After losing his NASCAR ride in the offseason, Bakersfield’s Casey Mears is back in a race car with a 12-race commitment to drive in the XFinity Series — the second tier of NASCAR.
Mears will drive the No. 99 Geico Military Ford Mustang as part of Biagi-DenBeste Racing. Mears’ first race will be March 25 in the NXS 300 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.
“I’m thankful for GEICO’s continued support and I’m happy we were able to get this deal put together with Biagi-DenBeste Racing,” said Mears, the nephew of Indy 500 champ Rick Mears. “Fred Biagi and Bill and Lori DenBeste are great people and I’ve always respected them and how committed they’ve been to NASCAR and building their team over the years. I’m honored to be able to drive the No. 98 GEICO Military Ford and pay tribute to our military and their families. GEICO does a terrific job of supporting the military and I appreciate the opportunity to play a small role in honoring our service members.”
Mears will join another Bakersfield driver on the circuit — Ryan Reed, who had seven top 10 finishes last season on the XFinity Series.
Can’t wait to get in this ride! @officialgeicoracing #Biagi-denbesteracing #98 #nascar #geicomilitary @biagidenbesteracing98
Mears drove the No. 13 Geico car on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit but was replaced by Ty Dillon heading into the 2017 season.
“We are excited to expand our footprint in the NASCAR community with our sponsorship of Casey Mears and Biagi-DenBeste Racing in the Xfinity Series,” said GEICO vice president of marketing, Ted Ward. “We enjoyed our relationship with the team in years past and are happy that Casey will continue to be part of the GEICO family. This program is a nice complement to our Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series sponsorship of Germain Racing and will help broaden our presence during race weekends. The military is an important component of our busin ess and we are looking forward to honoring our service members with the #98 GEICO Military Ford.”
