Posted on Thu, Aug. 11, 2005
Casey Mears has re-signed to drive for Chip Ganassi Racing, but his 2006 number has yet to be determined.
Ganassi re-signs Mears, adds fourth team
Reed Sorenson to run Nextel Cup and Busch Series in 2006
By JIM UTTERThatsRacin.com Writer
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Chip Ganassi Racing has exercised an option to retain driver Casey Mears, and in addition, will field four Nextel Cup teams in the 2006 season, ThatsRacin.com has learned.
A formal announcement of Ganassi's retention of Mears, as well as plans to add an additional Cup team, is expected Friday at Watkins Glen International.
Mears, who has driven Ganassi's No. 41 Dodge since he joined the organization in 2003, will move to another car whose number has not yet been decided, while current Busch Series driver Reed Sorenson will take over Mears' No. 41, sources confirmed.
Earlier this season, Ganassi team manager Tyler Epp said the team would keep Sorenson in the Busch Series in 2006 – and it will.
Sorenson will drive most – if not all – of the 2006 Busch season as well as compete for rookie of the year honors in Cup, sources said.
The move will give Ganassi four drivers under the age of 30 in Cup next season - and two rookies (Sorenson and David Stremme). Among the four, only Jamie McMurray holds a Cup victory.
Mears, 27, has two poles and two top-five and 13 top-10 finishes in 93 Cup starts. He is 24th in points this season. Mears, is the son of former IndyCar and off-road driver Roger Mears and the nephew of Hall of Fame IndyCar star Rick Mears.
Casey Mears previously competed in the Indy Lights Series, where he won at the Grand Prix of Houston in 2000.
Mears finished fourth in his CART (now Champ Car) series debut in 2000. In 2001, he earned two top-fives in four CART races after replacing the injured Alex Zanardi. Mears made his full-time NASCAR debut in the Busch Series in 2002.
Sorenson, 19, is in his rookie season in the Busch Series, but already has two wins and is third in points, trailing series leader Martin Truex Jr. by 104 points.
In 2003, the native of Peachtree City, Ga., became the youngest driver ever to win rookie of the year in the American Speed Association. That year, he finished fourth in points.
In only his second start in the Automobile Racing Club of America series, Sorenson won at Michigan International Speedway in June 2004
