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Bass Pro Shops 500
Casey Mears and No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge at
Atlanta Motor Speedway, October 29

Texaco/Havoline Team Facts:
NEXTEL Cup Series

• Standings: Casey Mears and the Texaco/Havoline team battled back from two spins to finish sixth at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday. The top-10 finish moved Mears and the team up to 14th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup standings with four races remaining in the 2006 season. They now sit just 79 points out of 13th.



• Atlanta: Mears will be making his eighth NEXTEL Cup start at the 1.54-mile speedway this weekend in the Bass Pro Shops 500. Mears struggled with the handling of his Texaco/Havoline Dodge in the March event at Atlanta Motor Speedway and brought the car home in the 21st position. His best finish is 13th, which he earned in October of 2004.



• Season to date: Mears and the Texaco/Havoline team have accumulated two top-five and seven top-10 finishes this season. Mears sits 14th in the Cup standings, an 11-spot improvement from his 2005 standings with four races remaining. Over the final four races of 2005, Mears posted two top-five finishes including a heartbreaking loss at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Mears had a 1-second advantage over the second-place car with just 15 laps to go when NASCAR displayed the yellow on lap 250 for debris.



• Chassis: Crew chief Donnie Wingo and the Texaco/Havoline team are taking chassis #406 to Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend. Mears tested this chassis at Homestead-Miami Speedway last week and most recently ran it to a second-place finish at Kansas Speedway on October 1. Kansas was the first race for chassis #406 this season which was built specifically for the 1.5-mile tracks..

Casey Mears Quotes:

On Atlanta...
"Atlanta is one of my favorite tracks on the circuit. I know I haven't finished well there in the past, but I love the speed of the track and the options you have as a driver. You carry so much speed that you're racing on the edge every lap. There are more grooves and lines around this track, so you can constantly search around and find which one works best for you and best for the car's handling."

"We are also taking back the car that ran so well at Kansas. We've struggled a little on the mile and half tracks this season, but the way we ran at Charlotte and Kansas is definitely encouraging. I want to finish out the season strong, and get a win for the Texaco/Havoline team. Martinsville was a good, yet emotional race for us. We finished in the top 10 and gained some momentum heading into the final four races of the season."