Is Casey Mears future secure at Hendrick Motorsports after his Coca-Cola 600 win?
Yes, though given his ties to car owner Rick Hendrick (late son Ricky Hendrick was one of Mears’ best friends) and teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson (he prowled Manhattan, N.Y., with Gordon in the four-time champion’s night-clubbing days and was in Johnson’s wedding party), Mears probably wouldn’t have been on the hot seat for at least another season. But breaking through for his first Nextel Cup victory helps make a strong case for why the nephew of four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears deserves a ride with NASCAR’s most powerful organization. Besides proving he had the patience and stamina to triumph in the series’ longest race, Mears jumped six spots to 29th in the standings and off the top-35 bubble, where he has been lingering since March. That should quiet rumblings that Hendrick might consider farming out Mears to one of its engine-leasing clients (Ginn Racing, Haas CNC Racing) in order to create a spot for impending free agent Dale Earnhardt Jr.
