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Texaco/Havoline Team Earns Top-10
Starting Spot in Atlanta
Hampton, Ga. (March 17, 2006) -- Casey Mears and the Texaco/Havoline team rebounded from a disappointing practice on Friday to qualify the No. 42 Dodge Charger 10th for Sunday's Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Crew chief Donnie Wingo made several changes to the Texaco/Havoline Dodge before Mears rolled off 25th to qualify. Mears drove the car around the 1.54-mile track in 28.989 seconds, over a one-second pick up from practice, to earn the 10th starting position for the 325-lap race.
"That's teamwork right there," said Mears. "The No. 41 and No. 42 teams tried two totally different qualifying setups in practice. The No. 41 was real fast in practice. We went more towards their setup. Donnie and the crew changed a bunch of things on the car, and had a couple of problems in tech. We got out on the grid late, but we ended up being a lot better, so I'm extremely happy with that. That was a pretty good run for the Texaco/Havoline Dodge."
This is the first top-10 starting position for the No. 42 team this season. Mears has only started inside the top 10 at Atlanta one other time in a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race. The Texaco/Havoline team is looking to earn its fourth consecutive top-10 finish on Sunday and maintain its position inside the NEXTEL Cup top 10 in points.
Mears' Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates teammates Reed Sorenson and David Stremme qualified 15th and 38th respectively.
The Golden Corral 500 will air live on Fox television and MRN radio on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET.
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