Cassill leaves long weekend with things looking up

When the 2014 season began, Cedar Rapids native Landon Cassill said he was likely to miss a few NASCAR Nationwide Series races.

The events separate from the Sprint Cup Series – and therefore hundreds or thousands of miles apart – created travel issues.

Or so he thought.

Cassill sits 10th in the Nationwide Series points, 148 back of leader Regan Smith, and has three top 10s with an average finish of 17.7 – up from no top 10s and an average finish of 24.9 last season. He also has five more top-15 finishes, including finishing 12th at Bristol and Darlington.

Numbers like that change plans in a hurry.

'We started the season thinking we weren't going to make it to all (the Nationwide races),' Cassill said. 'But we didn't expect to be this high in points. We didn't know what we were capable of this year. So I would say we're trying a little bit harder right now to make it to all the races than we would have previously.'

The soon-to-be 25 year-old traveled approximately 9,000 miles by plane during the race weekend last weekend. Cassill flew from North Carolina to California for practice at Sonoma Raceway on Friday. He then flew from California to Wisconsin to race at Road America on Saturday. He then flew back to California to race in the Sprint Cup race at Sonoma on Sunday.

It was a long weekend that produced an eighth-place finish at Road America and a blown engine resulting in a 43rd-place finish Sunday.

'It was tiring, but it was definitely worth it,' Cassill said through a laugh. 'The way we ran on Saturday at Road America made the whole thing worth it.'

Cassill survived a wild race Saturday for that top 10, racing in both dry and wet conditions throughout the race.

When the dust settled – or more appropriately, the rain cleared – Cassill had a caved in nose of the car but a sold finish when others around him went off course or got wrecked out. Racing in the rain isn't a regular thing in NASCAR, and Cassill's only other experience was in a 2008 Nationwide race in Montreal and before that as a kid in go-karts.

'It was definitely wild,' Cassill said. 'Road courses are pretty crazy to begin with, and once it starts raining, that's not something we do very often. It was pretty fun, and I felt prepared. I was actually kind of hoping for the rain.

'It was pretty cool. You had to accelerate and decelerate straight. The basic rule of thumb is you can't be turning and on the gas or brake at the same time. If you can get that right, it's not too bad.'

The progress on the Cup side has been slower, and finishes haven't been indicative of the progress the team feels they've made.

And even with a stretch of poor finishes, sponsors are still taking notice of Hillman Racing's improvements within the team, as well as what Cassill brings as a driver. Newtown Building Supplies came on board for two races at Dover and Pocono, and added Snap Fitness for the race this weekend at Kentucky Speedway.

It's a mixed bag, he said, whether or not a sponsor comes on board specifically because of him, but with Snap Fitness, it was a deal he put together. He and his dad Roger compete in triathlons and duathlons, so a partnership made sense for the company.

Depending on how Cassill performs and how the Chanhassen, Minn.-based private fitness company feels the partnership benefits them, a long-term deal could be reached.

'Snap Fitness has really taken a liking to me personally, so in that case it's probably me as a driver they want to brand with,' Cassill said. 'But I'm not the one accomplishing all this by myself anyway. It's a collaboration of the product we're putting on the racetrack.

'(Snap Fitness) is really into it. They have serious plans to make this a major sponsorship. This is kind of a trial program for that.'

Cassill will be in the No. 01 Nationwide car Saturday and the No. 40 Sprint Cup car Sunday, both at Kentucky Speedway.

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