Casey Mears: 1st (started 16th)
- YES!!!! A day after Casey’s first NEXTEL Cup victory and I’m still grinning and still bouncing off the walls. The #25, beautifully done up in camouflage to honor Memorial Day, was a good car all night, and near the end of the race it could stick to the track amazingly well. I listened to a few radio feeds throughout the race and kept track of Casey early on, when he was having trouble with his pit road speed (he got a speeding penalty on exit during Lap 141 pit stops - thankfully under yellow). He was also having some issues with his alternator and even with a battery change had to switch back and forth between his two batteries to keep the volts up. To make his night more exciting he avoided several different wrecks, once threading skillfully in between Carl Edwards and David Ragan.
- The last few laps were incredibly nerve-wracking to watch because at any moment I thought he would run out of gas. Spotter Chuck Joyce was an amazing cheerleader and could barely conceal his excitement to keep spotting. When Casey made it to Turn 4 on the last lap I felt like passing out with relief. Darian made an awesome call to stay out and hope the fuel would last and that team finally got what they all have been working so hard to do when Casey crossed the finish line. Then the tears came…hearing how happy he was (especially when he ran out of gas on the cool-down lap!), and seeing the team running out into the grass and hearing Rick Hendrick on the radio was just the best feeling in the world. It only got better when Jimmie Johnson arrived in Victory Lane. Casey took one look at him and his face crumpled. Jimmie gave him a quick dousing of Gatorade and then wrapped his arms around his best friend. Casey couldn’t hold back the tears. It was so refreshing to see such perfect emotion and I knew that Casey wouldn’t disappoint those who wish there was more emotion in NASCAR.
- The list of the drivers who visited Victory Lane/congratulated Casey is a long one. Jimmie, Kyle Busch (which should dispel the rumors of them disliking each other) and his girlfriend Erica, Reed Sorenson (who called Casey his “boy”), Brian Vickers and Kyle Petty (Casey was one of Adam’s best friends so Kyle knows him very well, and was very happy that he won). During NASCAR Victory Lane Casey also had someone touch him on the shoulder and he said, “Thanks David,” and I’m assuming this was David Stremme since they were friends at Ganassi. It was just great to see and hear. Casey is such a nice person and it really warmed my heart.
Some quotes:
Casey:
“I can’t believe it. Wait a minute. Let me look around to make sure what it looks like. The team just did an awesome job. I’ve got to thank Darian. He made an awesome call. He told me to conserve fuel. I am so proud of everybody here. It is definitely a team win. We had a third, fourth, maybe fifth place car. The only way we were going to win it was to stay out. I tried to conserve fuel the best I could. Darian and the National Guard/GMAC guys did an excellent. I want to say hi to all the National Guard guys out there. It is a special weekend for all the American Heroes, they have all paid a big price for us. I am proud to take them to Victory Circle. It is a big night for all of us.”
Kyle Petty:
“I couldn’t be more excited for Casey Mears if his name was Adam Petty. I can tell you that. I’m tickled to death for Casey Mears. That kid is a great racecar driver. He’s very underrated. People don’t pay a lot of attention to him. He’s jumped in a Hendrick car and he’s struggled some this year. There’s going to be a lot of good things from him. He’s going to be somebody to reckon with.
“When you race Casey Mears you know how hard he’s driving every single lap. It doesn’t matter if you’re racing for 43rd or you’re racing for second. A lot of the time these guys don’t get credit for some of the things they do. The press and media flock to the guy that wins, and that’s the way you should, but these guys don’t get the credit. I think Casey left Ganassi and went to Hendrick and it’s not been a bed of roses over there for the first 10 races this year. I think Casey is a good guy, he and his family, his father and his uncle. He works hard at it and he tries had at it and to finally be able to come out and do something, I’m just ecstatic for him. I really am. I like to see those guys come up and who have paid their dues and worked hard to get where they’re at finally have it paid off.”
Reed Sorenson: “One of the few buddies I have out here won the race, so I’m pretty pumped up I had a good run and my boy won, so I’m pretty excited right now. Casey and I are pretty good friends. He was my teammate last year and we still talk a lot, so I wanted to go congratulate him.”
