Mears' No. 5 Chevrolet is 30th in Sprint Cup owner points going into Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway and is in jeopardy of falling out of the top 35 in the standings. Only the top 35 are locked into the field for each Cup race.

If he is feeling pressure to perform this weekend, Mears isn't showing it. Instead, he's more amazed at reaching the age of 30.

"I know I'm going to get old," said Mears, who turned 30 on Wednesday. "If anything, I'm more like 'Wow! I made it to 30. That's pretty cool!' You know?"

Mears' season has been one disappointment after another.

A crash at Daytona with a handful of laps left was followed by another crash at Fontana that left Mears on his roof. Two races into the season he had as many DNFs as he had all of last year. He recovered to finish 13th at Las Vegas and was 17th at Atlanta and finds himself 33 points ahead of 35th-place J.J. Yeley for the final guaranteed position.

Another subpar performance could force him to qualify on speed when the series resumes in two weeks at Martinsville. That would be a shocking development for Hendrick Motorsports, which won 18 of 36 races last year, including one by Mears.

Still, there's no panic from the driver or from the crew chief.

"To keep my driver calm and patient, I first have to remain calm," Gustafson said. "I remind myself to not get too excited, even though with short track racing, excitement just comes naturally. If something goes wrong, I have to be able to minimize the effects of that as much as I can."