NASCAR: Top-Five Drivers To Never Make The Chase
No. 1 – Casey Mears
Casey Mears’ career has consisted of several different rides. There was one time in Mears’ career where he had six different rides in six different seasons including stops at Chip Ganassi Racing, Hendrick Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing. Mears started off struggling with Chip Ganassi Racing but once he got his feet underneath him, turned into a real nice driver, until lack of a stable ride got in his way.
His instability started when he ran the No. 41 car for Chip Ganassi in 2005. He moved to the No. 42 Havoline Dodge in the 2006 season where he finished 14th in points. That would have been good enough to make the Chase had we had today’s format back in 2006. That success led him to the No. 25 car at Hendrick Motorsports where Mears won his only Cup race to date, the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend. Mears finished 15th in the standings in 2007, another respectable season. In 2008 Rick Hendrick moved him to the No. 5 team to replace Kyle Busch who had left for Joe Gibbs Racing. Dale Earnhardt Jr joined the team and he drove Mears’ old No. 25 car. It was Mears’ fourth ride in four years.
Mears struggled in the No. 5 car, finishing 20th in points and would be replaced by Mark Martin in the 2009 season. Mears moved to his fifth ride in five years when he joined Richard Childress Racing and the No. 07 Jack Daniels Chevrolet in 2009. After finishing 21st in points Mears was out the door after sponsor Jack Daniels left the sport entirely.
Mears then joined the start up team Keyed-Up Motorsports and missed the Daytona 500 by an eyelash. It was Mears’ sixth team in six years and by the end of 2010 he would add more to his total. Keyed-Up struggled to make races and the team shut down. Mears was out of a ride. He then joined Tommy Baldwin Racing and then moved to Red Bull Racing before an incident with then teammate Scott Speed got him out of that ride after just four races. Baldwin came calling again and Mears did a good job making races for the team at an impressive rate.
Then Mears got the break he was looking for. Germain Racing had Max Papis driving for them and the team was underperforming and needed a change. Mears was tabbed to drive the No. 13 then Geico Toyota. It was a move that benefitted both parties. Papis was missing races for the No. 13 team on a regular basis and Mears made all but one in the final 18 races of the season.
Must Read: NASCAR Considering Major Changes Ahead Of 2017 To Format And Points
Since then Mears and the Germain Racing team have grown together. The team finished 31st in the standings in 2011, 29th in 2012, 24th in 2013, 26th in 2014, 23rd in 2015 and 28th in 2016.
In 2017 Mears will not be in the No. 13 machine as that ride has been taken over by Ty Dillon. Mears stepping down equipment wise might not increase his chances of making the Chase, but who knows.