Loudon II: Casey Mears preview

Texaco/Havoline Team Facts:

Standings: Casey Mears and the Texaco/Havoline team remain 15th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup standings following their 11th-place finish on Saturday night in Richmond. The run was a career best at Richmond for Mears. Mears and the team sit just 13 points out of 14th place. At this point last season Mears was 25th heading to New Hampshire International Speedway (NHIS), an improvement of 10 positions.

Running at Loudon: Mears is looking for his first top-10 finish at New Hampshire International Speedway this weekend. He has seven starts at the 1-mile track huddled in the northeast. Crew chief Donnie Wingo and the Texaco/Havoline team had a strategy set for a top-15 finish at NHIS, but caution flags and fuel mileage had other plans for the team. Mears and the crew settled for a 21st-place finish in a race scheduled to end at lap 300, but ran to 308. His best finish at Loudon is16th.

Casey Mears Quotes:

"I feel better about going back to Loudon. We didn't run that well in New Hampshire with our new short track car, but Reed (Sorenson) and the 41 team ran great. Last weekend at Richmond our short track car from Loudon ran pretty good and we were able to adjust on it and get better during the practice sessions and the race. I'm much more confident in our short track program and have a lot of confidence in this team heading back to Loudon. Hopefully we can put together a top-10 finish this weekend, keep the car in one piece and prepare it for Martinsville."

-credit: cgr