Race2Win
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: 8th (started 4th)
- Despite thinking he finished 2nd, Junior was in good spirits after a great run. He overcame a flat tire that sent him a lap down for a time and pretty much ran in the Top 10 all night long, which is great news for this team after losing 100 points for their wing bracket infraction. Tony Gibson did a great job keeping up with the handling of the Bud Chevy (also decked out in camo).
Martin Truex Jr.: 16th (started 31st)
- I’d say a Top 20 is a great finish when you look at what this poor car went through. He was caught up in the Lap 53 wreck started by Jimmie Johnson’s outer liner coming off his tire (AJ Allmendinger had gotten loose under Jimmie the lap before and had cut the tire). Somehow the Bass Pro team got the car repaired enough to race competitively. It looked really crunched up but I guess everything that needed to be smoothed out was fixed up. Because of the damage fumes were blowing into the cockpit and making Martin’s eyes burn, which must have been really painful. He went a lap down but got the Lucky Dog and was running back into the Top 10 at one time but lost it during the last green-flag pit stops right before the checkers.
Kurt Busch: 32nd (started 2nd)
- This ended up being another frustrating race for Kurt and the Miller Lite team. At first it looked like it was going to be a great night, with Kurt leading 107 laps early on with very old tires. However, things went downhill when he got fresh tires during a pit stop. From then on the #2 was a very ill-handling Dodge and Kurt’s radio traffic made that very clear. His language became foul and once again he turned very sarcastic at times with Troy. I don’t like that so I switched to another feed. On Lap 186 Kurt spun but got only a little damage. He ran fairly well after that even with an evil car but was put out of his misery on Lap 299 when he wrecked hard down the backstretch. “We had a really good car early on and every time I came in it was like roulette,” he said. “What tires are we going to get? How’s the car going to handle? I was in position for the Lucky Dog and the car just jumped out from underneath me. I thought we had a really good car early on. It just didn’t stick for us when the track got better for everybody. It’s funny how we just ran the same lap times all night. We were really good in the daytime but horrible at night.”
Race2Win
Dale Jarrett: 40th (started 23rd)
- What a heartbreaker! From the drop of the green Dale was having problems with the transmission, which they have been having all season long. It kept popping out of gear and despite all of DJ’s best efforts he over-revved the motor and it blew up. It was really sad because he was running in the Top 10 - yes, because a lot of the field had wrecked, but he was keeping pace and would have very likely gotten a good finish.
Other Notes:
- Brian Vickers had an amazing run, no matter what difficulties were thrown at him. He led 76 laps with an astonishingly dominant Camry that was often much faster than the rest of the field. Not only did the power steering go out, but he was also having starter problems and cut a tire and slapped the wall! I couldn’t believe how strong this team was. Doug Richert and David Green are perfect cheerleaders and although Brian sounded hopeless and half-dead near the end of the race he soldiered on and was still faster than many of the cars on the track. In the end he stretched his fuel mileage and got 5th place, a Top 5 he and his team deserved, and Toyota’s first. Danni and I have always liked Brian, but now we have become fans. Starting at Dover he will be included always in our reports.
- JJ Yeley also had a much-deserved 2nd place finish. JJ is a good guy that is very underrated so I was happy to see him run well - his first Top 5 of his Cup career.
- Jeremy Mayfield was having a great run until his engine let go with less than 20 laps left. It was definitely encouraging to see how well the Toyotas ran. Dave Blaney finished 18th.
- Poor AJ Allmendinger! He went a lap down early because his car was handling very badly, but the night got much worse when the scariest wreck of the race occurred. Tony Raines got loose in front of Jeff Gordon on the frontstretch and Gordon tried to pass him on the inside too late. Raines got into Gordon and a large crash ensued. AJ was about to sneak through when Gordon flew back into the track and hit the wall right in front of AJ, who had nowhere to go. AJ hit him square in the “passenger” side door, sending the rear of the #24 into the air. Thankfully everyone got out of their cars okay, and I give all the credit to the SAFER barrier.
