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Texaco/Havoline Team Finishes 23rd in the Pennsylvania 500
Long Pond, PA. (July 23, 2006) --- Casey Mears battled a tight-handling Texaco/Havoline Dodge in the Pennsylvania 500 on Sunday to bring home a disappointing 23rd-place finish. The team only made one lap in the race at Pocono in June, so it was looking forward to the practice sessions on Saturday to work on the car. Unfortunately, rain washed out practice and the team was forced to make educated changes for the race setup on Sunday.
"That was a long tough day," said Mears. "We just could not get the car to turn from the center of the corner onto the long straight-aways. It wasn't because of a lack of effort, the guys made huge changes to the car all day but nothing seemed to work. Donnie (Wingo) used some strategy to get us up to mid-pack, but the car was just too tight in traffic and on the short runs."
Mears started the 200-lap race from the 31st position. It took just five laps on the track for Mears to determine the car was extremely tight. Mears and Wingo began talking about changes to the Texaco/Havoline Dodge at lap 12 in preparation for the mandatory caution flag NASCAR was going to wave on lap 20 since there was no practice on Saturday.
Wingo told Mears he was going to make "wholesale" changes to the car. Mears pitted on lap 22 and the No. 42 crew went to work. In addition to making air pressure adjustments to the tires, the over-the-wall crew took two spring rubbers out of the left rear, put a spring rubber into the right rear, raised the track bar, fitted the car with fresh tires and packed it full of fuel. When racing resumed on lap 24, the Texaco/Havoline Dodge was 33rd.
Green-flag racing lasted for just five laps when NASCAR waved the yellow flag for a three-car incident. The car was still tight so the crew made a track bar and wedge adjustment while putting on four tires. Mears was 27th for the restart on lap 37. He broke into the top 25 on lap 62 when the leaders, who did not pit under the last caution, came down for fuel. The yellow flag waved on lap 65 and Wingo called him down pit road so the team could continue to work on the car.
Following the restart, Wingo knew it would take some strategy to get Mears the track position he needed to see how the car would run toward the front of the pack. So, when the caution was displayed on lap 75 the crew jumped the wall and put on right-side tires only. The team checked the tires from the earlier stops and determined the tires weren't wearing on the left sides. So, Wingo also made a second call for two tires on lap 87 after the caution waved. Mears now found himself sitting in the fifth position for the restart on lap 92. Wingo told Mears to just try and maintain the track position and see what the car would do.
Mears began to slip back following the restart. At the midpoint of the race he was 15th and still having trouble getting the car to turn. He ran around in the 15th position through green-flag pit stops on lap 125 and was up to 13th by lap 132. The Texaco/Havoline crew was able to loosen the car up into the corners, but not off the corners. NASCAR dropped the yellow flag on lap 150 for debris on the track. The car seemed to run its best times during the last stint, so Wingo just called for fresh tires and fuel. The crew's quick stop kept Mears in 13th for the restart on lap 155, with just 25 cars remaining on the lead lap.
There were just 45 laps remaining in the race and Wingo was developing a new strategy to boost the team up into the top 10 for the finish. The team needed just 10 more laps before they could pit for fuel and make it to the end of the race. So on lap 165 Wingo called Mears down pit road under green-flag conditions for two tires and fuel. He returned to the track in the 23rd position, and took over 21st on lap 170 with the first 19 cars still needing to pit for fuel. On lap 175 the leaders began to make their final stops, unfortunately before the stops were completed the yellow flag waved for debris on lap 179. Mears was sitting 17th and Wingo was trying to decide whether or not to pit. He knew at least five cars in front of him would have to pit, but didn't know what the cars behind Mears were going to do. In the end, he called Mears down pit road for two tires on lap 181.
Racing resumed on lap 184 with the Texaco/Havoline Dodge in 17th. Despite his best efforts, the car would not handle in heavy traffic and Mears lost six spots before the checkered flag waved. He finished the race in the 23rd position, followed by his teammates Reed Sorenson and David Stremme who finished 26th and 29th respectively.
Mears remains 15th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup standings heading into the off-weekend. In two weeks, the Texaco/Havoline team will resume racing at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
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