Casey Mears: Beard Motorsports Announces Five‑Race Plan To Carry The NASCAR Veteran To 500th Cup Start

In NASCAR, longevity is its own badge of honor. The Cup Series has seen more than two thousand drivers take a green flag since 1949, yet only a few dozen have ever reached the 500‑start mark. It’s a milestone that speaks to durability, relevance, and the ability to survive a sport that chews up careers with alarming speed.

Casey Mears is now closing in on that number, and Beard Motorsports is stepping in to help him finish the climb. The team has signed the 48‑year‑old veteran for a five‑race run in 2026, putting him behind the wheel of the No. 62 Chevrolet Camaro.

This isn’t a farewell lap or a token appearance. It’s a deliberate, carefully mapped plan designed to land Mears at Start No. 500 when the season reaches Homestead‑Miami Speedway in November. Few drivers get to script their final chapter. Mears is about to.

A Schedule Built Around Opportunity

Beard Motorsports didn’t throw darts at a calendar. They built a schedule that plays directly to their strengths and to Mears’ experience. His first outing comes on April 26 at Talladega Superspeedway, the 2.66‑mile drafting playground where speeds push past 205 mph, and underdogs routinely find themselves in the mix.

For a small team, Talladega is the great equalizer, and Beard Motorsports has made a habit of punching above its weight there. From Alabama, the No. 62 heads to the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mears knows the place well.

He’s logged more than a dozen Cup starts there and understands the rhythm of its long straights and flat corners. After Indy, the team heads to Daytona for the summer race, a track where Mears has spent much of his career navigating the unpredictable churn of pack racing.

A second Talladega race follows, giving the team another chance at a track where they’ve excelled. If Mears qualifies for each event, the finale at Homestead‑Miami Speedway becomes the moment everything has been building toward. Homestead’s worn surface and high‑line racing make it an ideal setting for a milestone more than twenty years in the making.

A Family‑Run Team With Something to Prove

Beard Motorsports stands out in a garage increasingly dominated by mega‑teams with hundreds of employees. The operation was built by the late Mark Beard Sr. and continues under the guidance of his wife, Linda, and their daughter, Amie Beard‑Deja.

They run a tight, focused program, and they’ve earned respect by showing up at superspeedways with cars capable of running inside the top ten. Their results back it up: multiple top‑ten finishes at Daytona and Talladega, including a sixth‑place run in the 2020 Daytona 500.

They don’t have the budget of the sport’s giants, but they have speed, discipline, and a clear identity. For Mears, that mattered. After years inside the corporate machinery of full‑time NASCAR racing, the authenticity of a family‑run team appealed to him.

Beard Motorsports operates with the kind of hands‑on grit that defined the sport for decades, and that’s exactly the environment Mears wanted for this final push. He values teams that still build their cars by hand. That authenticity matters to him at this stage of his career.

The Long Road to 500

Casey Mears made his Cup debut in 2003 at Richmond Raceway. Since then, he has logged nearly a quarter‑million competitive miles, driven for some of the sport’s biggest organizations, and earned a signature victory in the 2007 Coca‑Cola 600, one of NASCAR’s most demanding races.

Reaching 500 starts isn’t simply a matter of showing up. It requires surviving the grind of 36‑race seasons, the physical strain of high‑G cornering, the mental fatigue of constant travel, and the business realities that end careers long before drivers are ready to stop.

Mears stepped away from full‑time racing several years ago, but his surprise appearance in the 2026 Daytona 500, where he qualified on speed and finished 32nd, proved he still had the fire. That start pushed him to 495. Beard Motorsports will handle the rest.

That run reminded people in the garage that he hadn’t lost a step. It also showed he could still adapt to the speed and intensity of modern Cup racing. The effort turned heads inside smaller teams looking for experience. Beard Motorsports saw the opportunity and moved quickly.

Why This Partnership Matters

For Beard Motorsports, adding Mears brings a level of experience that can’t be replicated in a simulator or wind tunnel. He’s spent years studying the air at Daytona and Talladega, understanding how runs form and how to stay out of trouble when the pack tightens.

His feedback will help sharpen the No. 62 program, especially in the closing laps when races are decided by inches. For Mears, this is about finishing his career on his own terms. Too many drivers fade out quietly when sponsorship dries up or opportunities disappear.

This five‑race run gives him a proper sendoff and a chance to compete at tracks that shaped his career and to hit a milestone that only a tiny fraction of drivers ever reach. For fans, it’s a reminder of what makes NASCAR compelling.

Beneath the technology and the engineering, the sport is still built on people, their stories, their struggles, and their longevity. Watching a 48‑year‑old veteran claw his way to 500 starts is the kind of narrative that keeps NASCAR grounded in its roots.

A Milestone Worth Celebrating

The 2026 season has already shown new faces and cutting‑edge machinery, but Casey Mears’ march toward 500 starts will stand out as one of the year’s defining storylines. Beard Motorsports is providing the platform.

Mears is bringing the experience, the resilience, and the determination that have carried him through more than two decades in the sport. When the No. 62 Chevrolet rolls onto the grid at Homestead‑Miami Speedway, the garage will take notice.

Milestones like this aren’t handed out. They’re earned one start, one race, one season at a time. They demand resilience when the results aren’t there. They reward the drivers who refuse to quit. And they stand as proof of a career built on perseverance.

Reaching that point takes more than talent alone. It requires showing up year after year, even when the odds tilt the wrong way. Drivers who hit milestones like this have weathered every kind of setback. Their careers are defined as much by endurance as by speed.

What’s Next

Mears’ final push toward 500 starts is more than a statistical milestone. It’s a testament to a career built on grit and longevity. Few drivers get the chance to shape their exit on their own terms. He’s earned that opportunity.

Beard Motorsports is giving him the platform to finish the story the right way. The team believes in his experience and his determination. Together, they’re chasing a moment that will resonate across the garage. When the No. 62 rolls onto the grid at Homestead, it will mark the end of a journey worth celebrating.