NASCAR Cup Series

Casey Mears to remain with Germain Racing for 2016 season

Published Jul. 14, 2015 3:52 p.m. ET

Jared Turner

Germain Racing announced Tuesday that driver Casey Mears will remain with the organization for the 2016 Sprint Cup Series season, driving the No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet.

Mears, the nephew of open-wheel legend Rick Mears and son of accomplished off-road racer Roger Mears, joined Germain in August 2010 after stints with Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates among other organizations.

Casey, 37, picked up his lone Sprint Cup win to date with Hendrick in the 2007 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

"I'm really happy to announce that Casey Mears is back in the No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS next year," said Germain Racing team owner Bob Germain Jr. in a team release. "He's been an integral part of the team's growth and success over the past 5 years and I am confident he can continue to help us move forward and reach our goals.

"We've come a long way as a team, and assembled a group of extremely talented people who enjoy working together. As the team owner, that's really the thing I'm most proud of. And, of course, the long term support of GEICO has given us the stability we needed to make it all happen,"

Mears' chief accomplishment since joining Germain is his streak of four consecutive top-10 finishes at Daytona International Speedway leading up to an 11th-place finish at The World Center of Racing in the Coke Zero 400 on July 5.

"It's really exciting to drive the No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS again in 2016," Mears said. "I think that it's been a long time in the making here at Germain Racing, being competitive at the Cup level. It's been a long process to get the GEICO program to where we are now.

"We are finally starting to see some of the benefits from all the hard work from the last four or five years. I'm very excited to carry on the GEICO relationship and to be a part of Germain Racing's continued growth."