Casey Mears Racing

SWEET DAYTONA 500 QUALIFYING RUN FOR MEARS ON VALENTINE’S DAY

Player Management International Media Release

Daytona Beach, FL (February 14, 2016) – In last night’s Sprint Unlimited, Casey Mears was quick on the track and skillful in the closing laps, which ultimately resulted in a top-5 finish in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ season-opening event.  He woke up this morning and turned his attention to Daytona 500 qualifying.  All along pit road and across media channels, one could hear the chatter about Mears’ skillful talent for navigating restrictor-plate tracks.  Today’s qualifying session also proved that the GEICO driver is pretty fast in single car runs, as well.

With 44 entries in the Daytona 500, Mears would be the 33rd car to take to the high-banked tri-oval to throw his hat in the ring for this year’s Great American Race.  He charged out of the gate and after laying down a brisk lap of 46.332-seconds, the No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS sat an impressive 13th on the scoring tower when the session was complete.

When the Can-Am Duel 150 qualifying races get underway at the World Center of Racing on Thursday, February 18th, Mears and his GEICO Chevy will start from the sixth position in duel number two.  These races will decide the official starting lineup for the 58th running of the Daytona 500.

“It was great to have some speed out there today and 13 is a strong number; it has been good for us. I’m real proud of the guys because they put a lot of work into this race and we wanted to show our speed,” Mears said.  “It’s a great opportunity to show what a team is made out of and I think everyone paid a lot of attention to detail and the work that the GEICO guys did was awesome. To be running in the groups that we’re running with here, the guys are doing a really good job back at the shop. We built our own body in-house at Germain Racing with a lot of information from RCR; but the fact that we’re able to repeat that and get that close is a testament to how hard those guys work. I appreciate everything they do. Last night was a great time and obviously we’ve got some speed, so I’m looking forward to the 500.”

While the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will enjoy a two-day break before returning to the track for practice on Wednesday, Mears’ schedule is full.  He will make an appearance at a GEICO regional office on Monday before taking part in Daytona 500 Media Day on Tuesday.

The Can-Am Duel 150 qualifying races will be held on Thursday, February 18th, beginning at 7 PM (ET).  They will be televised live on FoxSports1.

The Daytona 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race is on Sunday, February 21st, and it will be televised live on FOX beginning at 1:00 PM (ET).  The Motor Racing Network (MRN) will carry the live radio broadcast, along with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

Please visit www.GEICO.com to learn how you could save money on more than just auto insurance.

To learn more about the GEICO Racing program, please visit: www.caseymearsracing.com

You can also follow GEICO Racing on Twitter: www.twitter.com/geicoracing

To learn more about Germain Racing, please visit: www.germainracing.com

MEARS PLAYS ROLE OF MR. EXCITEMENT, COLLECTING A TOP-5 FINISH AT SPRINT UNLIMITED

Player Management International Media Release

Daytona Beach, FL (February 13, 2016) – Casey Mears and Germain Racing are coming off of their best season since entering the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2009. The winter was productive for the GEICO team, as evidenced by the speed they have exhibited in the opening days of 2016 Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway. Mears and the No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS finished fourth in last year’s Sprint Unlimited and aimed to top that effort as they took to the starting grid for last night’s season-opening 75-lap shootout.

Starting sixth, Mears and his GEICO Chevy quickly jumped to fourth when the green flag got the 2016 season underway. He seemed to run effortlessly at the front of the pack for most of the night. Only once did he find himself descending through the field and that came on lap 35 when he was caught on the bottom and shuffled back to the 19th position. He recovered quickly and pedaled his way back up to the eighth position with 35 laps to go in the event.

On lap 43, Mears and his best friend Jimmie Johnson got even closer after Johnson’s No. 48 car made contact with the GEICO Chevy, bringing out the yellow and forcing Mears to make a brilliant save, as he traveled nearly sideways down the racetrack. Having sustained damage from the incident, the No. 13 machine visited pit road for tires, fuel and the opportunity to survey the affects of the contact. The Germain Racing crew quickly returned Mears to the racing surface where he reported that his Chevy SS felt out of balance. The car may have been out of balance, but Mears was not. When the race returned to green on lap 48, the Bakersfield, CA, native was forced to restart from the 16th position, but just four laps later was up to eighth, appearing to be unfazed by the damage to his car.

With 20 laps left to be contested, Mears took over the sixth position and remained there until the race took an unfavorable turn for Germain Racing with just two laps to go. Racecars began colliding around Mears and he sustained heavy damage to the splitter of his GEICO Chevrolet SS. Once hopeful for the win, he now found himself on the outside looking in. He quickly delivered his GEICO machine to the attention of a ready and waiting pit crew that paid prompt attention to the damage. They would pit a total of three times before returning to the track and restarting from the rear of the field as the Sprint Unlimited headed into overtime.

