Casey Mears returning to the NASCAR Cup Series wasn't on the bingo cards of many fans heading into the 2025 season, with the 47-year-old Bakersfield, California native having not competed in the series since the 2019 Daytona 500 and having not made any other Cup Series starts since his full-time career concluded at the end of the 2016 season.
But he made his return with Garage 66 (MBM Motorsports) at Martinsville Speedway back in late March and finished in 35th. Then this past weekend at Daytona International Speedway, Garage 66 brought him back behind the wheel of the No. 66 Ford for the regular season-ending Coke Zero Sugar 400.
Mears finished the race in 29th place, which, all things considered, was his best Cup Series finish since his final race with Germain Racing to end the 2016 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he placed 18th. It was his best national series finish since his 11th place finish at Homestead in 2017, when he competed for Biagi-DenBeste Racing.
Casey Mears replaced after best finish in nine years
As of now, Mears does not have any further plans to return later in the 2025 season, though that could obviously change, given the week-to-week nature of Garage 66's plans throughout the year.
The Carl Long-owned team are set to make their 12th start of the year in this Sunday night's Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, and it is set to be Josh Bilicki, who leads the team with five starts and their best finish since 2020 (21st at Chicago) back behind the wheel of the No. 66 Ford.
The No. 66 car is one of two part-time non-chartered (open) cars on the entry list for this 367-lap race around the four-turn, 1.366-mile (2.198-kilometer) egg-shaped Darlington, South Carolina oval, the other being the No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet. Derek Kraus is set to make his second start of the year in that car.
Darlington Raceway is scheduled to open up the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series with the Cook Out Southern 500 beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, August 31, with live coverage set to be provided by USA Network. Begin a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss it!