It hasn't exactly been easy going for NASCAR veteran Casey Mears this season with Beard Motorsports, from his DNQ that was caused by rain at Talladega Superspeedway, to his three DNFs since then, to the fact that his only actual finish with the team is a 37th place effort.
Mears returned to the Cup Series for the first time since 2019, and for the first time for a race other than the Daytona 500 since 2016, for five races a year ago with Garage 66, and he helped Carl Long's team end a six-year Daytona 500 drought back in February with a surprising qualifying effort that ultimately led to a 32nd place finish. But he has competed for Beard Motorsports ever since.
He was knocked out of this past weekend's race at Talladega Superspeedway, and he now has one more start scheduled behind the wheel of the No. 62 Chevrolet before the end of the 2026 season.
Casey Mears prepares for 500th career NASCAR Cup Series start
Mears has given no indication that he plans to retire from NASCAR after hitting 500 starts. Seeing as how, up until a year ago, he had run just one race since 2016, the fact that he's back at all goes to show that retirement probably isn't at the forefront of his mind to start with.
But he has long stated that he has wanted to hit 500 starts, and his 500th start is scheduled to come in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The No. 62 car is not entered this weekend at Martinsville Speedway.
As of now, the only other non-chartered (open) car lined up to run the Homestead race is the No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota of Corey Heim. For Mears to risk not qualifying for that race, three more would need to be added between now and next week, which is extremely unlikely.
NBC's live coverage of the Xfinity 500 is set to begin at 2:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, November 1. Begin a free trial of FuboTV today and don't miss any of the action from Martinsville Speedway!
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