Casey Mears: 1st (started 16th)
- YES!!!! A day after Casey’s first NEXTEL Cup victory and I’m still grinning and still bouncing off the walls. The #25, beautifully done up in camouflage to honor Memorial Day, was a good car all night, and near the end of the race it could stick to the track amazingly well. I listened to a few radio feeds throughout the race and kept track of Casey early on, when he was having trouble with his pit road speed (he got a speeding penalty on exit during Lap 141 pit stops - thankfully under yellow). He was also having some issues with his alternator and even with a battery change had to switch back and forth between his two batteries to keep the volts up. To make his night more exciting he avoided several different wrecks, once threading skillfully in between Carl Edwards and David Ragan.
- The last few laps were incredibly nerve-wracking to watch because at any moment I thought he would run out of gas. Spotter Chuck Joyce was an amazing cheerleader and could barely conceal his excitement to keep spotting. When Casey made it to Turn 4 on the last lap I felt like passing out with relief. Darian made an awesome call to stay out and hope the fuel would last and that team finally got what they all have been working so hard to do when Casey crossed the finish line. Then the tears came…hearing how happy he was (especially when he ran out of gas on the cool-down lap!), and seeing the team running out into the grass and hearing Rick Hendrick on the radio was just the best feeling in the world. It only got better when Jimmie Johnson arrived in Victory Lane. Casey took one look at him and his face crumpled. Jimmie gave him a quick dousing of Gatorade and then wrapped his arms around his best friend. Casey couldn’t hold back the tears. It was so refreshing to see such perfect emotion and I knew that Casey wouldn’t disappoint those who wish there was more emotion in NASCAR.
- The list of the drivers who visited Victory Lane/congratulated Casey is a long one. Jimmie, Kyle Busch (which should dispel the rumors of them disliking each other) and his girlfriend Erica, Reed Sorenson (who called Casey his “boy”), Brian Vickers and Kyle Petty (Casey was one of Adam’s best friends so Kyle knows him very well, and was very happy that he won). During NASCAR Victory Lane Casey also had someone touch him on the shoulder and he said, “Thanks David,” and I’m assuming this was David Stremme since they were friends at Ganassi. It was just great to see and hear. Casey is such a nice person and it really warmed my heart.
Some quotes:
Casey:
“I can’t believe it. Wait a minute. Let me look around to make sure what it looks like. The team just did an awesome job. I’ve got to thank Darian. He made an awesome call. He told me to conserve fuel. I am so proud of everybody here. It is definitely a team win. We had a third, fourth, maybe fifth place car. The only way we were going to win it was to stay out. I tried to conserve fuel the best I could. Darian and the National Guard/GMAC guys did an excellent. I want to say hi to all the National Guard guys out there. It is a special weekend for all the American Heroes, they have all paid a big price for us. I am proud to take them to Victory Circle. It is a big night for all of us.”
Kyle Petty:
“I couldn’t be more excited for Casey Mears if his name was Adam Petty. I can tell you that. I’m tickled to death for Casey Mears. That kid is a great racecar driver. He’s very underrated. People don’t pay a lot of attention to him. He’s jumped in a Hendrick car and he’s struggled some this year. There’s going to be a lot of good things from him. He’s going to be somebody to reckon with.
“When you race Casey Mears you know how hard he’s driving every single lap. It doesn’t matter if you’re racing for 43rd or you’re racing for second. A lot of the time these guys don’t get credit for some of the things they do. The press and media flock to the guy that wins, and that’s the way you should, but these guys don’t get the credit. I think Casey left Ganassi and went to Hendrick and it’s not been a bed of roses over there for the first 10 races this year. I think Casey is a good guy, he and his family, his father and his uncle. He works hard at it and he tries had at it and to finally be able to come out and do something, I’m just ecstatic for him. I really am. I like to see those guys come up and who have paid their dues and worked hard to get where they’re at finally have it paid off.”
Reed Sorenson: “One of the few buddies I have out here won the race, so I’m pretty pumped up I had a good run and my boy won, so I’m pretty excited right now. Casey and I are pretty good friends. He was my teammate last year and we still talk a lot, so I wanted to go congratulate him.”
