Mears will be driving the #90 Chevy Impala for Keyed-Up Motorsports, a new Sprint Cup-level team based in Virginia Beach. Founded by Virginia businessman Raymond Key (get it?), Keyed-Up is aligned with Key Motorsports, a Nationwide/Truck Series team owned by Raymond Key’s brother Curtis. And that’s more than enough "keys" for one paragraph.

Anyway, Casey will attempt to qualify for the Daytona 500 next month. "We’re a new team, but I feel we have everything in place to race," Mears said. "It’s going to be a rewarding endeavor."

Mears, you may recall, was the odd man out when Richard Childress Racing lost Jack Daniels sponsorship coin for the 07 season. He has one win and 12 top-5s — but while that’s a decent couple months for most drivers, that’s an entire career for Casey. He’s never averaged a finish higher than 18th in his career, either. 

But he’s a good teammate, and like Jules says in "Pulp Fiction," personality goes a long way. Kevin Harvick, one of his former colleagues at RCR, expressed strong support, even though he ended up veering into the disturbing zone. "Everybody that comes away from knowing Casey and getting to work with him is like, ‘Man, that’s the best guy in the world,’ " he said. "So it’s just kind of like the nicest guy in the world is the guy that gets cancer or the guy that dies before the guy that’s a complete creep." Yeesh. Comparing losing a seat to death and the Big C? And that’s the guy they call "Happy"?

Anyway, good for Mears, and best of luck to Keyed-Up Motorsports. More teams are always better. 

Casey Mears gets himself a new ride for the 2010 season

CONCORD, N.C. – Richard Childress Racing driver Kevin Harvick says all of his sponsorships and all of his contracts are up after the 2010 season, and he plans to make a decision about his Sprint Cup home before signing any deals for Kevin Harvick Inc., which fields teams in the Nationwide and Truck series.

0 comments Source: www.scenedaily.com

Kevin Harvick will make Cup decision before signing sponsors and manufacturer for KHI – Sprint …

It’s unofficial Kevin Harvick Day today at The Marbles, and so we give you this photo for captioning. What might Richard Childress be offering to Mr. Harvick to stay around for a couple more years? Make your guess, friends, make your guess …

After the jump, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart get frisky.

Mister F:
JJ: I’m not flirting, I’m drafting.
TS: Okay, but no bump drafting.

jamal:
Jimmie demonstrates the new form of cheating the 48 team plans to
incorporate into the upcoming season: stealing Tony Stewart’s left arm.

Chuck D:
I can’t get that hamster out if you don’t stop moving!

Create-a-caption: ‘Okay, what if we gave you your own city?’

Nowhere has that been more evident than in the press conferences featuring NASCAR’s hottest free-agents-to-be. Kyle Busch took the wind out of everyone’s sails on Monday when JGR announced it had locked him down for years to come. And on Tuesday, the Big Two — Kasey Kahne and Kevin Harvick — met the media with an opportunity to lay the groundwork for their contract years, and delivered … zip.

Neither guy offered any hint of whether he would hang around with his current team — Richard Childress Racing for Harvick, Richard Petty Motorsports for Kahne — after the end of the season.

"The
contract thing, it is what it is," Harvick said in his press conference. "I’m not going to dwell on that. My
goal is to have fun and we’re going to race a lot Nationwide, Truck and
Cup. We’re going to be in the race car a lot and I just want to have
fun with racing and life and do everything in the middle and just make
it a good year. If it’s like last year, it won’t be any fun.”

USA Today’s Nate Ryan noted in his Twitter feed: "Richard Childress admits it got a little acrimonious
w/ @KevinHarvick last yr but seems optimistic keeping him after way ‘09
ended." Childress also noted that "the door is always open" for Harvick to return in 2011.

Kahne, meanwhile, was equally outspoken during the 2009 season.  From Jeff Gluck’s Twitter: [Kahne] "says teams are interested in hiring him but says he would be open to RPM return."

For Kahne to come back, however, it would require "performance … That’s all I’ve ever really asked for. It’s all I ever wanted to do is run well and race well.” Good news for RPM fans, though: as Scene Daily’s Bob Pockrass noted, "Kasey Kahne says he wants to give this new RPM a chance before deciding whether to stay or go."

So, yeah — no real news. But Kahne and Harvick had better get their pat answers ready, because they’re going to be hammered with these questions all year long.

Kahne, Harvick reveal exactly nothing about 2011 plans

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Kevin Harvick sidestepped a question on whether he will return to Richard Childress Racing in 2011, saying just that he wanted to have fun and win races in 2010.

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Richard Childress Racing’s Kevin Harvick ducks 2011 question, says having fun and winning …

@KevinHarvick meets with fans and signs some autographs at #NASCARThunder http://tweetphoto.com/8864174

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@KevinHarvick meets with fans and signs some autographs at #NASCARThunder | TweetPhoto

@KevinHarvick and @UPSRacing David Ragan heading to meet fans at #NASCARThunder http://tweetphoto.com/8863648

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@KevinHarvick and @UPSRacing David Ragan heading to meet fans at #NASCARThunder | TweetPhoto

Wilburn tabbed as crew chief for rookie driver Scott

Casey, I’m hoping to try to find him something (at another team). He hasn’t landed anything yet. He’s a great guy and did a great job for us at the end of the year and I just wish there was something we could do with him but right now, I don’t want to do anything with a fourth team that’s going to take away from our other three teams.”

RCR will not run 4th car in 2010

The 24th Annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals is now underway and will run through Saturday night. Tuesday night’s kickoff event saw Zach Daum defeat Kasey Kahne and the rest of the field in a thrilling final-corner pass to win an early entry into Saturday night’s championship race. Kahne, pictured there at last year’s event, owns his own Midget team, and he’ll happily discuss it at any turn during the NASCAR season. Events like this are the reason why.

Said it before and I’ll say it again — this is why NASCAR is such a cool sport. Seriously, Kahne is going to be racing against dudes who work in auto-repair shops and tend bar. Is there any other sport where the elites mix with the everyday joes and janes on such a regular basis? Take a look at the champions’ list on the Chili Bowl’s home page — right amongst a bunch of names that nobody but their mommas know are Tony Stewart and Dave Blaney. That’s fairly sweet.

And it’s not like Kahne et. al. automatically want special treatment just because they’re NASCAR guys. Sure, when Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart — to name a few of the guys who’ve run in these series in the last few months — hit the track, they know they’ve got a target on their backs, and not the Juan Pablo Montoya sponsorship type. But they also just love to race, and if they can beat the local hotshot, they’ve done their duty — and given somebody a story to tell their grandkids.

It’s Chili Bowl time, and Kasey Kahne is diggin’ in