Young Cassill already knows virtue of patience

One of the skills most younger drivers have a hard time mastering is patience. They’re often in such a hurry on the track that they don’t care – or don’t know – who they’re running over.

Landon Cassill says he doesn’t have that problem. The 18-year-old part-time Nationwide Series driver for JR Motorsports has always been patient on the race track, sometimes to his own detriment.

But that’s how Cassill has always raced, even when he started racing karts at age 8 near his Cedar Rapids, Iowa home.

His older brother, Zac, raced karts, too, and the two battled each other a lot. But Landon noticed something about Zac – and himself. Zac, it seems, was a hard-charger, sometimes too hard.

“He was probably better,” Landon said. “As far as natural talent, he was as good as me, but he was wild. He was probably Kyle Busch. He won more races in the beginning than I did because I was always more patient. He’d go out there and try to win every lap. It was more important to him to get donuts on the side of his kart than it was to have a good race.”

While Zac had some “spectacular crashes,” Landon kept his kart – and his nose – clean. Soon, Landon learned that showing patience while going fast would pay dividends.

Other drivers like Zac would burn up their tires, their equipment and themselves. Landon, meanwhile, kept his wits about him and stayed consistent. As others dropped off, Landon surged forward.

“A lot of times in late models, I’d see people go by, hazing the tires, it was more, ‘Those idiots are going to be coming back in a little bit,’” Cassill said. “And the next thing you know, they’re backing up and backing up and backing up, and you just go by them. It’s like, ‘Why did you have to do that?’”

Zac, by the way, eventually turned to fishing and is currently a pro on the FLW Stren Series.

Cassill admits that it may have cost him a few victories in the late model class, as more aggressive drivers sometimes didn’t fall off as much as he would’ve hoped. Still, it helped Cassill save equipment and gain a reputation for being smooth.

“If it’s a matter of going for the win, I usually do what it takes,” Cassill said. “There’s been times when I’ve been really frustrated with myself because somebody behind me is more aggressive, but more times than not, it keeps the fenders on the car.”

So while drivers like Kyle Busch are making a lot of noise these days by, well, making a lot of noise on the track, Cassill prefers to do his talking with his driving. He’s more a driver in the mold of a Matt Kenseth or a Terry Labonte.

“When it’s time to turn it on, it’s time to turn it on,” Cassill said. “My dad was my spotter when I was in Late Models, and there were times when he’d get on the radio and say, ‘Do what you’ve got to do.’ If you’ve got to put the bumper on somebody to get by him for the win, that’s part of racing.

“You’ve got to be aggressive at times, but drivers like Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon have mastered that ability to know when to do that.”

Cassill is still clearly learning how to do that. He just started his NASCAR career last year, and he’ll make his 10th start in the Nationwide Series this weekend at Richmond International Raceway.

His car owner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., inherited Cassill when his team merged with Hendrick Motorsports. Cassill was a Hendrick development driver, but Earnhardt Jr. believes in the 18-year-old, too.

“I think Landon has a good enough head on his shoulders, and given some time, he will be fine on the track and winning races,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “Landon, in my eyes, is a good driver. And Landon needs to understand that it's totally up to Landon to make it happen. He has the skills – he just has to have the confidence and go out and make things happen."

And that means Cassill has to learn to run his race and not drive over his head. That’s hard to do in as competitive a series as he’s in, but the folks at JR Motorsports – and Hendrick – haven’t put any pressure on Landon to win yet.

 “It’s not like they sat me down and told me I needed to win,” Cassill said. “Of course you want to win and you need to run up front. They want me to learn my limits and learn how to go fast and run up front – and most importantly, learn how to get through these races without tearing up a race car.”

That’s where Cassill’s patience comes in. Maybe he’s more advanced than other drivers his age because of his patience – and his intelligence.

Cassill recalls a late model race at Hickory Motor Speedway when he won the pole but started 10th because the top 10 were inverted. But instead of driving over his head to try to get back to the front, Cassill simply followed another driver.

“By the time I got up to second place, I hadn’t passed a car on my own,” Cassill said. “The guy in front of me passed everybody for me. I just followed him. When I got to second, I just knocked him out of the way.”

Doing that in late models is one thing. Doing that in the Nationwide Series is quite another.

Cassill knows it. He knows how competitive this series is. He just wants a chance to prove he can run up front. In time, perhaps he can. Cassill has 16 races with JR Motorsports this year, and while that’s not ideal to developing a young driver, he’ll take it.

“I know we can go fast,” Cassill said. “I just need to go out there and be able to race. There are a lot of good drivers out there, but not all of them are good racers. I just want to show these guys I can race.”

• Mentioned Drivers: