After skipping the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season entirely, MBM Motorsports, now officially known as Garage 66 on the Cup side, have been doing throughout the 2025 season what they did throughout the 2024 season, and that is fielding the No. 66 Ford in select races for rotating cast of drivers.
They made their 10th and most recent start of the year at Watkins Glen International two weekends ago, and it was Josh Bilicki making his fifth appearance of the season to wrap up a stretch of three straight weekends of competition for the team.
Bilicki competed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to open up that stretch, and Joey Gase returned to the team for the first time since 2019 the following weekend to run his home race at Iowa Speedway.
This weekend, the team have turned to a Cup Series veteran, one who entered the 2025 season having not competed in the series since the 2019 Daytona 500 himself.
Casey Mears set for first Daytona start in more than six years
Casey Mears finished in 35th place at Martinsville Speedway back in March in what was his first start in more than six years, and now he is set to return to Daytona International Speedway for the first time since the 2019 edition of the "Great American Race", which he ran with Germain Racing after sitting out the entire 2017 and 2018 seasons.
Mears is locked into this Saturday night's 160-lap Coke Zero Sugar 400 around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida oval, as the No. 66 Ford is one of four part-time non-chartered (open) cars on the entry list.
The other three are Austin Hill's No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, Gase's No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet, and B.J. McLeod's No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet.
Mears has finished as high as second place at Daytona, placing runner-up in the 2006 Daytona 500 for Chip Ganassi Racing. In the summer race, his best finish of fourth came in 2014 for Germain Racing. He has one career Cup win, that coming in the 2007 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway for Hendrick Motorsports.
Catch all of the action from Daytona International Speedway by tuning into NBC at 7:30 p.m. ET this Saturday, August 23. Begin a free trial of FuboTV today and don't miss the Coke Zero Sugar 400!