Race2Win
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: 8th (started 4th)
- Despite thinking he finished 2nd, Junior was in good spirits after a great run. He overcame a flat tire that sent him a lap down for a time and pretty much ran in the Top 10 all night long, which is great news for this team after losing 100 points for their wing bracket infraction. Tony Gibson did a great job keeping up with the handling of the Bud Chevy (also decked out in camo).
Martin Truex Jr.: 16th (started 31st)
- I’d say a Top 20 is a great finish when you look at what this poor car went through. He was caught up in the Lap 53 wreck started by Jimmie Johnson’s outer liner coming off his tire (AJ Allmendinger had gotten loose under Jimmie the lap before and had cut the tire). Somehow the Bass Pro team got the car repaired enough to race competitively. It looked really crunched up but I guess everything that needed to be smoothed out was fixed up. Because of the damage fumes were blowing into the cockpit and making Martin’s eyes burn, which must have been really painful. He went a lap down but got the Lucky Dog and was running back into the Top 10 at one time but lost it during the last green-flag pit stops right before the checkers.
Kurt Busch: 32nd (started 2nd)
- This ended up being another frustrating race for Kurt and the Miller Lite team. At first it looked like it was going to be a great night, with Kurt leading 107 laps early on with very old tires. However, things went downhill when he got fresh tires during a pit stop. From then on the #2 was a very ill-handling Dodge and Kurt’s radio traffic made that very clear. His language became foul and once again he turned very sarcastic at times with Troy. I don’t like that so I switched to another feed. On Lap 186 Kurt spun but got only a little damage. He ran fairly well after that even with an evil car but was put out of his misery on Lap 299 when he wrecked hard down the backstretch. “We had a really good car early on and every time I came in it was like roulette,” he said. “What tires are we going to get? How’s the car going to handle? I was in position for the Lucky Dog and the car just jumped out from underneath me. I thought we had a really good car early on. It just didn’t stick for us when the track got better for everybody. It’s funny how we just ran the same lap times all night. We were really good in the daytime but horrible at night.”
Race2Win
Dale Jarrett: 40th (started 23rd)
- What a heartbreaker! From the drop of the green Dale was having problems with the transmission, which they have been having all season long. It kept popping out of gear and despite all of DJ’s best efforts he over-revved the motor and it blew up. It was really sad because he was running in the Top 10 - yes, because a lot of the field had wrecked, but he was keeping pace and would have very likely gotten a good finish.
Other Notes:
- Brian Vickers had an amazing run, no matter what difficulties were thrown at him. He led 76 laps with an astonishingly dominant Camry that was often much faster than the rest of the field. Not only did the power steering go out, but he was also having starter problems and cut a tire and slapped the wall! I couldn’t believe how strong this team was. Doug Richert and David Green are perfect cheerleaders and although Brian sounded hopeless and half-dead near the end of the race he soldiered on and was still faster than many of the cars on the track. In the end he stretched his fuel mileage and got 5th place, a Top 5 he and his team deserved, and Toyota’s first. Danni and I have always liked Brian, but now we have become fans. Starting at Dover he will be included always in our reports.
- JJ Yeley also had a much-deserved 2nd place finish. JJ is a good guy that is very underrated so I was happy to see him run well - his first Top 5 of his Cup career.
- Jeremy Mayfield was having a great run until his engine let go with less than 20 laps left. It was definitely encouraging to see how well the Toyotas ran. Dave Blaney finished 18th.
- Poor AJ Allmendinger! He went a lap down early because his car was handling very badly, but the night got much worse when the scariest wreck of the race occurred. Tony Raines got loose in front of Jeff Gordon on the frontstretch and Gordon tried to pass him on the inside too late. Raines got into Gordon and a large crash ensued. AJ was about to sneak through when Gordon flew back into the track and hit the wall right in front of AJ, who had nowhere to go. AJ hit him square in the “passenger” side door, sending the rear of the #24 into the air. Thankfully everyone got out of their cars okay, and I give all the credit to the SAFER barrier.
