Casey James Mears was born on March 12, 1978, in Bakersfield, California, and grew up in one of the most renowned racing families in the USA: His father Roger Mears was an IndyCar and off-road racing veteran, his uncle Rick Mears a four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500. Casey entered motorsports in 1991 in karting before switching to the SuperLites Off-Road Series just a year later, where he achieved several top-three finishes. In 1994, he moved up to Sprint Cars and finished third in the Jim Russell USAC Triple Crown Championship, before actually winning the championship the following year in 1995.
From Sprint Cars, his path led to the American open-wheel program: Between 1996 and 2000, Mears raced in the Indy Lights series, finished runner-up in 1999, and celebrated his first race win in 2000 in Houston. That same year, he debuted for Team Rahal in the CART Series and achieved his best result in that environment with fourth place in Fontana. In 2001, he made the jump to NASCAR with his debut in the Busch Series for Cicci-Welliver Racing, before Chip Ganassi Racing surprisingly signed him in 2003 to pilot the No. 41 Target Dodge in the Cup Series and also gave him several ARCA wins.
The major milestones of his career followed in the years thereafter: In 2006, Mears won the Rolex 24 at Daytona overall with Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon for Chip Ganassi Racing, becoming the first full-time NASCAR driver ever to do so. That same year, he finished second at the Daytona 500 and concluded the Cup season in 14th place in the overall standings. In 2007, he crowned his Cup Series career with a victory in the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, driving the No. 25 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports—to this day his only Cup Series win.
For the 2026 season, Casey Mears is registered as a full-time driver with Garage 66, where he pilots the No. 66 Ford Mustang Dark Horse in the NASCAR Cup Series, a number with which he once began his Busch Series career. After decades in stock cars, off-road racing, and Stadium Super Trucks, he brings considerable experience from a wide variety of disciplines to this role and should serve Garage 66 as a consistent anchor point in the driver lineup while the team attempts to further establish itself in the highly competitive Cup field.
Casey Mears in the News