Motorsport photo Nick DeGroot · Motorsport Sun, November 8, 2026 at 5:23 PM UTC · 5 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Between Feb. 16, 2003 and Nov. 8, 2026, Casey Mears made 500 NASCAR Cup starts, and in doing so, becomes just the 50th driver in NASCAR Cup history to reach 500 starts.
"I just feel really appreciative of the opportunity," said Mears going into the race weekend. "I'd say it's pretty rare that somebody gets to be out of the sport for that long and then comes back and participates. I'm excited to go do it one last time."
Mears never expected to reach this milestone, seemingly ending his career after the 2016 season. He showed up in the Daytona 500 three years later for his 490th start, and that appeared to be the end of his time in NASCAR.
But the surprise that Mears has made it this far goes beyond that, as his original plan for a NASCAR career did not span 23 years. When he moved to North Carolina from California, Mears says: "I honestly felt like I was going to try this NASCAR thing out, get a taste of it, and probably end up going back to IndyCar."
It made sense for Mears to pursue open-wheel as the nephew of legendary four-time Indy 500 winner Rick Mears. He had already made five starts in CART and three in IndyCar during the split era, finishing fourth on debut at Fontana.
His first-ever appearance in the national levels of NASCAR came at Homestead in 2001, driving the No. 66 Cicci-Welliver Racing in a NASCAR O'Reilly race. His Cup career began in 2003, driving the No. 41 Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge in the Daytona 500, placing 27th.
As fate would have it, he never did go back to IndyCar, competing full-time in the Cup Series in all but one year between 2003 and 2016.
Victory lane: race winner Casey Mears celebrates
As an up-and-coming racer, he dreamed of winning on Memorial Day weekend, but that dream involved a yard of bricks and a glass of milk. He did end up winning on that special race weekend, but it was the defining moment of a career in NASCAR -- not IndyCar.
Now driving for Hendrick Motorsports , he won the 2007 Coca-Cola 600 in a fuel-mileage gamble, leading just the final six laps of the race. As for Indianapolis, he also earned a pole position at the historic track in the 2004 Brickyard 400.
After driving for Chip Ganassi between 2003 and 2006, and then Hendrick for two years in 2007 and 2008, he joined Richard Childress Racing for the 2009 season.
In 2010, he pieced together a part-time schedule with various rides before securing a seat in the No. 13 Germain Racing entry, which became his home from the tail-end of 2010 through 2016, ending his full-time career there. His best points result was 14th in 2006, with a best championship finish of 14th in 2006.
After racing the Gen-4, Car of Tomorrow, and Gen-6 car, Mears returned in the Next Gen era for five starts in 2025 and again in 2026. The reason was simple: He saw just how close he was to reaching 500 career starts, and he wanted to get there.
The highlight of this unexpected return came earlier this year, when he dramatically raced his way into the 2026 Daytona 500 with a Days of Thunder-esque move, full-throttling into a last-lap wreck and emerging with some right-side damage and a spot inside the field. It was his 14th start in the Daytona 500, doing so with five different teams. He even came close to Daytona 500 glory back in 2006, finishing second to Jimmie Johnson .
Now, as Mears crosses the threshold of 500 career starts, he does so with a career that included three poles, that 2007 Coke 600 win, 13 top fives, and 51 top tens. He's made 608 starts between all three national divisions, even checking off his Truck Series debut last year. He's also a winner in the secondary level of NASCAR, winning at Chicagoland in 2006.
Mears will make this milestone start in the No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet, qualifying 37th in the 40-car field at Homestead.
"You take for granted, when you're doing it, even though you know it's special, it's your job," he said about the opportunity over the last two years. "I think this year's kind of allowed me just to really reflect on how special the opportunity to get to race cars for a living is."
Mears is keeping his expectations modest for Sunday's finale, and he does have a goal for Sunday's Cup finale: "If we can stay on the lead lap, if I could finish somewhere inside the top-25, that would be an amazing day for us. My goal is to just stay in the hunt all day, stay in the fight, not have issues."
Mears never got to drink the milk for winning the Indy 500 like his famous uncle, but reaching 500 Cup starts gives Mears an uncommon milestone at the end of a career that took a very different path than he originally expected—all the while earning the respect of everyone in the NASCAR garage.
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