Birthday: March 12, 1978
Hometown: Bakersfield, CA

On the heels of his most successful season at the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series level, 28 year-old Casey Mears is ready for the next stage of his young career.

That next step is HendrickMotorsports.

The last names of Hendrick and Mears are synonymous with success in the racing circles. To date, HendrickMotorsports has earned ten championships in NASCAR's top three divisions, including the 2006 NEXTEL Cup Series championship with driver Jimmie Johnson.

On the other side of the table, Mears has grown up watching and learning from some of the best. His dad Roger, was an off-road racing superstar, and uncle Rick, won the Indianapolis 500 four times.

Mears will begin his driving duties behind the wheel of the National Guard/GMAC Car officially at the 2007 season-opening, Daytona 500.

Mears began racing competitively at the age of 4, campaigning BMX bicycles before moving to three- and four-wheel all-terrain vehicles at his hometown track of Bakersfield Speedway. He switched to go-karts in 1991, followed by a stint in the Mickey Thompson Off-Road Series (SuperLites) in 1992. Mears later earned the coveted Jim Russell USAC Triple Crown in 1995.

In 1999, Mears finished second in the Indy Lights Series championship standings. He won the ILS Grand Prix of Houston in October 2000 and later that month posted a top-five result in his CART Series (now Champ Car) debut at Fontana, Calif. The following year, he ran a four-race CART schedule as a substitute for the injured Alex Zanardi and made three Indy Racing League starts.

Mears drove his first-ever stock car race in October 2001, earning a top-10 finish in the Automobile Racing Club of America event at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. He began full-time NASCAR Busch Series competition in 2002, before joining the NEXTEL Cup Series as a regular in 2003.