Mears – The Forgotten Fourth Wheel?

Casey Mears made the move from Chip Ganassi Racing over to Hendrick Motorsports following the ’06 season after Brian Vickers left from behind the wheel of the no. 25 GMAC ride to go race for Toyota. I remember thinking to myself when I saw that that Mears was really one of those untapped talents out there on the circuit and that he’d probably wind up doing very well for himself racing for a team like Hendrick. Coming into this season, Mears had no career Cup victories, and his best season came in 2005 with three top five’s and nine top ten’s. So far this year, he’s got five top five’s and ten top ten’s … oh, and not to mention finally getting his first win earlier this Spring at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

I know when you read those numbers, they’re not exactly astounding, but let’s remember that Mears is driving for the fourth team at Hendrick. The priority of this organization has undoubtedly always been Jeff Gordon, followed by Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch. Next year Busch leaves the team, only to be replaced by the most popular driver in motorsports in Dale Earnhardt Jr. That means that everytime Casey hits that track on Sunday, he’s got the fourth best Hendrick team, the fourth best Hendrick engine, the fourth best Hendrick chassis, and so on and so on.  Even still, since the beginning of the Chase for the Nextel Cup began just seven races ago, Mears has put together four top ten finishes and hasn’t had a finish worse than 21st. In the last twenty-two races on the year, he has eighteen finishes of 20 or better. Additionally, Mears hasn’t failed to finish a race since Indianapolis back on July 29th.

Casey Mears has been silent, but very consistent for the majority of the year, which is why he’s marched his way all the way up to 14th in points after finishing twelfth in the Pep Boys Auto 500 last weekend at Atlanta, just one spot behind future teammate Dale Junior. He’s a very deserving kid, and I think he has a very legitimate shot at making the Chase field sometime within the next couple of years, but his best move may be to take an exit from HMS fairly soon. It’s probably the best organization in stock car racing, and I still think that it’s a great move for Earnhardt, but I’m just afraid it’s going to come at the expense of Hendrick’s forgotten fourth wheel, Casey Mears.