MEARS ENDS UP AS COLLATERAL DAMAGE IN EARLY CRASH AT CHARLOTTE

Player Management International Media Release

CONCORD, N.C. (October 9, 2016) – Each and every week, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams prepare for any situation that may come their way. However, one thing will always remain out of their control: the weather. The last two race events have been impacted by rain and as Hurricane Matthew made its way up the East Coast on Friday and Saturday, heavy downpours would once again delay the green flag and postpone the Bank of America 500 until Sunday afternoon.

Under clear and sunny skies, Casey Mears and the GEICO Racing team were prepared for the 334-lap battle on Sunday. Starting from the 29th position, Mears quickly reported on lap 10 that the front end of the No. 13 Chevrolet was “terrible.” With a scheduled competition caution slowing the pace of the field on lap 25, the veteran driver visited pit road for four tires, fuel and a piece of tape on the grill, as Crew Chief Bootie Barker wanted to see how the track would change under the sunshine before making major adjustments.

On the lap 31 restart, Mears took off from the 29th position and after feeling out the handling of the GEICO machine, the California native radioed the car was “not any better and too tight to run the middle.” Unfortunately, just a few circuits later on lap 62, misfortune struck, as the No. 88 car, driven by Alex Bowman, blew a right front tire and hit the outside wall, collecting Mears and the No. 13 machine in the process. With significant damage, the Germain Racing crew was forced to take the GEICO Chevrolet to the garage. 

After assessing the repairs needed, the damage was deemed catastrophic, hindering Mears from returning to the racing action and relegating the team to a 40th-place finish.

“I don’t know what happened,” said Mears after the accident. “I just was going into the corner and saw him (88 of Alex Bowman) come up all of a sudden. We were having a rough start to the race; just kind of hanging on and actually those guys were going by us. They must have blown a right-front tire or had something come loose.”

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series now heads to Kansas Speedway for the running of the Hollywood Casino 400. Mears and the No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet will hit the track on Friday, October 14th for opening practice at 1:00PM ET.

The green flag will wave shortly after 2:15PM ET on Sunday, October 16th, with NBC carrying live television coverage. Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio channel 90 will feature the live radio broadcast.

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