NASCAR veteran sneaks into his first Daytona 500 – Sports News
47-year-old NASCAR veteran Casey Mears will probably be back within the Daytona 500 after ending eighth in a qualifying race on Thursday night time. He solely races part-time now, driving for Garage 66 within the No. 66 Fort Mustang Dark Horse.
Mears’ 2026 goals have been virtually dashed after he discovered himself in a crash on Lap 46 across the entrance of pit street. The No. 66 car hung robust, and regardless of falling a lap behind (and remaining in that place with a lap to go), hung robust.
A free move on a late move forward of an extra time restart helped, too.
“I simply can’t consider it,” an emotional Mears explained post-race.” After all that, to return back, and be sitting in place to go race the Daytona 500 on Sunday? Pretty a lot the entire race I used to be pondering that was out of our grasp.”
“I was worried when I got stuck. I was worried about going two laps down,” he added. “In my mind, I always feel like there’s a good possibility of a late race caution at this kind of track, so I knew if we were one lap down we always had a chance.
“There were a lot of prayers said, for sure, just for the opportunity, and it opened up, and we took advantage of it. So just super happy to be here.”
Mears hasn’t competed full-time since 2016. Sunday will mark his 495th career Cup Series race. He boasts one win on the circuit: the 2007 Coca-Cola 600.
The journeyman has driven for Germain Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing, and others. Now, he’ll drive for Garage 66 in NASCAR’s most famous race.
“I can’t tell you, throughout my career I’ve been with some of the best teams, and I’ve been with some of the smallest programs, and nothing surprises me here,” he added.
“This is all a bonus spherical for me. My profession just about had an finish back in 2017, 2018, so simply to return back and have the chance to return do that again is a large deal.”
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