{"id":452342,"date":"2026-02-04T01:46:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T01:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/452342\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T01:46:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T01:46:07","slug":"casey-mears-announces-daytona-500-effort-continues-pursuit-of-500-nascar-cup-series-starts-speedway-digest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/452342\/","title":{"rendered":"Casey Mears Announces Daytona 500 Effort \u2013 Continues Pursuit of 500 NASCAR Cup Series Starts – Speedway Digest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Veteran NASCAR driver\u00a0Casey Mears<\/a>\u00a0will return to the sport\u2019s biggest stage in 2026, as he is set to compete in the\u00a0Daytona 500<\/a>\u00a0driving for\u00a0Garage 66. The start will continue Mears\u2019 pursuit of a historic milestone, as he enters the season just\u00a0six starts shy of 500 career starts\u00a0in the\u00a0NASCAR Cup Series.<\/p>\n

Mears returns to Garage 66 after competing with the organization during the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, further strengthening an established partnership built on experience and performance. His Daytona 500 effort will feature\u00a0S.I. Yachts<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0The Gracie Foundation<\/a>\u00a0as co-primary sponsors, with\u00a0KARR Security Systems<\/a>\u00a0serving as a major associate sponsor.<\/p>\n

One of the most seasoned competitors in modern NASCAR history, Mears continues to build on a career defined by longevity, adaptability, and success at the sport\u2019s highest level. Reaching the 500-start mark would place Mears among a select and distinguished group, with only 47 other drivers in NASCAR Cup Series history having reached the milestone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing back at Daytona is always special, and the Daytona 500 remains one of the greatest challenges in motorsports,\u201d said Mears. \u201cTo return with Garage 66, after racing with them in 2025, and to be just six starts away from 500 Cup Series races is something I\u2019m incredibly proud of. I\u2019m grateful to S.I. Yachts, The Gracie Foundation, and KARR Security Systems for their support in making this program possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garage 66 team owner Carl Long is excited to continue the relationship with Mears.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI am looking forward to going to Daytona with Casey Mears; he\u2019s one of the best restrictor plate racers in the sport,\u201d Long said. \u201cWe\u2019ll need to get through the Duel 150s on Thursday, but the way Casey performed for us at Daytona and Talladega last year, we\u2019ll be strong. We\u2019ve also secured a strong pit crew and have added veteran crew chief Jason Miller to the team to assist with race strategy. As long as we do our job with the car and execute on pit road, we should be in the Daytona 500 field on Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Casey Mears and the No. 66 S.I. Yachts\/The Gracie Foundation Camaro ZL1 will hit the track at Daytona International Speedway for the season\u2019s opening practice session on Wednesday, February 11, at 10 a.m. ET. Daytona 500 qualifying will follow at 8:15 p.m. ET.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The America 250 Florida Duels<\/a> will take place on Thursday, February 12, and will be televised live on FS1 beginning at 7 p.m. ET. The Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90, will carry the live radio broadcast.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Daytona 500 is on Sunday, February 15, and it will be televised live on FOX beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET.\u00a0\u00a0The Motor Racing Network (MRN) will carry the live radio broadcast, along with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.<\/p>\n

PMI PR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0Veteran NASCAR driver\u00a0Casey Mears\u00a0will return to the sport\u2019s biggest stage in 2026, as he is set to compete…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,716,925,374,13157,77,720,634,582,721,722,82],"class_list":["post-452342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-channel","tag-daytona","tag-fox","tag-group","tag-international","tag-motor","tag-nascar","tag-racing","tag-series","tag-speedway","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}