Nascar and Racing Casey Mears

Kasey Kahne might have had the only car to really challenge Jimmie Johnson on the longer runs Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway, but a late pit stop and a bad set of tires didn't let that situation play out.

"The tires we took on the last stop shook and didn't turn," said Kahne after the race in which he led 67 laps. "I guess that was our bad set for the night."

That didn't mean that Kahne was making excuses for coming up short with a third-place finish -- his best result since a win at Atlanta in September. Instead, he was stating the obvious.

"We were the best car at times, but the final run when it counted, we weren't," said Kahne. "Jimmie [Johnson] showed up and beat us all."

Tony Stewart may be working spots for Burger King at the moment, but at the end of Sunday's race, he was making chicken salad.

"It was making chicken salad out of chicken you know what," said Stewart after finishing 5th. "We were pretty fortunate to get a couple of breaks there when we needed them."

The 'breaks' Stewart was talking about including getting back on the lead lap after falling behind thanks to a miscue on pit road. You could also toss in the fact that he kept his Chase hopes alive by not taking a finish deep in the field.

Casey Mears has had a downright awful season in 2009, but it got a little bit better on Sunday.

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Kevin Harvick and Casey Mears gave all the right answers in deferring to the boss' orders, but clearly neither driver was exactly overjoyed by Richard Childress' decision this week to swap their two crews.

"Everybody's positive about it,'' Harvick said, walking quickly to his team trailer after NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday.

"When you own the company you have to make the decisions you think are right.''

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TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Casey Mears met with reporters for the first time since being placed on a six-week probation by NASCAR for post-race antics Saturday night in Phoenix.

And they both essentially invoked the ol' "that's just racin' " clause and are ready to move on.

"I don't really have (a reaction)," Earnhardt said of the six-week punishment NASCAR issued Tuesday. "Me and Mears are cool. We've been buddies. What happens on the track stays on the track. It's good to be on probation every once in a while, I guess."

"Six weeks probation is a good penalty because as a driver you're kind of taught to watch yourself. For the next six weeks you get back in the habit of acting more professionally on the race track. It's good to have the penalty, but it's good to have the fireworks too."

NASCAR placed Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Casey Mears on probation for six weeks - effective immediately - for post-race contact Saturday night at Phoenix International Raceway, ruling the two were guilty of "actions detrimental to stock car racing - hitting another competitor's car after the race had concluded.''

Mears' and Earnhardt's Chevrolets collided with 11 laps remaining in Saturday night's race in Phoenix sending Earnhardt from what looked like a strong finish to a 31st place effort instead. Earnhardt retaliated against Mears on the cool down lap after the race. And Mears responded by running into the rear of Earnhardt's car on pit road.

Warning: Objects in this post may be the only way to successfully live through the NASCAR off-season. For best results, read rearview mirror early and often.

Driver: Casey Mears
Team: No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
'08 Final Standing: 20th (-3157)
Best Race: Toyota/Save Mart 350 (5th-place)
Worst Race: California & Bristol (42nd-place)

Season in a box: Mears picked up a win and finished out the 2007 season on note that looked like he might finally break the mold of the "fourth driver" at Hendrick Motorsports not performing like the rest of the team. Instead, by the middle of 2008, Mears found himself searching for a ride in 2008 after getting dropped by the team.

With NASCAR's awards banquet on Friday, Dec. 5 (stop by for the live blog!), here's a look at 10 from '08 -- ten of the NASCAR season's best moments.

Thanks to rain, it took the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series well over 24 hours to finish the Auto Club 500 at the newly-named Auto Club Speedway (enough Auto Club for one sitting? I think so) back in February.

And of course, like only NASCAR could, the way it handled the rain situation got some fans more than fired up.

NASCAR attempted to get the race going for its Sunday start as planned, but only 21 laps went by before a wreck that somehow saw Casey Mears get flipped over thanks to the nose of a slowing Sam Hornish Jr. It was an interesting wreck (see the photo to the right and the video later in the post) after flames shot from Hornish's No. 77 while Mears was basically trapped in his No. 5.

Mears and Hornish were able to get out without injury.

The wreck included Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Reed Sorenson, and a previous wreck saw Denny Hamlin smack the wall. After the lap 21 incident, the red flag came out for water seeping from the track and later more rain, leaving Dale Earnhardt Jr. slightly ticked at NASCAR's attempt to get the race underway.

ESPN.com's David Newton is reporting the driver who is replacing Casey Mears in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet in 2009 -- veteran Mark Martin -- might find himself getting a jump on that plan in the coming weeks.

Hendrick Motorsports is considering a plan that would put Mark Martin in the No. 5 car he'll take over in 2009 for the final race of this season at Homestead [-Miami] Speedway.

A contingency to the plan is getting Casey Mears, the current driver of the No. 5, into the fourth car at Richard Childress Racing that he will drive next season.

But in order to do that Mears would have to drive the No. 33, not the No. 07 that he is slated for because Clint Bowyer is driving that car in the Chase. Team owner Richard Childress said he is willing to put Mears in the No. 33 unsponsored if necessary.

"He won't go without a ride," Childress said.

Why wait until the last race at Homestead, you might ask? Well according to Newton, Martin is scheduled to drive in his current Dale Earnhardt Inc. part-time gig for the season's third and second to last races in Texas and Phoenix.

I'm not real sure, though, that making such a switch would truly benefit Martin or Mears (if ends up racing for RCR at Homestead).

Casey Mears is officially leaving Hendrick Motorsports, effective at the end of 2008.

Mears, currently 24th in the Sprint Cup standings, leaves Hendrick after never doing anything that impressive while in the driver seat at the premier organization -- with the exception of one lone win at Lowe's Motor Speedway in 2007.

It's been a constant struggle for Mears this season to produce results like the rest of his Hendrick teammates Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. despite driving equipment built out of the same shop as Earnhardt. Dale Jr.'s No. 88 is currently 3rd in the standings.

Oddly enough, Mears' best finish of 2008 was just one week ago at Infineon Raceway when he brought the No. 5 Chevrolet home in fourth. Five finishes lower than 35th in 16 races this season, though, aren't wiped away with a single Top-5.

I like Casey Mears a lot -- he's a nice guy and doesn't cause problems on track -- but the statistics are much too telling about his performance at HMS. Granted he hasn't had the best of conditions to work under are switching racing teams and crew chiefs multiple times, but at some point, the results just have to come.

Mark Martin is rumored to be getting in the No. 5 for a last-ditch effort at a Sprint Cup title in 2009. From his performance in a few races in 2008 -- most notably at Phoenix -- the part-time Dale Earnhardt Inc. driver could really make some waves with the appropriate equipment.

Martin in the No. 5 for 2009? Sounds good to me.