Player Management International Media Release
Sparta, KY (July 9, 2016) – A week ago in Daytona, Casey Mears and the GEICO team ran in the top-five the bulk of the evening and ended up 12th after Tony Stewart collected him in a crash with just 12-laps to go in the race. Kentucky would not go as well, as the Germain Racing team would end up 30th after broken brake rotors sent the team to the garage for repairs on two occasions.
Mears and the No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS would roll off of the Quaker State 400 starting grid from the 28th position after qualifying was canceled on Saturday. When the green flag turned the field loose on Saturday night, Mears began experiencing brake issues on lap three, as he lost a handful of positions and dropped to 34th. When the first caution of the evening came out on lap 10, Mears reported that his brakes had a grinding vibration and that his brake pedal was going halfway to the floor.
Mears would head behind the wall on lap 30 after the Germain pit crew discovered a severely cracked left rear brake rotor during their stop under caution. They would act quickly and have the GEICO Chevy back on the track on lap 37, just seven laps in arrears. Unfortunately, the issue would reappear and he would need to make another trip to the garage on lap 89, this time to repair a cracked right rear brake rotor. He returned to the racing surface with 165-laps to go, 16-laps down and in the 36th position.
Mears continued to hustle his way around Kentucky Speedway and when the checkered flag waved after 267-laps of racing, he managed to record a 30th place finish.
“This is a tough one to swallow because we could’ve had a good finish in the GEICO Chevy tonight, but ended up behind the wall fixing our brakes,” Mears said. “We need to get back to the shop and figure out what happened and go from there.”
Germain Racing will now pack up Mears’ GEICO Chevy and head north to the New England area to race at the Magic Mile.
Casey Mears and the No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS will hit the track at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the weekend’s opening practice session on Friday, July 15th, at 11:30 AM (ET). Qualifying will follow at 4:45 PM (ET).
The New Hampshire 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race is on Sunday, July 17th, and it will be televised live on NBC Sports Network beginning at 1:30 PM (ET). The Performance Racing Network (PRN) will carry the live radio broadcast, along with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.
Please visit www.GEICO.com to learn how you could save money on more than just auto insurance.
To learn more about the GEICO Racing program, please visit: www.caseymearsracing.com
You can also follow GEICO Racing on Twitter: www.twitter.com/geicoracing
To learn more about Duracell, please visit: www.duracell.com
To learn more about Germain Racing, please visit: www.germainracing.com