Cassill, Hillmans form family bond

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Among the seemingly endless amounts of ugly or disheartening events on Saturday at Daytona International Speedway, there stood out a few moments for Cedar Rapids native Landon Cassill that were able to carry him through a long day.

On the surface, seeing members of his Sprint Cup Series, Hillman-Smith Racing crew run over to the Xfinity Series garage to help transfer parts from the car that wrecked in qualifying to the backup car that ran the race.

In a situation where a driver would not be expected to be smiling, his Cup crew chief, Mark Hillman, was over working and actually made Cassill laugh and relax just a little bit; cutting the tension by hitting Cassill on the shoulder and jokingly asking, 'What the hell, Landon? Making me work today?”

Mark's dad, and Hillman-Smith co-owner, Mike Hillman Sr. was nearby, taking in the repair work of a team he had no affiliation with other than its driver. He put an arm around Cassill and offered a few encouraging words. The bond those two have formed over years of working together was plain to see in a few seemingly innocuous moments.

'Landon's more than part of my team, he's like one of my own kids,” Mike Hillman said. 'We knew that four or five years ago when we did a few things together, and we had a lot of respect for each other.

'I love the kid like he's one of my own, and he feels the same way. That's the special part of it.”

The catalyst for their relationship has been a mutual set of goals.

Cassill is on the long road back from a place where it looked like his career was headed to its absolute heights, only to have to hit the reset button and start essentially from scratch. Hillman-Smith Racing is a fledging team that's gone from start-and-park to being able to hold its own on restrictor plate tracks - with an eye to doing so on short tracks next.

They both are hopeful and have high goals, but are realistic about them. Yes, they both absolutely want to win - no one gets into racing, especially at the NASCAR level without that drive - but know most days it won't be a possibility on the Sprint Cup tour. Being in sync makes for easier communication and growth.

'The biggest thing is he understands what I'm trying to build and how we're trying to build it,” Mike Hillman said. 'We know that it's a progress of steps we're trying to take and we don't want to try and get there too fast and make promises or commitments to any sponsors we can't fulfill because you've got to climb that ladder.

'He's willing to make that commitment to me, and I'm willing to make that commitment to him. We want to go from running 25th to running 20th to running 15th and so on, you know? There's going to be days we can run in the top five and hopefully we can knock one out of the park. It's a process you have to go through, and him and I are just on the same page about that.”

And if it wasn't clear before (though it should've been), Saturday made it plainly obvious both Cassill's crew chief and car owner are more than fine with him splitting time on race weekends between their team and the JD Motorsports Xfinity Series car.

Mike said 'all the seat time he can get is a really good thing,” and that if there's ever any concern, it's on a personal level. In 2014, Cassill didn't take any race weekends off. He ran full schedules in both the Cup and then-Nationwide Series, and Mike's only concern was Cassill burning himself out personally with no time to rest.

Mark had a lot of the same concerns, but with a hands-on relationship to the car, was more closely aware with how the dual schedules affected Cassill all of last season. But since taking over as crew chief in the spring Bristol race last season, the two have worked well together. And Mark hopes the reduction in horsepower in the Cup engines at non-restrictor plate tracks will make Cassill's Xfinity racing matter that much more.

'The communication is great between us; we both have the same goals in mind. I've never actually had anything negative said between me and Landon, and that's rare for a crew chief and driver,” Mark Hillman said. '(Running both) is a double-sided sword. Sometimes he runs qualifying in the (Xfinity) car and has to come right over and jump in the Cup car, which is tough on a driver. But the seat time in general is good.

'This year we're going to the motors similar to the (Xfinity) cars, so it's going to be a benefit more this year than it was last year - the horsepower isn't going to be as big of a difference. Last year you had to drive the corner a lot differently; this year I'm hearing they're going to be a lot more similar. The seat time will be a plus.”

Though Cassill's fans are happy to see he's found a place that wants him to be there as much as he does, there will always be a hope he lands a ride with one of the top-tier teams in the sport.

Mike would obviously prefer they all get there together, but knows if the right opportunity comes along before that time, Cassill won't be able to pass it up. If and when that time comes, because of their close bond, Mike expects Cassill to come to him and discuss it. He even said he'd help him look over that potential new contract.

Cassill is part of the Hillman family in their eyes, and that won't ever change.

'If he had an opportunity to go to a championship-caliber team and better his career, I'd be the first one to want to help him do that because I know I'd had some input into that,” Mike Hillman said. 'And he would always be part of the decision-making on his replacement. But I think it would take a really good opportunity.

'We would sit down and talk about it. I would be very honest with him, if I thought it was the best thing for his family and his future. Heck, you know, some day he could be a champion in this sport, and I could have some input on that. That's important to me.”

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com