Casey Mears No. 66 car fails inspection, crew member ejected at Martinsville in NASCAR Cup Series return

The weekend is only going to be more difficult for Casey Mears at Martinsville. His team has been penalized for failing inspection twice. The Garage 66 team did not have the No. 66 car ready for prepractice inspection ahead of Mears’ NASCAR return.

For failing inspection twice, Casey Mears loses his pit stall selection and will also lose out on a crew member. A small, open team like Garage 66 (formerly MBM Motorsports) can’t afford these kinds of losses.

Engineer Hector Flores has been ejected for the weekend. Mears and Garage 66 will try to do their best without Flores on hand.

Pre-race inspection is complete in the NASCAR Cup Series garage.

No. 66 failed inspection twice.
Engineer Hector Flores has been ejected for the remainder of the weekend and the team will lose pit selection for this event.

— Jayski (@jayski) March 29, 2025

Casey Mears is hoping to make enough starts this season to reach 500 Cup Series races in his career. So, having this race go well will do a lot to help his later endeavors this season. With a bad pit stall and down an engineer, it will be difficult.

It was already an uphill battle. MBM/Garage 66 is not a juggernaut. No one thought going into this weekend that we would see Mears run up front, or even stay on the lead lap. But there have been a couple of things already trying to work against Mears.

Before the Cup Series unloaded cars at Martinsville, the team had another announcement. It wasn’t a very inspiring one, either.

Casey Mears has last-second sponsor change

Thankfully, the No. 66 car is still good to go this weekend, but Casey Mears and Garage 66 have made a last-second change in sponsors. It isn’t every day you see primary sponsorship change on the Thursday of a NASCAR race week.

Garage 66 and Casey Mears were going to race with HitchGo, a brand that has made an appearance on a number of NASCAR and ARCA cars recently. However, it appears that the deal has changed.

Instead, Canter Power Systems and Coble Enterprises will split the car. Canter will be on the hood with Coble on the quarter panels. Mears will lineup this weekend for this NASCAR return.

“We are thrilled to announce our partnership with Garage 66 and Casey Mears for the upcoming Martinsville race,” said Brian Lopatka, CEO of Canter Power Systems. “At Canter Power Systems, we seek new ways to amplify our brand and connect with our audience.

“This sponsorship not only aligns with our commitment to innovation and excellence but also allows us to engage with NASCAR fans in a meaningful way. We are confident this partnership will deliver powerful results both on and off the track, and we’re only getting started.”