Mears finishes 18th at Charlotte; third top-20 in last four races

Persistence is a key component of any successful organization and Casey Mears and the GEICO Racing team showed their never give up attitude once again this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway (CMS). Returning to a track that has not been kind to the No. 13 team in the past, Mears knew the tide could turn. And it did just that on Sunday afternoon during the running of the Bank of America 500, as the veteran driver crossed the finish line in the 18th position. This marked Germain Racing’s best finish at the 1.5-mile speedway since the inception of its NASCAR Sprint Cup Series program in 2009.

 
“I’m extremely proud of Bootie (Barker, crew chief) and all of the GEICO Racing guys,” said Mears, after the race. “This was by far the best car we have brought to Charlotte in years. This place has not been kind to us in the past, but this weekend, and especially today, we were able to run consistently in the top-20 and bang on the door of the top-15. I hit the wall in turn two towards the end which hurt us a little, but overall it was a great effort for our Germain Racing team.”
 
The team headed in the right direction from the moment they unloaded the GEICO Chevy on Thursday. Mears ended up 28th in the weekend’s opening practice session before improving to 18th in the second session and finishing up ninth in happy hour. On Thursday evening, he qualified 21st, a 13 position improvement over his starting spot in May.
 
After rain postponed the 334-lap race on Saturday night, sunshine and warm temperatures welcomed the racing action on Sunday afternoon. Rolling off from the 21st position, Mears quickly moved up three spots to 18th-place by lap 10. On lap 55, Mears radioed to Crew Chief Bootie Barker that the GEICO Chevrolet was “loose in, loose off and the center is going away real bad”, but he remained inside the top-20 despite his report. This wouldn’t stop Mears from moving forward, as on lap 100, the No. 13 entry was scored in the 15th position.
 
Mears continued to hustle throughout the second half of the race, while Barker and the Germain Racing pit crew improved the handling of the No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet. Slight misfortune struck on lap 254 when Mears brushed the outside wall, but kept digging. “It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good,” said Mears after the contact. After being assured the damage wasn’t causing a tire rub, Mears pressed forward. He ultimately transcended the incident and crossed the finish line in the 18th position, netting Germain Racing’s third top-20 finish in the last four races and their 14th of the season. The GEICO team departed the Charlotte Sprint Cup Series garage with an average finish of 20.2 over the previous five events, marking significant improvement from just a year ago.
 
Next up for Mears and Germain Racing team is a trip to the Sunflower state.
 
Casey Mears and the No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS will hit the track at Kansas Speedway for the weekend’s opening practice session on Friday, October 16th, at noon ET. Qualifying follows at 6:15 PM ET and will air live on NBC Sports.

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