Landon Cassill, the Iowa youngster who formerly was a Hendrick Motorsports development driver and made a bunch more fans in 2011 through his near-full season of work in James Finch’s Phoenix Racing Chevrolet, has an opportunity for the Daytona 500 in a Ford. To kick off his own 2012, Cassill will drive a third Front Row Motorsports Ford later this month at Speedweeks. Cassill’s #26 Fusion will have backing from Morristown Driver’s Service, an over-the-road trucking company based in Tennessee. Owner Bob Jenkins ‘ third car last year wore #55, but Michael Waltrip Racing took that number in conjunction with its sponsor, Aaron’s 55th anniversary, for the 2012 season.(NASCAR.com)(2-2-2012)
UPDATE: The story has been updated: Thursday morning, [Cassill] let Front Row general manager Jerry Freeze know he couldn ‘t do it. ‘We gave [Cassill] an out if he got a full-time racing deal,’ Freeze said. ‘And it sounds like he has one. No idea on who we ‘ll get for now.’(2-2-2012)
UPDATE 2: If the NASCAR tea leaves are true, Cassill may race for the new ownership group that purchased the assets from Red Bull Racing and has set up shop in the old Randy Moss/Morgan Dollar Motorsports building in Statesville, N.C. Front Row Motorsports General Manager Jerry Friese said FRM intends to run three cars in the Daytona 500 and expects to name a driver that will join David Gilliland and David Ragan next week. The short list likely includes Travis Kvapil and Tony Raines. Both drivers have raced for the organization before.(Fox Sports)(2-3-2012)
