CART driver Mears to attempt Busch race
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
November 5, 2001
4:04 PM EST (2104 GMT)
HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Young open-wheel veteran Casey Mears will step into the NASCAR Busch Series at this weekend’s season finale GNC Live Well 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, replacing Geoffrey Bodine.
Mears, 23, finished eighth in Sunday’s CART finale at California Speedway after starting 21st and leading the race twice. Last year at Fontana, he posted a fourth-place finish in his CART debut.
Just two weeks ago, he made his stock car debut in an ARCA RE/MAX Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, finishing ninth.
At a news conference scheduled for Friday morning in Homestead, Welliver Jesel Motorsports plans to announce its 2002 Busch Series plans for its No. 66 Chevrolet, sponsored by Phillips 66. TropArtic, a brand of the same oil company, backed Mears’ ARCA car.
The son of noted off-road racer Roger Mears and nephew of four-time Indianapolis 500 winner and three-time CART champion Rick Mears joins two-time CART race winner Christian Fittipaldi, who also hopes to make his Busch debut in a Chevrolet fielded by Innovative Motorsports.
“NASCAR is definitely very big and it’s something that I have watched on television for a long time,” Fittipaldi said of his opportunity, which unlike Mears’ will not get in the way of his full-time CART career, he said. “I’m really happy to have this chance and hopefully there will be a lot of excitement when we come here for the race weekend.”
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Geoffrey Bodine
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Bodine, 52, had planned to race in both NASCAR events this weekend. Now he will drive a No. 09 Ford fielded by his younger brother, Brett and sponsored by Miccosukee Indian Gaming in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 Winston Cup event.
In 17 races in the No. 66 Busch car since replacing the released Tim Fedewa in June, Bodine had one top-five and two top-10 finishes. He finished 18th in last Saturday’s Sam’s Club 200 at North Carolina Speedway.
Casey Mears, who finished third in the Dayton Indy Lights open-wheel development series in 2000, had an 11th-place Indy car run on Homestead’s flat, 1.5-mile oval earlier this season while racing in the Indy Racing Northern Light Series.
He raced in the last four events of the season for Mo Nunn Racing replacing the injured former CART champion Alex Zanardi.
Fittipaldi’s CART co-owner, Carl Haas, also owns two Winston Cup teams with Haas Carter Motorsports partner Travis Carter. The team has said little about what its possible Busch Series plans might be for 2002.
“We’ll see what happens,” Fittipaldi said. “It’s going to be something completely new for me but I’m really looking forward to this chance. Although you’re obviously very serious and obviously trying to do the best job out there it’s a little bit on the fun side also.
“It’s something different than what I do. Maybe next year, this will pick up, maybe it won't -- we don't know. But as for right now it hasn't changed my CART plans.”
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