When the green flag restarted the race for the final time, Mears quickly began to charge around the 2.5-mile high-speed tri-oval looking to recover lost ground. He was also hoping the heavy splitter damage to his GEICO Chevy would not prohibit him from turning in the corners. The Germain Racing pit crew made perfect repairs, allowing Mears to regain real estate and make a mad dash to the front. Mears exercised his restrictor-plate racing prowess when in the final laps, he managed to pick his way through the field and hustle to a fifth place finish, marking an improbable comeback that converted tragedy to triumph. For the second consecutive year, Mears and the GEICO Racing team scored a top-5 finish to kick off their season.

“I’m so proud of the team and all of the hard work they put in over the winter to make sure we were ready for this season. Germain Racing is as prepared as we’ve ever been and it showed here tonight when we were able to remain calm, get the car fixed and have a chance to make a run there at the end,” a visibly happy Mears reported after climbing from his No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS. “It’s a great way to start the year. So much of the credit goes to our general manager Larry Rogers, Bootie Barker (crew chief) and everyone on the team that made it a point to work on the little things in the off-season and make sure we were moving to the next level; that we were ready for whatever may come our way. I’m happy for GEICO, Bob Germain, everyone on the team and all of our sponsorship partners. Now, we’re focused on Daytona 500 qualifying and having a strong run at the Duels and the 500 itself.”

The Germain Racing crew will get very little shut-eye before returning to the historic racing facility, where Daytona 500 qualifying will commence on Sunday at 1:15 PM (ET), live on FOX.

The Can-Am Duel 150 qualifying races will be held on Thursday, February 18th, beginning at 7 PM (ET). They will be televised live on FoxSports1.

The Daytona 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race is on Sunday, February 21st, and it will be televised live on FOX beginning at 1:00 PM (ET). The Motor Racing Network (MRN) will carry the live radio broadcast, along with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

Please visit www.GEICO.com to learn how you could save money on more than just auto insurance.

To learn more about the GEICO Racing program, please visit: www.caseymearsracing.com

You can also follow GEICO Racing on Twitter: www.twitter.com/geicoracing

To learn more about Germain Racing, please visit: www.germainracing.com

GEICO CHEVY DRIVER CASEY MEARS READY TO KNOCK COBWEBS OFF AND GET RACING IN SPRINT UNLIMITED

Germain Racing Finished 4th in Team’s First Unlimited in 2015

Germain Racing Press Release

Mooresville, NC (February 11, 2016) – Germain Racing will enter the No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS in Saturday night’s 75-lap Sprint Unlimited. Driver Casey Mears wheeled the GEICO Chevy to a fourth-place finish last February in the team’s first-ever appearance in the pre-season, exhibition race. He is looking forward to running the 187.5-mile race again this year.

“Racing in the Sprint Unlimited – it is nice to get to go through some of the motions of coming down pit road and letting the guys jump over the wall in a live race situation before the big Daytona 500 weekend,” Mears explained.

This year’s Unlimited provides the GEICO Chevy team with another technical advantage.

“We are running the new digital dashboard for the first time in the GEICO Chevrolet SS and it will be nice to work though some of that. The Unlimited is a great way to start the season! With no testing in the off season it’s great to knock the cobwebs off and get a feel for what we will need in the 500,” said Mears who will be making his fourth Sprint Cup Series career start in the Sprint Unlimited.

As it did last year, chassis 387 will serve as the No. 13 GEICO Chevy SS for Mears. The car was formerly the primary chassis for superspeedway races before being moved to the Sprint Unlimited duties in 2015.

Crew chief Bootie Barker is looking forward to racing in the Sprint Unlimited again this year. He agrees with Mears – it’s a great way to shake the dust off. “It is a good experience to be part of the Sprint Unlimited. Drivers and crew get a chance to get into the groove after the off-season.”

The No. 13 GEICO Chevy SS, as part of the Sprint Unlimited field, is on track twice on Friday the 12th for practice sessions at 5 and 6:30 PM ET. Both sessions will air on FoxSports1, with Saturday night’s race going live at 8:00 PM ET on FOX. MRN and SiriusXM Satellite Radio Ch. 90 will carry the live radio broadcast of the event.

Daytona 500 practice begins on Saturday morning at 10:30 AM and again at 1:30 PM (aired on FS1) in preparation for Sunday’s 1:15 PM qualifying which airs on FOX.

Please visit www.GEICO.com to learn how you could save money on more than just auto insurance.

To learn more about the GEICO Racing program, please visit: www.caseymearsracing.com

You can also follow GEICO Racing on Twitter: www.twitter.com/geicoracing

For team information, follow @GermainRacing on Twitter or Facebook.com/GermainRacing.

Track updates can be found on Twitter @DISUpdates or on the web at DaytonaInternationalSpeedway.com.