Arizona.Travel 200 - Landon Cassill Notes

PREVIEW: LANDON CASSILL (NO. 24 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET)
VENUE: PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY (ONE-MILE OVAL)
CIRCUIT: NASCAR BUSCH SERIES (RACE 34 OF 35)
EVENT: SATURDAY, NOV. 10, 2007 (200 LAPS, 200 MILES)

END WITH A BANG: Driving the No. 24 National Guard/40th Infantry Brigade Chevrolet, 18-year-old Landon Cassill will make his sixth and final NASCAR Busch Series start of 2007 on Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway. Cassill most recently drove the National Guard Chevrolet to a 20th-place finish at Memphis (Tenn.) Motorsports Park two weeks ago.

2007 RACING RÉSUMÉ: Cassill made his first career start for Hendrick Motorsports at South Boston (Va.) Speedway in June for a NASCAR Grand National Division, Busch East Series race. Since then, he has competed in one other Busch East race, as well as two ARCA Series races and five NASCAR Busch Series events.

PHOENIX FIRST-TIMER: Saturday will mark the first time Cassill has competed at Phoenix International Raceway, but he is familiar with one-mile tracks. In September, Cassill drove the No. 24 National Guard Chevrolet to an 18th-place finish in the Busch Series race at the one-mile Dover (Del.) International Speedway.

THE OBSERVER: Cassill spent the past weekend at Texas Motor Speedway broadening his racing knowledge as he watched his Hendrick Motorsports teammates drive the 1.5-mile track. When he travels to NASCAR weekends he's not participating in, Cassill watches practice sessions and races from the spotter's stand to learn strategies, procedures and how the air works at the various tracks.

HAPPY TURKEY DAY: Cassill's family will travel to Charlotte, N.C., from their hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to visit with him for the Thanksgiving holiday. Every Thanksgiving, Cassill and his family enjoy watching football and eating a dinner prepared by mother Colleen Cassill and grandmother Janet Cassill. Landon Cassill notes his grandmother's dinner rolls as one of his Thanksgiving favorites.

REPRESENT: This weekend, the 40th Infantry Brigade from San Diego, Calif., will be honored on the hood of the No. 24 National Guard Chevrolet. The brigade most recently provided assistance in various areas with the Southern California wildfires. Prior to the Busch Series race on Saturday, Cassill will have the opportunity to meet with select soldiers from the brigade, who are a part of the California National Guard's largest combat formation.

CHASSIS 444: Crew chief Chad Walter has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 444 for Saturday's Busch Series race at Phoenix. Cassill most recently drove the car to a 30th-place finish at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis in his second career Busch Series start. Earlier this season, Casey Mears drove the car to a 10th-place finish at New Hampshire International Speedway.

BIRTHDAY BOY: Cam Strader, car chief for the National Guard team, will celebrate his 28th birthday on Wednesday. The Wilson, N.C., native, who has worked at Hendrick Motorsports since 2003, has been a driver himself, with racing experience in go-karts and late models in addition to the ARCA and Busch Series circuits. Some of his most notable racing achievements were winning the 2000 NASCAR Goody's Dash Series Rookie of the Year and the series championship the following season. Strader has hopes of running a NASCAR Nationwide Series race next year.

* * * * * * * * * *

LANDON CASSILL, DRIVER OF THE NO. 24 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET: (ON HOW TO PREPARE FOR A TRACK HE'S NEVER RACED BEFORE.) "I just study tapes and practice on my simulator if I can download it off the Internet. I run it all night if I have the chance to, and I'll just go testing. I'll get a car setup going and I'll just tweak on the race car and learn as much about the track and the characteristics of the track as I can."

CASSILL: (ON HAVING CHAD WALTER AS HIS CREW CHIEF.) "Chad's awesome to work with. He's really gotten pretty good at reading me and knowing what I want. One great thing about the National Guard team is that they're not only good at communicating with Chad and me, but good at executing what he wants them to do. This whole team jells so well together, and we seem to get a lot of work done at the race track."

CASSILL: (ON WHETHER HE FEELS PRESSURE AS A HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS DRIVER.) "I probably put more pressure on myself than I should because of the name on my shirt. It's an honor working for Rick Hendrick and I just want to do the best that I can for him. Mr. Hendrick, Doug Duchardt (vice president of development), Marshall Carlson (general manager) and Ken Howes (vice president of competition) are all really good at trying to ease the pressure for me, but I probably put more pressure on myself than anybody else does."

CASSILL: (ON HIS TYPICAL WORKOUTS DURING THE WEEK.) "I try to work out about four to five days a week as much as I can. We do a lot of cardio with my trainer. We also lift some weights. As far as cardio, we will run for 45 minutes sometimes. We'll do stairs outside. It just depends on the day. We do all kinds of things. You really have to be in shape to do this. It's a tough sport."

CASSILL: (ON BEING A NASCAR DRIVER AND WHETHER IT HAS BECOME A REALITY YET.) "Yes, just about every morning [LAUGH]. I just focus on keeping it going. This is definitely a dream come true, but I also have to remember that as much of dream as it is, it's my job and I have to do the best that I can. This is NASCAR. This is the biggest motor sport in the United States and one of the biggest forms of auto racing in the world. This is it right here and this is what I've been looking forward to my whole life. Just being here in this scene is awesome."