DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Casey Mears will get to experience the thrill of race day morning at Daytona International Speedway ahead of the 68th running of the “Great American Race.” It’s something he never thought would come again.
After slotting in 43rd during Daytona 500 qualifying on Wednesday evening, Mears knew it would be an uphill battle to race Garage 66 into the race through the first America 250 Florida Duel race. The two Open cars he was competing against were fourth bids from a pair of powerhouse Ford teams in RFK Racing and Front Row Motorsports.
“I knew we probably wouldn’t qualify well, but the race format would give us an opportunity,” Carl Long, Garage 66 team owner, told Jayski.com.
RFK Racing controlled the first half of the Duel, with all four of its entries glued nose to tail, including Corey LaJoie as the team’s Open driver. Chandler Smith, Front Row’s Open driver, contested LaJoie while Mears stabilized towards the back of the draft. When pit stops began at Lap 45, the No. 66 car overcooked the entry of pit road and plowed into Noah Gragson. Both cars were stuck in the grass to bring out the caution.
“I was worried about going two laps down,” Mears said. “I haven’t come to pit road a lot in the last few years. Coming a little bit too hot obviously. I locked the rears up. That’s what kind of caused that.
“Always in my mind I feel like there’s a good possibility of a late-race caution at this track. I knew if we were one down, we’d still have some kind of chance. Actually got on the radio and asked all the guys to stay calm, said, ‘We still got a shot here.’”
Another caution flew with five laps remaining in regulation when Bubba Wallace spun off the front bumper of Austin Dillon, collecting Smith, Chris Buescher and two-time defending winner William Byron. Mears was able to take the free pass to get back on the lead lap.
On the final lap of overtime, Mears was running 16th, nearly a half-second behind the lead draft. The field bottlenecked together entering Turn 3, with a bump gone wrong from Daniel Suarez into LaJoie, turning the No. 99 Ford sideways. Mears kept in the gas and shot to the outside, barely missing a wrecking LaJoie to be the leader among Open cars despite significant contact with the outside wall. When the caution flew to end the race, Mears was declared as the Open car to advance into the Daytona 500.
“I was hoping for this kind of scenario,” Mears said. “Jimmie Johnson thankfully got with me enough to push me to the lead group and then he bailed out, which he should have. I had a run around the outside, I went to the outside and told myself no matter what happens, I’m going to stay in the gas no matter what from here on out.
“This is just one of those places where there’s enough random things that happen and stuff that happens that’s out of your control. Sometimes you’re on the right side of it and sometimes you’re not. Fortunately today we were on the right side.”
Long, who greeted Mears on pit road with a bear hug, was elated. It’s the first time one of his cars has qualified into the Daytona 500 since Timmy Hill did so in 2020. The only other driver to compete in the “Great American Race” driving for Long was Mark Thompson in 2018.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet, give me a little while,” Long added. “I’ve been coming here myself trying to make the 500 since 2000, 2001 and have been close. This is unreal. It’s a lot of hard work. There are a lot of people from other teams that chip in and get a little bit of advice, a little help.”
Garage 66 is composed of 10 employees, splitting time between all three national touring series, as well as the ARCA Menards Series. This weekend alone, Long is fielding entries in three divisions.
Qualifying into the Daytona 500 is a colossal achievement for the underfunded race team. With three Next Gen chassis, Long believes the No. 66 team could compete in up to 25 Cup Series races throughout the 2026 season. This also gets Mears one start closer towards his goal of 500 Cup starts, now sitting at 495 once the green flag waves on Sunday.
“I don’t think it really changes a lot of our plans other than the fact that now we can get some more help and get Casey to the 500th start that he wants,” Long added. “It’s been a deal together that should help us keep going.”
Mears, who made a handful of Cup starts in 2025 with Garage 66, was shocked to make the race. It was an ultimate game of tortoise and the hare.
“I just can’t believe we’re sitting here right now,” Mears stated. “Everything was completely stacked against us from top to bottom. Even in the scenarios in the race, if everything played out the way everybody wanted to do their job, there’s no way we would have been where we’re at right now.”