Easy day for Gase, Cassill at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Depending on who you ask in the NASCAR world, the off-season is either too short or too long.

For the drivers, the answer is almost exclusively the latter. Cedar Rapids native Joey Gase certainly agrees, and said as much after finally returning to his NASCAR Xfinity Series car for two practice sessions on Friday in preparation for the Alert Today 300 on Saturday.

He and fellow Cedar Rapids native Landon Cassill got Xfinity practice in Saturday, with just two sessions before qualifying and the race on Sunday.

'I was getting a little bored. I just wanted to get back in the car. Feels like we were right back where we were before,” Gase said. 'In the first practice we struggled a little bit. The second practice was a lot better - we only went out once. We were able to suck up more and if someone's behind us we're able to move. We actually got to the front (of our group) that time. So that's encouraging. Hopefully with a few more small tweaks we'll make it in and have a good race.”

Gase has to sweat qualifying, if only just a bit. The top-30 rule, which locked in the top 30 in the previous season's owner points, is gone, and with 48 cars entered, his 28th-place points position from a year ago doesn't leave a ton of room for error.

Though it's weighing on his mind a little, there's not much he can do about it until qualifying rolls off a few hours before the race on Saturday.

He said much of the outcome is out of his hands, as horsepower has so much to do with who does well at restrictor plate tracks.

'So much is what's underneath the hood, and we're probably in the bottom five for horsepower this week, I would say. Besides that it's getting the attitude of your car right and hoping you can get sucked up and hang in the draft,” Gase said. 'The only thing you can do to try to make up for it here is block too much. If you know you have big horsepower and you have a big run, if it gets dicey you know you can get out of it and get right back in (the throttle). But if you have smaller horsepower, if you have a big run you're probably going to have to stay in it so you don't lose the draft. Momentum is so big here, you don't want to get out of the gas at all.”

With adjustments to the group qualifying rules (after criticism in the wake of Sprint Cup group qualifying for the Daytona 500), Gase and Cassill will go out in one of four groups of 12 cars for the first round. Gase goes out in Group 1; Cassill in Group 2.

Gase said he's already had conversations with drivers in his group about strategy and working together.

'It's going to be stressful (until qualifying). We're going to try to not think about it too much and overthink it,” Gase said. 'We'll talk to some guys in our group. We already had one guy (JJ Yeley) come talk to us, and we worked really well together in Talladega and got 11th. He has a fast car this week, so hopefully it'll play into our hand in qualifying.”

Cassill is in a similar position as Gase when it comes to horsepower, but with a new engine package for his JD Motorsports cars this season, feels confident he'll be very competitive in the race.

The 25-year-old only ran laps in the first of the two sessions Friday, putting his car through its paces to ensure the setup they carried over from last year was effective. He was just as light with Sprint Cup Series practice, only running a few laps in the first session to 'break in the Daytona 500 motor,” and skipping the second entirely.

His day was especially carefree given the result of the Duel 150-mile qualifying races that ensured he'll race Sunday.

'Today was definitely a real positive,” Cassill said. 'I had a crew member today say, ‘Hey, I'm glad I got to see you today,' and I said, ‘Yeah, I'm glad I got to see you too,' because obviously if we missed the race I probably wouldn't have seen him today.

'We're all pretty hopeful. I also feel like I'll have some feedback for the team on what we need to work on to get our car better because I do think the car needs to be a little better for Sunday's race.”

Xfinity Series qualifying is at 11:15 a.m. Saturday, with the race set to begin at 2:30 p.m. Cup final practice is at 10:30 a.m.

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