BenchRacer
08-07-2004, 11:09 PM
Casey Mears continued the family legacy at the infamous Brickyard on Saturday. After watching his uncle Rick collect four wins at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Mears shattered the track record today in the Target Dodge with an average speed of 186.293 mph to capture the pole for the Brickyard 400. This will be the second consecutive week Mears will lead the field to the green flag for the start of the race on Sunday.
“I’ve watched races at this track as a young kid for a long time,” said Mears. “I’ve watched my uncle in the Indy 500 and even my dad in the early 80s. It feels great being back here at Indy and holding up the Mears name. This place has a lot of special meaning to me with my uncle running so well here. This place has created a lot of good fortunes for my family, and it just feels great to be here and running so well. They say when things don’t go well right off the bat you really appreciate the good times.”
Mears became the first driver since 1964 to post his first two career NASCAR Nextel Cup poles in consecutive races. He is also just the fourth repeat pole winner in 2004.
“I’m real happy with that,” continued Mears. “It was an awesome lap. That was an awesome time and it feels unbelievable to win the pole. I think I’ve made a home in NASCAR now. We do the best job we can every week, and winning the pole last week at Pocono was great, but this is huge.
“I don’t know if it was a perfect lap. It’s hard to run a perfect lap, but I’m not sure I could have got much more out of it. It was pretty close. It felt like a fast lap, and when it feels like a fast lap it’s usually pretty good. It really feels good to be up front with this Target Dodge. The guys worked hard and Jimmy Elledge made the call on the set up, I couldn’t be more proud of this team than I am right now.”
Source: Chip Ganassi Website (http://www.chipganassiracing.com/)
“I’ve watched races at this track as a young kid for a long time,” said Mears. “I’ve watched my uncle in the Indy 500 and even my dad in the early 80s. It feels great being back here at Indy and holding up the Mears name. This place has a lot of special meaning to me with my uncle running so well here. This place has created a lot of good fortunes for my family, and it just feels great to be here and running so well. They say when things don’t go well right off the bat you really appreciate the good times.”
Mears became the first driver since 1964 to post his first two career NASCAR Nextel Cup poles in consecutive races. He is also just the fourth repeat pole winner in 2004.
“I’m real happy with that,” continued Mears. “It was an awesome lap. That was an awesome time and it feels unbelievable to win the pole. I think I’ve made a home in NASCAR now. We do the best job we can every week, and winning the pole last week at Pocono was great, but this is huge.
“I don’t know if it was a perfect lap. It’s hard to run a perfect lap, but I’m not sure I could have got much more out of it. It was pretty close. It felt like a fast lap, and when it feels like a fast lap it’s usually pretty good. It really feels good to be up front with this Target Dodge. The guys worked hard and Jimmy Elledge made the call on the set up, I couldn’t be more proud of this team than I am right now.”
Source: Chip Ganassi Website (http://www.chipganassiracing.com/)