Cassill’s day at Newton “felt amazing”

NEWTON – Top Ten.

That's always been a powerful term in sports. To be ranked in the college football or basketball Top Ten, to be among the top 10 major-league batting leaders, to make it on ESPN's SportsCenter top 10 plays of the day.

When you're in NASCAR and trying to bust through in any of their top series, a Top Ten finish is a big psychological lift. So it was that Landon Cassill – claimed by both Cedar Rapids and Fairfax as their own – said his 10th-place finish at Iowa Speedway's Nationwide Series event Sunday 'feels amazing.'

This isn't the NFL, where all teams are basically on the same footing in terms of salaries and revenues. This is big-time stock car racing, where the best-financed teams are, well, the best teams.

Sunday's winner, Sam Hornish Jr., is a former Indianapolis 500 winner. He drove the car normally piloted by elite driver Kyle Busch for elite NASCAR team Joe Gibbs Racing. Monster Energy, the drink, is a monster of a primary sponsor for Gibbs.

On the Nationwide circuit, Cassill drives for JD Motorsports, a team with a lot of experience and know-how. But it has a beer budget compared to the champagne of a Gibbs or Rick Hendrick.

Joe Gibbs Racing has serious money behind it. And just like in life beyond the paved ovals, it's money that matters.

'When we're out there in the Top Ten with the caliber of guys we're racing against, it's like a win,' said Cassill's crew chief, David Fuge.

Cassill's first 28 starts for JD Motorsports were without a Top Ten over the last two years, but . now he has two in a row. He also had a Sprint Cup personal-best 11th at Talladega the day after the Nationwide race there.

In the two Nationwide events before Talladega, Cassill was 12th and 13th. So things are clicking.

'We've put together a stretch of races the last four weeks that these guys (on his team) had never seen before,' Cassill said. 'Right now our synergy is incredible and our communication is really good. There's just an energy that we're all really excited about.'

Cassill is 24. Not long ago, that was a greenhorn at this level. Now, 24 makes a racer without a top-tier ride feel like his or her clock is ticking. Ryan Blaney, 20, was the pole-sitter and finished second here. Chase Elliott graduated from high school in Georgia on Saturday and placed fourth here on Sunday.

If you're Cassill, all you can do is keep taking the best rides that are available and trying to drive the heck out of them.

'Eventually, somebody's going to say 'Wow, what an overnight success,' ' Cassill said. 'But it's the time, the work involved that it takes to become the best.'

Cassill was an 18-year-old when he was the Nationwide Rookie of the Year after five Top Tens and a pole in 19 starts. He has since spent most of his time on the Sprint Cup circuit with underfunded teams, seeking his first Top Ten-finish after 126 starts. But he was oh, so close at Talladega two weeks ago.

'I've been doing this for 45 years,' Fuge said, 'and I see a guy that's 24 years old and he's young and eager, but he's got the experience of a veteran.

'If we were on equal ground with these guys in equipment, sponsorship dollars, we'd be very disappointed with 10th, there's no doubt. But where we are, we know what where we should be, and I think we're definitely shining for where we are.

'With a few things going right and Landon's talent, we've got a shot at winning a race if we can keep doing this.'

Cassill got the biggest ovation of any of the 40 drivers in pre-race introductions. For all of his experience, this was his first NASCAR race here.

'It felt amazing,' he said. 'I'm so proud to have my family here, my friends. I'm so proud to represent the state of Iowa and represent it well by having a strong run in the world's greatest form of auto racing.'

Oh, Cassill also moved up two spots in the Nationwide driver points standings. He is now in … the Top Ten.

l Comments: (319) 368-8840; mike.hlas@sourcemedia.net