PREVIEW: LANDON CASSILL (NO. 5 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET)
VENUE: RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY (.75-MILE D-SHAPED OVAL)
CIRCUIT: NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES (RACE 11 OF 35)
DATE: MAY 2, 2008 (250 LAPS, 187.5 MILES)

CASSILL AT RICHMOND: Landon Cassill will make his 10th career NASCAR Nationwide Series start Friday at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. The 18-year-old rookie, who will pilot the No. 5 National Guard Chevrolet in 16 races for JR Motorsports this season, competed at Richmond on Sept. 7, 2007. He started that race 36th and finished 22nd.

TRACK FAMILIARITY: Cassill is no stranger to .75- mile tracks. In addition to getting seat time at Richmond last season and during a test session five weeks ago, Cassill competed in October 2007 at the .75-mile Memphis (Tenn.) Motorsports Park. He qualified 20th and ran inside the top-10 for 51 laps, but dropped 10 spots to finish 20th after receiving contact from behind during the final lap of a green-white-checkered finish.

TEXT TALK: Cassill will talk with students at Hermitage High School in Richmond from 4 to 6 p.m. local time on Thursday about the peril of texting and driving. The DRIVE SMART Virginia program, sponsored by Nationwide Insurance, is geared toward advising teenagers against "Driving While Distracted."

NEXT UP FOR CASSILL: The Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native, who is competing for Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors this season in the Nationwide Series, next will compete May 31 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway for JR Motorsports in the No. 5 National Guard Chevrolet.

EXTRA SEAT TIME: During late April, Cassill took advantage of an opportunity to get seat time by competing in additional Nationwide Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races. Last weekend, Cassill drove the No. 46 Chevy for Morgan-Dollar Motorsports in his Craftsman Truck Series debut at Kansas Speedway. He qualified 21st and finished 13th. On April 20, Cassill drove the No. 4 Chevy for Phoenix Racing at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez during the Nationwide Series event. Cassill qualified 41st and finished 23rd in his first NASCAR road course race.

CHASSIS CHOICE: Crew chief Chad Walter has chosen JR Motorsports Chassis No. 470 for Friday's race. Cassill ran the car, built new for 2008, at Phoenix on April 11, where he started 18th and finished 22nd. He also tested the car at Richmond at the end of March.

LOCAL FLAVOR: Chris Jones, tire specialist for the No. 5 National Guard Chevrolet team, hails from Smith Mountain Lake, Va., which is about 125 miles southwest of Richmond. The newest addition to the team, the 21-year-old joined JR Motorsports in March 2008 after spending more than two years working with the Wood Brothers. Jones grew up around racing as his dad competed in late models, and he started working for the Wood Brothers as a general mechanic and tire specialist for the No. 47 Nationwide Series team in December 2005.

REPRESENT: The hood of the No. 5 National Guard Chevrolet will honor Virginia's 2-224th Aviation Battalion this weekend. The unit is an Air Assault Battalion stationed at Richmond International Airport in Sandston, Va., about 10 miles east of Richmond. For 19 of the 21 National Guard-sponsored races in the No. 5 Chevy, a different Army National Guard unit will be honored on the car.

UP NEXT FOR THE NO. 5: Mark Martin will pilot the No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet on May 9 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, and Jimmie Johnson will be behind the wheel of the No. 5 Lowe's Chevrolet on May 24 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

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AUTOGRAPH SESSION: Landon Cassill will greet fans and sign autographs at JR Motorsports' souvenir hauler on Friday, from 1-1:30 p.m. local time.

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LANDON CASSILL, DRIVER OF THE NO. 5 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON HAVING PREVIOUS RACING EXPERIENCE AT RICHMOND.): "Since I raced at Richmond last September, I've learned a lot about what the Nationwide Series cars want, and how they drive compared to what I used to drive. I've been getting much better at getting into the corner hard and driving aggressively. Last September, I learned that Richmond is a very well laid out short track that opens up into multiple grooves in the race. Hopefully I can take advantage of the track's layout and have a strong run this weekend."

CASSILL (ON WHAT'S HE'S LEARNED SO FAR THIS SEASON.): "The biggest thing that has helped me as a driver is just the seat time in general. I've definitely learned a lot about the people I'm racing with and the procedures in the Nationwide Series, but nothing is more valuable than running competitive laps. From race to race, I'm working on being confident with what I want the car to do on the track and relaying that to my crew chief. I'm also working on maintaining my track position at the beginning of the race while feeling my car out."

CASSILL (ON HOW WORKING OUT IS HELPING HIM TO DEVELOP AS A DRIVER ON THE TRACK.): "As a driver, the workouts are simply keeping me focused and in the zone with my fitness and physical condition. On the race track, my fitness is important because it allows me to be 100 percent sharp in the race car at all times. As competitive as the Nationwide Series is, it is important to find any edge that I can find."

(EDITOR'S NOTE: While not testing or competing on the track, Cassill has a strict training routine that he follows, which includes weight lifting and cardiovascular development.)