Casey Mears Wins The 2007 Coca-Cola 600

Casey Mears Wins The 2007 Coca-Cola 600
Posted on May 27th, 2007 at 11:02 pm by Editor

Casey Mears gambled his way to his first Nextel Cup win, stretching his fuel to the finish line in the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday night. It put a Mears back in Victory Lane on the biggest day in racing for the first time since 1991, and the nephew of four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Rick Mears was overwhelmed by the moment. Struggling through his first season at elite Hendrick Motorsports, Mears ran strong all night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, but only took the lead when others ducked onto pit road for a splash of gas.

The No. 25 team - considered the weakest of Hendrick’s four-team fleet - pushed its Chevrolet to the finish, finally running out of gas moments after Mears took his first checkered flag. It was Hendrick’s fifth straight win and the ninth in the past 10 Nextel Cup races, but came from the unlikeliest driver.