Off-season a luxury; Germain Racing to test at least three times in next two months
Player Management International Media Release
Homestead, FL (November 18, 2012) – Three strong weeks preceded Germain Racing’s visit to south Florida for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season finale. After a few tough weeks, the GEICO team’s resilience prevailed when they righted the ship in Martinsville and entered Homestead with three consecutive Top 25 finishes.
Casey Mears got out of the gate quick on Friday when he landed 20th on the speed chart before heading into qualifying later Friday evening. He turned a lap of 31.385 seconds, at a rate of speed of 172.057 miles per hour, and would start from the 28th position when the Ford EcoBoost 400 got underway on Sunday afternoon.
When the green flag set the field underway for the final time of the 2012 season, Mears quickly jumped two positions to 26th on the opening lap. Although he reported a tight condition on just the second lap, Mears was able to move the #13 GEICO Ford Fusion into the top 25 on lap six. Unfortunately, lap 17 saw the GEICO Fusion take a turn for the worse and Mears indicated to crew chief Bootie Barker: “The front end is terrible.” He dropped as low as 30th before a handful of pit stops had the GEICO crew making adjustments that later saw Mears chasing a top 20 finish as the race began to wind down.
Several times, Barker noted that the #13 GEICO Fusion was recording top 10 lap times. Mears continued to throttle forward until an empty fuel tank sent him scrambling for pit road with just five laps left in the event. The team gambled late and it very nearly paid off. With Homestead being the last race of the season, the GEICO team saw no reason to hold back and not take every opportunity to score another strong finish. After being refreshed with a tank of fuel, Mears and the GEICO Fusion returned to the racing surface for the final few laps and were relegated to a 29th place finish.
“It was certainly not the finish we were looking for, but you take chances and sometimes they pay off and sometimes they don’t. This was the last race of the year, so we were taking every opportunity we could to get up front,” Mears said. “The 29th place finish doesn’t take away from our effort today, or the results we’ve had over the course of the season. We put together a nice year after making the switch to Ford in December/January. We have a tremendous sponsor in GEICO and their support, along with Bob Germain’s commitment, have allowed us to achieve desired results this season. The heart and character of the people on our team are immeasurable; we’re in a good place heading into 2013.”
While the 2012 season concluded today, the 2013 season starts on Monday. Team fabricators are scurrying around the shop already constructing the new 2013 GEICO Ford Fusion. While other sports enjoy the benefits of an off-season, NASCAR teams instead hit the racetrack for at least three tests over the next two months. The first test will come in mid-December when Mears and his GEICO team take to Charlotte Motor Speedway before visiting Daytona for the second test on January 10th. A third test will take place back at Charlotte Motor Speedway in late January.
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
Please visit the Casey Mears Facebook fan page: www.facebook.com/caseymearsracing